Venator FC 3 certainly brought a lot of attention to mixed martial arts fans beyond the promotion’s home of Italy. The event featured numerous well-known fighters including Rousimar Palhares, Matt Hamill and Jason Miller (who all lost, for what it’s worth).

The May event was a success in that regard, according to the promotion’s president, Frank Merenda, but not so much attendance-wise. In a recent social media post, Merenda claimed that an MMA fanbase in Italy is quite lacking.

“Venator FC 3 was the fifth event in one year, and it was the last test to decide if we should continue,” Merenda wrote (translation via quelchepassalosport.it’s Alfredo Zullino). “The Italian public is not interested in MMA even if we talk about UFC; the Italians just watch Conor McGregor, Ronda Rousey, CM Punk and Brock Lesnar.

“We got a small public that watches MMA on TV and a very small public that want to watch live MMA. To let that public grow, we need time, money and and a strong brand like only the UFC has.”

Venator FC 3 turned out to be a rather exciting event with lots of finishes. Despite that and the event’s anticipation from non-Italian fans, the promotion did not make money from the event, which is forcing Merenda to contemplate shutting it down.

“In Italy, even though the results were not bad, we're far from making money from that,” he wrote.

There was one factor stopping him from immediately closing Venator FC’s doors, however. Key word: was.

“Even though we didn’t make big money, we considered to continue due to an offer from the UFC about moving Venator to Fight Pass,” Merenda wrote. “We couldn't say anything about it because of a non-disclosure agreement.

“Two weeks after that offer, the UFC was sold and everything got lost. The new management is thinking about more important stuff right now. So, at the moment, we got no deal and we don't know if the new bosses are still interested in it.”

With Venator FC’s negotiations with UFC Fight Pass currently at a stall, Merenda believes the promotion has two options: spending more money on a television deal and event production but lowering fighter pay, or vice versa.

Merenda still has some hope for the Italian MMA scene and his promotion, though. Bellator MMA, one of the top promotions on the planet, made its debut in Italy this past April. The UFC has yet to travel to the European country, but with Italian prospects Marvin Vettori and Alessio Di Chirico signed to its roster, it seems like a debut event will occur rather soon.

“Since [Venator FC was] born, promotions like Bellator, WSOF and UFC have been eyeing Italy. That's good,” he wrote. “In 2017, it’s almost sure that the UFC is coming to Italy. That's great.

“What isn't great is UFC signing all the best Italian fighters and tearing our promotion down.”

Merenda plans to continue promoting shows. He doesn’t want to sell it to a local promoter who will host cards in “filthy places” and “cages with no lights.” But it sounds like Venator FC will go on a hiatus until Merenda figures out some of the above issues he’s been having with his promotion.

“At the moment we have to take a break and see what happens,” he wrote. “Venator is still a thing, but the patronage time is over. Let’s wait and see if we can solve these problems.”