ABU DHABI – The UFC made a successful return to the Middle East this past Saturday, and president Dana White has some big plans for the region.
Speaking to MMA Junkie and other reporters, White said he plans on bringing his “Dana White: Lookin’ for a Fight” show to Abu Dhabi to try to scout some local talent.
“When we come back next year, we’re talking about doing ‘Lookin’ for a Fight’ and actually having the fight on top of the Louvre (Abu Dhabi). We’re going to do some cool stuff when we come back here next year.”
During UFC 242 fight week, the web show became “Lookin’ FWD to a Fight.” It featured White, Matt Serra and Din Thomas while they explored Abu Dhabi ahead of the event. The “Abu Dhabi Showdown” week presented fans with plenty of activities, and a fan experience for them to meet some of their favorite fighters, including dual champion Henry Cejudo, women’s flyweight champ Valentina Shevchenko, Stephen Thompson and newly crowned women’s strawweight champion Weili Zhang.
UFC 242 marked the UFC’s first visit to Abu Dhabi since 2014. Lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov submitted Dustin Poirier in the third round to retain his title in front of a sold-out crowd.
With a five-year deal in place between the UFC and Abu Dhabi, the promotion plans on bringing a pay-per-view event, headlined by a title fight, every year until 2023.
White said that had Nurmagomedov not been available for the event, he had other big plans for UFC 242.
“If I couldn’t get the Khabib fight done, I was going to bring (Israel) Adesanya and (Robert) Whittaker here,” White said. “And that fight sold over 40,000 tickets in Australia already (for UFC 243). We’re going to have an 18,000 seat arena, and we’ll bring a fight here that sells it out again.”
