The UFC is making it’s Saudi debut in June, but will return in 2025 with a much bigger event. Here’s all the details from the new deal the combat sports promotion signed with the Kingdom.
The UFC is strengthening its ties with Saudi Arabia, which will lead to “something big” happening during the 2024/2025 Riyadh Season.
For years the UFC has worked exclusively with Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. They were relatively early adopters of the UFC and bought a 10% stake in the fight promotion back in 2010. That was sold back to new owners Endeavor in 2018 but the relationship remained close and Abu Dhabi saved UFC’s bacon during the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing the promotion to hold events there and avoid defaulting on their broadcast deal with ESPN.
That hasn’t stopped UFC from using its WWE contacts within new umbrella company TKO to forge new bonds with Saudi Arabia. After a rocky start that saw their first UFC Fight Night delayed due to a lack of starpower, the promotion will debut in the Kingdom on June 22nd with a card headlined by Khamzat Chimaev vs. Robert Whittaker.
Now we can expect an even bigger event coming soon after UFC CEO Dana White and Saudi General Entertainment Authority’s Turki Alalshikh announced an ‘extended partnership.’ Alalshikh has been behind a big push to transform the world of boxing, and this move shows he’s still got his eye on MMA.
“This is a strong message to the market with UFC,” Alalshikh said in a statement to ESPN. “We are working with everyone. My favorite is boxing, but we will try to make Riyadh one of the biggest cities around the world in MMA.”
Details are somewhat sparse, but the key feature for fans is a “major” UFC event in Saudi Arabia sometime during Riyadh Season, which runs from October til March. Riyadh Season promotes Saudi Arabia, and UFC will now promote Riyadh Season with a big sponsorship deal for UFC 306 at The Sphere.
— TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) May 8, 2024
“I’m excited about this deal,” Dana White said in a video on Turki Alalshikh’s X (formerly Twitter) account. “My goal from day one is to bring this all over the world. We’re going to do our first event in the Kingdom this year and now we just signed to do another one next year.”
There’s a lot of corporate synergy in play with this deal. ESPN reports that Saudi Arabia is looking to hold one of the major WWE events in the country: either Royal Rumble or even WrestleMania itself. We can’t imagine TKO moving WrestleMania to The Kingdom, but you never know with the amount of money being thrown around by these guys.
Oh, and Dana White made sure to get some Power Slap events included in the deal.
We’ll keep you in the know as details of this deal come out, when the second UFC Saudi Arabia card will take place, and who will be featured.