IT has been described as human cockfighting, but it’s also one of the fastest growing sports on the planet, and as early as next year the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) could hit Adelaide.

In recent years, the popularity of mixed martial arts (MMA) in Australia has skyrocketed and now Adelaide is on the shortlist to host the UFC in 2015.

MMA incorporates disciplines including Olympic combat sports Greco-Roman wrestling, freestyle wrestling, boxing, taekwondo and judo as well as traditional martial arts such as Jiu Jitsu and Thai boxing.

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Bouts are normally fought over three five-minute rounds inside of an eight-sided cage. Competitors can win by stoppage, submission, or on a points system as in boxing.

UFC Australia, New Zealand and Canada operations director Tom Wright said the promotion is zeroing in on Adelaide.

“There is (interest in SA), I’ve had some conversations with some folks at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre,” Wright said.

“I quite like the chances of coming to Adelaide in 2015 or 2016.”

The UFC has previously visited Sydney and Brisbane, but is looking to broaden its reach Down Under.

The cage that the UFC uses is banned in Melbourne and Perth but MMA bouts are still permitted in a ring.

A similar ban was overturned in SA in late 2012 thanks to the efforts of local fight promotion MMA Down Under.

“Typically we’ve only had one event in Australia but our plan is to increase that to potentially two or three, or even four events,” Wright said.

“We were in Brisbane last December and we sold out the entertainment centre and I’d hope that we could do the same in Adelaide.”

The UFC is expected to announce a late-2014 show in Brisbane or Sydney soon.

Saturday MMA Down Under will hold its first show of the year at Adelaide Arena from 6.30pm.

Bellator MMA fighter Cleber Luciano will star in the co-main event against Patrick Conroy.

In the main event South Australia’s Savas Caruso will go toe-to-toe with Jeff King.

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Originally published as UFC sets its sights on Adelaide