Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was expected to make its mixed martial arts (MMA) debut in Saudi Arabia in early March, thanks in part to the influence from former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. Instead, the promotion will reschedule the card for a later date because it was unable to craft a lineup that would “blow the doors off the place.”
But that decision was made by UFC CEO Dana White and had nothing to do with the influencers in Saudi Arabia, despite a recent report that suggested otherwise.
“We moved the card and I know there’s been a lot of talk about the card wasn’t good enough,” White said in a recent interview with Sportsnet.ca. “We never even proposed a card to them. We didn’t tell Saudi Arabia about one fight, so that’s all bullish*t. It was all bullsh*t. We never even proposed a card to them. What we wanted to do is … every time UFC puts on an event, we wanna blow the doors off the place. We want people to be excited.”
The plan is to rebook the “Fight Night” card — sans title fight — for later this year.
“It was our first fight ever in Saudi Arabia and a couple of the fights that we wanted to line up, they weren’t ready to go, so we pushed the card back because we’re gonna deliver,” White continued. “But never once was one fight proposed to Saudi Arabia and they were like, ‘Yeah, no, this isn’t good enough.’ It’s a ‘Fight Night’ card and there will not be a championship fight on it.”
White also revealed plans to stage less “Fight Night” shows at the APEX facility in Las Vegas, which may come as a relief to disgruntled fighters (like this guy).
Expect names that are “big in the region” to surface when the promotion starts to announce matchups for the delayed Saudi Arabia card. In the meantime, local MMA fans will have an opportunity to get their fight fix when PFL and Bellator MMA debut in just a few weeks.