News UFC CEO Dana White Disputes Claims of Postponed Saudi Arabia Event: "We Never Even Proposed The Card To Them"

[TGArthur]

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Dana on Saudi Arabia event

UFC CEO Dana White sat down with Canadian television partner Sportsnet to discuss various topics ahead of UFC 297 Saturday night, including the promotion's decision to postpone its March 2 Saudi Arabia card to an unannounced date in June.

According to Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting, the UFC's reasoning for moving it was related to the quality of the fight card.

White disputed those reports Thursday, providing a different rationale for the date change.

"Yes, we moved to card [to June]," White said. "And, I know there's been a lot of talk about that the card wasn't good enough. We never even proposed the card to them. We didn't tell Saudi Arabia about one fight, so, that's a bunch of bulls***."

White clarified that the event will remain a Fight Night card without a championship fight at the top of the bill. He added that there were a few unnamed fights the promotion wanted to put together that didn't align with the UFC's scheduling purposes.

White has still yet to reveal a main event for UFC 300 and won't solidify whether or not his biggest star, Conor McGregor, will fight in June opposite Michael Chandler or, quite frankly, any opponent.
UFC 297 is headlined by Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis for the middleweight strap and co-headlined by a vacant women's bantamweight championship bout between Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva.

Both fights are scheduled for five rounds, as Pennington vs. Silva is only the second title fight in the division's history that doesn't feature Ronda Rousey or Amanda Nunes.

Stick with MMA Knockout for more daily coverage of the UFC and MMA

 

[MrBlackheart]

Dana’s all tough on TV but behind closed doors with the Saudis he be like “yes your highness”, “we can do that like you want”, “anything to make this work”.

 

[GGpX]

Oh yeah, I bet.

When has the UFC ever stacked a Fight Night card?

 

[Blanqa Blanqua]

Dana loves lying.

 

[Siver!]

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Dana on Saudi Arabia event

The UFC had no fewer than 8 announced fights for that date.

I don't even understand what Dana's trying to say here.

No one is saying those fights were the main event, what Saudi Arabia are saying is that show looked fucking ass.

 

[GGpX]

It's like, oh yeah we're totally going to stack the decks and give 'em a great card----

Sup guys! Big fights to announce! UFC in Saudi Arabia is going to be headlined in a FIVE ROUND WAR between, uh, May Rob Dvash-something versus Cory Sandhagen! And another banger! Abu Magomedov will fight Nas Or Deen Imavov in a middleweight WAR!

Get the fuck outta here, man. The Saudis told 'em to eat shit and that they wouldn't be accepting of some low-level Fight Night card with a bunch of regional level Muslim fighters on it that would rival the usual junk they put on in the Apex.

 

[sdpdude9]

 

[fortheo]

What does he mean they didn't propose the card to them or tell them about any fights? They had like 8 fights scheduled for it.....

 

[podsox]

guessing the UFC’s deal with AUE has something to do with them not giving the Saudi’s what they want

 

[Dr Fong]

What does he mean they didn't proposed the card to them or told them about any fights? They had like 8 fights scheduled for it.....

Dana is a retard that doesn't know how to construct his lies properly, because he thinks everyone else is dumb enough to actually believe his obvious nonsense.

The interviewer didn't even bring it up the Saudis saying it was too weak of a card, Dana did just so he could then blatantly lie about it.

He could have just spun it: 'we had a couple of fights targeted for that card that couldn't make that schedule, so we decided to reshuffle the date' - just make it sound like it was your call, not the Saudis.

But instead he just outright lies because he is a public wife beating mong.

 

[Siver!]

Dana’s all tough on TV but behind closed doors with the Saudis he be like “yes your highness”, “we can do that like you want”, “anything to make this work”.

He's pretty dumb for trying to look tough when the Saudi investors are pissed off, though.

This is the time for a bit of humble 'yeah, we probably got it wrong, we're going to make something special happen'

But that Dana is buried under too much money.

 

[PEDRO IVO RUSSO MIRANDA]

Oh yeah, I bet.

When has the UFC ever stacked a Fight Night card?

Dariush vs Tsarukyan ?
Was one of the best cards of 2023

 

[Lights Out 101]

I believe that as much as believing GSP really went to the hospital.

 

[Istryker]

He's obviously lying.

Saudis musta told him to eat shit

 

[Taric]

When promoters and venues are discussing what the percentage going towards the house are, one of the first conversations is what the act is so the venue can determine what their food and beverage caps will be based on projected attendance and the "type" of attendance.

As a guy directly in this line of business, this is the dumbest shit I've ever heard

 

[Khaosan]

Oh so they did propose the card to them.

 

[Dana's Conscience]

Dana’s all tough on TV but behind closed doors with the Saudis he be like “yes your highness”, “we can do that like you want”, “anything to make this work”.

I like ripping on Dana as much as the next guy, but I'd be saying the same thing if they were paying my promotion $20 million to hold an event there.

 

[neandertal]

Why is this so public.. weird.

 

[whocares]

How to tell when Dana lies - Are his lips moving? If yes, he's lying. If no, he's thinking up a lie

 

[Captain Insano]

Dana’s all tough on TV but behind closed doors with the Saudis he be like “yes your highness”, “we can do that like you want”, “anything to make this work”.

And you would do it so differently wouldn't you? You're a man of principle aren't you?

You know so much better than him bc...
Well. Just because.