UFC Saudi Arabia inaugural event is reportedly being postponed to a new date, apparently June. The famous journalist and the host of The MMA Hour show, Ariel Helwani, dropped the news in a lead way to his interview with Anthony Joshua. A weak fight card is the reason behind it all.
At the beginning of the recent edition of his show, Helwani said:
I am being told via sources that the planned March 2nd event in Saudi Arabia is being postponed and the target is June. I was told that the reason for the postponement is because … they want a more entertaining fight card — they want a deeper card with bigger names on it, they weren’t too pleased with what was being offered.
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As of today, UFC announced the following matches for the March 2 Saudi Arabia fight card:
Mohammad Mokaev vs. Alex Perez; Flyweight
Eryk Anders vs. Jamie Pickett; Middleweight
Vinicius Oliveira vs. Yanis Ghemmouri; Bantamweight
Joel Alvarez vs. Ludovit Klein; Lightweight
Javid Basharat vs. Aiemann Zahabi; Bantamweight
Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Shamil Gaziev; Heavyweight
Additionally, Helwani brought up Islam Makhachev’s post on social media, where the reigning UFC lightweight champion stated enigmatically that he will defend his title against Justin Gaethje in June on a PPV-level fight card:
June 8 UFC PPV vs Gaetje, November UFC MSG vs Olivera/Arman, February 2025 vs Anybody Inshallah ????????
So the assumption is that Saudi Arabia demands a higher quality product from the UFC.
