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

In an exclusive interview with Sportsnet, Dana White fired back at initial reports of the promotion's March Saudi Arabia card and its postponement due to a lack of excitement.

Zain Bando

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

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.

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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.

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Zain Bando
ZAIN BANDO

Zain Bando is a writer for MMA Knockout, part of the Sports Illustrated/Minute Media umbrella. He has covered combat sports since 2019 for notable outlets BJPenn.com and FanSided MMA. He also co-hosts a podcast called "The MMA Outsiders," part of the Empty The Bench Podcast Network, which airs Tuesday nights at 7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT. A Chicago suburban native, Bando has been enthralled with MMA since 2006 and has been fortunate to attend some of the most high-profile events in the sport's history, both as a fan and media member, including UFC 264, Bellator 297 and Kayla Harrison's PFL MMA debut. He is excited to take the next step in his combat sports writing journey and looks forward to continuing his following of the fight game for years to come. Bando can be reached via email at zainbando99@gmail.com or by social media @zainbando99

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