Dana White: Talk about postponing the UFC Saudi Arabia event due to a weak card is just “nonsense”

Dana White, CEO of the UFC, confirmed that the postponement of the upcoming event in Saudi Arabia was not due to a weak fight card.

The UFC head honcho just opened up about the issue during the UFC 297 pre-fight press conference. To take it back, in a recent turn of events, it was reported that the higher-ups in Saudi Arabia did not enjoy the UFC’s Riyadh card, thus putting the promotion in a position where the card had to be changed.

However, for Dana White, it all smelled like nonsense. He blasted the reports in his usual outspoken nature and completely dismissed that the card was rejected. In fact, he told the press that the higher-ups in Saudi Arabia didn’t even know all that much.

Canadian journalist Ariel Helwani announced the news of the postponement on The MMA Hour program, and attributed the reason to the weakness of the first card.

He said: “The reason for the postponement was their desire for a more entertaining, more in-depth fight card with bigger names, and they were not happy with what was presented.”

While White denied these allegations, he confirmed during an interview with Aaron Bronster on Sportsnet that everything that was raised was untrue, and described it as nonsense.

We did not provide any card to Saudi Arabia

“Yes, we postponed the event, and I know there was a lot of talk about the card not being good enough, but we never gave them any card,” White said.

He added: “We did not tell Saudi Arabia about any fight, so all this is nonsense.” It’s all nonsense. “We never gave them a card.”
He continued: “What we want to do is blow up the place every time the UFC holds an event. We want to blow down the doors of the place, and for people to be excited.”

Immediate speculation began circulating after this report, wondering what type of card would be built for the premiere.

After announcing that he would like to defend his title in June, UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev is the perfect choice to fit into the project.
His first choice contender, Justin Gaethje, has been booked to take part in UFC 300 against Max Holloway in April.

That’s the same night that Charles Oliveira will face Arman Tsarukyan, who White claims is still in contention for the next title shot.

This is the reason for postponement

All of this does not matter for the UFC event in Saudi Arabia, as White confirmed once again that the card will not change to become a PPV.
White said: “It is our first match ever in Saudi Arabia, and some of the matches we wanted to arrange were not ready.”

He explained, “So we postponed the card…but not a single Saudi fight was proposed and they said: (This is not good enough).

He concluded: “It is a ‘Fight Night’ card and there will be no championship fight on it.”