At this rate, Dana White may as well just pack up his things and move to Saudi Arabia or the UAE, considering the amount of love he’s getting from the two respective countries. With the upcoming first ever UFC fight card taking place in the KSA, the UFC recently signed a deal with Riyadh Season, guaranteeing another UFC event in Saudi during the 2024/25 Riyadh Season.
Additionally, Riyadh will also host the Power Slap event for the very first time, and barbaric or not, Dana loves it, and fans appear to love it too. Riyadh Season will also sponsor UFC 306 on September 14 in Las Vegas, but an official fight card has yet to be announced.
“This agreement is a continuation of Riyadh Season’s aims to host and partner with prominent and international events of mass interest,” said Turki Alalshikh, current Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia. “UFC is the most prominent Mixed Martial Arts organisation in the world and their platform of global fans is unrivalled.”
Kingdom Arena in Riyadh will host the first Saudi UFC event on June 22 as former middle weight champion Robert Whittaker takes on surging Swedish/Chechnyen steamroller, Khamzat Chimaev.
If anyone was curious to know Chimaev’s game-plan leading up to undoubtedly the toughest test of his career, watch the very informative video below.
Still, there’s no denying Chimaev’s undeniable talent, but he’s also never been fully tested at 185 pounds, often fighting at 170. Whittaker, however, is thunderous middleweight, with power, speed and size to match, and his contemporary spin on the “sprawl ‘n brawl” technique, fused with a granite chin and laser sharp head kick will undoubtedly be the toughest force of artillery Chimaev has ever been up against. And Whittaker has only lost thrice in the last ten years: twice against Israel Adesanya (once a KO, the other a razor sharp decision which many argue should’ve cone to Whittaker), and then a recent loss to current Middleweight champion, Driscus Du Plessis. Not a bad track record. But then again, Khamzat is undefeated.
Either way, the Saudi fans are getting quite the treat for their first ever event.
Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk – Riyadh, May 18
With Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Arena fresh from hosting Anthony Joshua clobbering Francis Ngannou just a few months ago, the two best heavyweights on the planet will step back into the same arena this weekend, Saturday May 18, in what is rapidly becoming the new fight capital of the world.
And if the trash talk leading up to the fight wasn’t enough, Tyson Fury’s dad, John Fury, also possibly the scariest dad to ever walk the earth, just headbutted a member from Usyk’s team yesterday in Riyadh. One can only assume how John reacts when the drive-thru worker gets his order wrong.
Tickets are still available, and can be found here.
Despite the understandable criticism over this ungentlemanly behaviour from a man who looks like he was born inside a volcano and shaves his head with an axe, Tyson Fury appeared amused over the incident, none of it deterring his soaring confidence leading up to, what many argue to be, his toughest fight yet.
Who do ya got?
