During the UFC 277 post-fight press conference Dana White spoke on various topics. One of them was Hamdy Abdelwahab’s win over Don’Tale Mayes in the Egyptian fighter’s UFC debut. The UFC president was impressed by Abdelwahab’s performance and announced that the promotion has big plans for the Middle East. Especially when events taking place in Abu Dhabi are selling out quite quickly.
Dana White said:
“If you look at what’s going on over in that region right now with not only this company but the sport. I said 10 years ago you’re going to see some good guys coming out of this region and now we’re really starting to see it. So I just expect it to grow… First of all… Abu Dhabi is literally almost sold out. So for anybody that wants to get tickets and whatever, they’re doing like VIP packages right now. Get your tickets now if you want to go…”
White also revealed that UFC has been working with Abu Dhabi’s government and fans and fighters can expect big announcements to be made soon:
“Number two, when I get there, I’ve been talking about this for a year, now when we get there I’m finally gonna make all these big announcements that I’ve been waiting to do. Me and the government over there are ready to roll, we’re ready to announce. So I’m excited. And once we implement all these things we’re working over there… it’s gonna be huge for a local fighters out there.”
Watch Dana White talk about UFC’s plans for the Middle East in the video below:
UFC will hold an event in Abu Dhabi on October 22 at Etihad Arena, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. It will be headlined by a Lightweight title fight between former champion Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev, who has an impressive 22 – 1 record. Also on the card are featured Beneil Dariush, who will face off against Mateusz Gamrot, and Belal Muhammad who will take on Sean Brady.
This will be the 16th UFC event held in Abu Dhabi, as the promotion has been visiting the capital city of the United Arab Emirates since 2010. UFC 112: Invincible was the first event to take place in Abu Dhabi followed by 14 more, mainly during the world pandemics, when the promotion build The Fight Island to host the events inside the special bio-secure bubble, that was closed to the public. Later the events were moved to nearby Etihad Arena.
