LAS VEGAS – The Ultimate Fighting Championship will blaze a new international trail in 2011, as well as revisiting a long-lost friend.

Following Saturday night's successful UFC 126 event in Las Vegas, UFC president Dana White confirmed that the UFC is planning on hosting live events in both Sweden and Japan before the end of the calendar year.

The UFC has never held an event in Sweden, while the company hasn't visited Japan since December 2000.

White revealed the plans for Sweden earlier this week in an interview with Swedish MMA news website MMANytt.se, and he confirmed the UFC's intentions with MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

While the news will certainly be well-received by Swedish fans, it was unquestionably less shocking that White's revelation that a Japanese event would likely take place before the end of the year.

"We think we're going to get it done," White said. "Everything that needs to happen to go to Japan has fallen into place so far, so it's looking good. It's on our calendar this year."

The UFC hosted four events in Japan between 1997 and 2000, but has not held a fight card in the country since UFC 29.

In January, Zuffa Asia vice president Mark Fischer outlined to Japanese media the UFC's plan for the country, but most MMA observers felt a live event in Japan was still far-fetched.

White said the situation in Japan changed quickly, similarly to the fast turnaround that took place in Toronto, which rapidly approved legislation of the sport in 2010 following years of resistance.

"It really turned around quick," White said. "It's like Toronto. It opened up like that. New York isn't. You just never know."

The state of Japanese MMA is frequently discussed by MMA pundits, as the country's two major promotions, DREAM and World Victory Road, have each struggled financially in recent times. White insists the timing of his announcement has nothing to do with those promotions' issues.

"It has nothing to do with that, but I'm very confident we're going to go this year – very confident," White said. "I do (have a proposed timeframe) but not one that I want to announce right now."

Following the 2007 collapse of longtime Japanese promotion PRIDE, White has often spoken of a potential UFC return to the country. However, White has always suggested that the Japanese mafia, or Yakuza, has barred re-entry into the market.

White said nothing has changed on that front, but he's willing to take a risk in order to return to Japan.

"All my buddies over there?" White asked. "Those are still around, but we're going to do it. We'll see if I come out of that place alive, but we're going to do it."

While White did not release specific plans for the company's return to Japan, he did say the show would probably be held on the scale of a typical UFC Fight Night event.

While the plans for events in both Sweden and Japan each come as a surprise, White said he doesn't believe the promotion has any more shocking plans up its sleeve for 2011.

"I think those are the only two crazy ones we weren't expecting," White said.