UFC News: Dana White Says Opening Mexican Performance Institute Was ‘Dream’

The UFC CEO reflected on what it meant for the promotion to have a presence in Mexico.

Zain Bando | Feb 23, 2024

UFC News: Dana White Says Opening Mexican Performance Institute Was ‘Dream’ /

Upon cutting the ceremonial ribbon Thursday evening for the new UFC Performance Institute in Mexico City, UFC CEO Dana White jubilated with a wide-eyed smile.

The two-decade-plus promoter has continued his journey by taking a fringe sport on the verge of bankruptcy in Feb. 2001 before turning it into a $4 billion empire 15 years later.

UFC Mexico City Weigh-In Stream Results: Moreno & Royval Make Weight

Milestones have since followed, which included the UFC’s ESPN venture, being one of the few sports to successfully hold events during COVID-19 and achieve the highest-grossing pay-per-view in company history, UFC 229.

Dana White News: UFC CEO Says Mexico is 'Very Important' to Him Moving Forward

But, for White, establishing a presence in Mexico and marketing Hispanic-born champions like Brandon Moreno, Alexa Grasso, and Yair Rodriguez, one of whom is a current flyweight champion, was always part of the plan.

“This has been a dream/goal of mine for a very long time going back to 2001,” White said. “I was just saying to these guys, to be walking the halls, looking at the gym and [seeing] this incredible facility is amazing. I’ve wanted this for a long time, so, I’m very excited.”

This is the UFC’s third performance institute built in the last 10 years, joining the ones in Las Vegas and Shanghai, China.

Global expansion is one of White’s key pillars, which he says he wants to emphasize by bringing in younger kids from challenging environments to help better their life journeys.

“It gets better and better and better and better every time we build one," White said. "Now, you can honestly say that the PI in Mexico is the best performance institute in the UFC, without a doubt."

UFC Mexico City takes place Saturday night and can only be seen on ESPN+.

Below is the promotional bout order.

Who is fighting on UFC Mexico City?

Main card (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT)

Main Event: Brandon Moreno vs. Brandon Royval, flyweight five-rounder
Co-Main Event: Yair Rodriguez vs. Brian Ortega, featherweight five-rounder
Daniel Zellhuber vs. Francisco Prado, lightweight
Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Ricky Turcios, bantamweight
Yazmin Jauregui vs. Sam Hughes, women’s strawweight
Manuel Torres vs. Chris Duncan, lightweight

Preliminary card (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT)

Cristian Quinonez vs. Raoni Barcelos, bantamweight
Jesus Santos Aguilar vs. Mateus Mendonca, flyweight
Edgar Chairez vs. Daniel Lacerda, flyweight
Claudio Puelles vs. Fares Ziam, lightweight
Luis Rodriguez vs. Denys Bondar, flyweight
Victor Altamirano vs. Felipe Dos Santos, flyweight
Erik Silva vs. Muhammad Naimov, featherweight

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Published Feb 23, 2024

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