UFC will celebrate Mexican Independence Day by holding a blockbuster event independent of Mexico.
UFC CEO Dana White is currently writing a “love letter to Mexican people.”
Unfortunately, it sounds more like hate mail, since his UFC 306 pay-per-view (PPV) event on Sept. 14 will be held at The Sphere in Las Vegas — roughly 1400 miles from the Mexican border — where tickets will cost hundreds of dollars for nosebleeds.
I guess Arena CDMX in Mexico City is reserved for non-PPV “Fight Night” cards like this.
UFC 306 will be held on Mexican Independence Day and feature some of the top Mexican fighters in the promotion. Because of the unusual layout of The Sphere, White and Co. will have to sink millions of dollars into the venue to make it work.
“I’m already $16 million into this thing,” White told Club Shay Shay podcast. “This will never be replicated. Anybody who comes in after me into The Sphere is f*cked. We’re working on [the card] and tweaking it every day. Everybody should want to be on that card. Believe me when I tell you, everybody was all fired up about UFC 300. This thing is going to be, you know, and again, if you are Mexican and you are on this, it’s just going to be like nothing anybody’s ever seen before.”
That means White has burned through $2 million over the last two weeks, when you compare his sit down with Shannon Sharpe on June 19 to his prior conversation with Andrew Schulz on June 5, where he was only $14 million into The Sphere.
Maybe Dana is just really bad at math (or remembering his lines).
“You know how much money I’ve already spent on this thing? I’m $14 million in on this f*cking show and it’s not until September,” White told FLAGRANT podcast. “This is going to be a f*cking love letter to the Mexican people. I have this thing with Mexicans. When I tell somebody ‘you fight like a Mexican’ it’s the biggest compliment I can give you. I’ve got goosebumps telling you this right now. Some of the baddest motherf*ckers that have walked the face of this earth have been Mexican. And The Sphere show is on Mexican Independence Day. It’s going to be the greatest f*cking love letter to the Mexican people of all time.”
Sounds more like that letter from Stan: Dear Mexico, I wrote you but you still ain’t callin’…