As we all know, as we head into 2024, UFC business is booming. The world’s largest combined martial arts promotion has noticed a decline in profitability lately, extracting cash from any and all nooks, crannies, and crevices (that’s an alliteration of Michael Bispings). from their fans, streaming platforms, and advertising partners.
Is the product getting better too? Who cares!?Apparently Saudi Arabia does.
The Middle East’s dictatorship has in recent years become a sports-washing force, turning to competitive athletics to mask a long and unwavering history of human rights abuses. This is a clever trick, used across governments around the world. Give other people a display they’d like to see and they’ll go on to put themselves on display with a good dose of propaganda to convey it. Even if critical voices are not replaced or silenced, it is still conceivable to locate enthusiasts who suddenly add “a vacation to Riyadh to their bucket list. “The only challenge with the exhibition is that it has to be spectacular.
Back in October, the Saudi government paid for former UFC champion Francis Ngannou’s first ever pro boxing match; a bout against unbeaten WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. That was spectacular. In December they brought in top draws Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder for a stacked end-of-the-year card. Nevermind that it was something of a disaster for future plans to make a Wilder/Joshua fight that has been floating in the ether for years now, it was a big card that got people talking. It also set up Ngannou vs. Joshua in Riyadh in March. Big events, high stakes, big money; the course is clear.
Last year, as part of its new TKO partnership with WWE, a long-standing sports entertainment asset acquired through Saudi Arabia, the UFC struck its own deal to hold an event in the kingdom. According to a report by MMA Junkie, a $20 million payment for the venue secured the Arab country the right to host a UFC event on March 2 at the aptly named “Kingdom Arena. “What better way to impress a new component of the wasteful industry than a regional event?
Apparently all $20 million buys is Eryk Anders, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Javid Basharat, and Muhammad Mokaev along with a main event to be named later. It’s little wonder then that it appears the Saudis have told the UFC to hit the bricks and come back when they’ve got a real plan.
Ariel Helwani reports that the UFC has been forced to reschedule its scheduled debut in Riyadh, “because the powers that be in Saudi Arabia are organizing. . . A more entertaining war map. They have a deeper war map with bigger names.
All things considered, it’s at least a little bit that the UFC doesn’t have anything better ready for such an important new partnership. But some suggest that the promotion may have tried to pit either side opposite the midfield against each other in their duel, and much more. – partnership with the United Arab Emirates.
“It turns out that [Dana White] thinks she’s in it for the long haul with Abu Dhabi,” Karim Zidan, a longtime contributor and editor to Bloody Elbow, explained on a recent episode of the Level Change podcast. “But I don’t think he understands that this concept [that the UFC] is going to expand throughout the region through Abu Dhabi doesn’t work, because it’s not like the UAE is going to partner with Saudi Arabia.
“Out of the blue, the UFC announces that it’s going to Saudi Arabia for a Fight Night card of all things… I thought that was just so lazy and stupid of the UFC. If you’re going to some place like Saudi Arabia after all this glitz and glamour you just saw, are you seriously taking them a Fight Night card? I’d be amazed if they let it in the building, like they don’t care about stuff. Do you think the Saudis are going to be impressed just because the UFC showed up in town? They’re about to host the World Cup.”
Yes Dana White
There’s bad luck there, too, to be sure. But a UFC product that turns out to be increasingly targeting advertising partners and marketing deals for fan engagement turns out to be running into this kind of bad luck more and more, with less and less fear of avoiding it. it. For a promotion so accustomed to intimidating the market in the U. S. In the U. S. (a dose of Power Slap with every air), this power play must have been a shock.
It’s no fun saying that it took Saudi money to check the UFC’s increasing laziness, but that appears to be the case. If we’re going to have to put up with more sports-washing efforts in MMA, let’s at least hope we get a good fight card out of it.
That’s what we know about the UFC Fight Night card allocation that was intended to take place in March on Saudi soil.
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