Report: Saudi Arabia Forces UFC To Postpone Weak Debut Card

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) appears to have some work to do on its debut event in Saudi Arabia.

Ariel Helwani reported today (Mon., Jan. 15, 2024) on The MMA Hour that UFC Saudia Arabia is expected to be rescheduled from its March 2, 2024 date to sometime in June 2024. The event currently has no main event and will be the promotion’s debut in the country after it struck an event deal in 2023.

“The planned March 2 UFC event in Saudi Arabia is being postponed and the target is June,” Helwani said. “I was told that the reason for the postponement is because they just want — the powers that be in Saudi Arabia — a, how should we put it, more entertaining fight card. A deeper fight card with bigger names on it. [They] weren’t too pleased with what was being offered. So, it is being at this point moved to later in the year, June.”

UFC Saudi Arabia has eight fights booked so far, presumably shaping it close to completion with only three ranked fighters on tap. The event was originally planned to be — and still is, for now — a free ESPN+ fight night card, but Helwani added speculation that it could shift to a pay-per-view (PPV). In that case, UFC Lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev, returning to defend his title would seemingly be the likeliest or best option. Makhachev recently noted how he does hope to defend his title against Justin Gaethje in the same month that UFC Saudi Arabia is being pushed back to.

The current UFC Saudi Arabia line up can be seen below.

• 155lbs.: Muhammad Mokaev vs. Alex Perez
• 185lbs.: Eryk Anders vs. Jamie Pickett
• 155lbs.: Ľudovít Klein vs. Joel Álvarez
• 135lbs.: Vinicius Oliveira vs Yanis Ghemmouri
• 265lbs.: Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Shamil Gaziev
• 155lbs.: Mohammad Yahya vs. Brendan Marotte
• 135lbs.: Javid Basharat vs. Aiemann Zahabi
• 155lbs.: Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady vs. Loik Radzhabov