Dana White blasts MGM for boxing event

Many of the events at Las Vegas’ Sphere are from those particularly excited about the 360-degree aspect of it, whether that’s bands like U2, Phish, or Dead & Company or leagues like the NHL for its entry draft. The UFC is set to head to the Sphere on Sept. 14 for pay-per-view event UFC 306 (also branded as Riyadh Season Noche UFC), but that’s come with more complaining about the cost than thrills about the technology. And president Dana White told ESPN’s Mike Coppinger Friday that it wasn’t even his preferred venue for this fight, and that he’s mad at MGM (which operates  T-Mobile Arena) for booking a Premier Boxing Champions PPV headlined by Saul “Canelo” Alvarez v. Edgar Berlanga rather than his event.

White has made lots of comments going off on the cost of producing an event at the Sphere to date. He’s said it “will never, ever be replicated … because it costs too much money,” and has claimed they’ve already spent $17 million on it. And on Friday, he spoke to Coppinger about how annoyed he is at MGM for putting on a boxing event on this date (Mexican Independence Day weekend, which is why this is labeled as “Noche UFC”) rather than his fight:

“Canelo’s one of those guys that I respect and hey, good on [PBC’s Al] Haymon,” UFC president White told ESPN on Friday. “Haymon snatched that date right away from me. The guys at MGM have done nothing but f—ing disrespect me and the UFC for 20 years. It is what it is. Here we go.”

Last year, the UFC beat boxing to the punch for this weekend in Vegas, hosting their first “Noche UFC” at T-Mobile Arena. That led to Alvarez fighting at that venue two weeks later. This year, though, Alvarez and PBC got the Sept. 14 date, with the promotion trumpeting “PBC is thrilled to continue the more than 20-year tradition of championship boxing in Las Vegas on Mexican Independence Day weekend with our friends and partners, MGM Resorts and T-Mobile Arena” and noting that this will be Alvarez’s sixth Vegas fight on this weekend.

In previous years, that would have meant no UFC event in Vegas this weekend. But with Sphere (run by Sphere Entertainment, the spinoff of Madison Square Garden Entertainment that includes the Sphere, MSG Networks, and Tao Group Hospitality, and has New York Knicks owner James Dolan as executive chairman and CEO) now open, there’s now another Strip venue capable of hosting the promotion. And maybe that’s part of why White feels comfortable saying MGM’s executives have “done nothing but f—ing disrespect me and the UFC for 20 years,” a remarkable comment on the people in charge of a venue that tends to host four UFC events a year. (White is not known for tact or diplomacy, though.)

The cost factor of shifting from MGM Arena to Sphere remains, though. And that’s what got the Saudis to enter the picture, led by Saudi Arabia General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki Alalshikh. (He’s also sometimes referenced as “Turki Al-Sheikh” or “Turki Al-AlShaikh,” but “Alashikh” is the spelling he goes by on his wildly-popular social media accounts.) That led to White giving the Saudis a rare title event sponsorship (the “Riyadh Season” part of this), and also led to Alalshikh telling Coppinger “We will eat him” on the UFC event (headlined by going up against Alvarez’s fight.

But a further interesting element of this is that Alalshikh and the Saudi GEA are working both sides of the boxing/MMA divide. They’re also sponsoring boxing events under the “Riyadh Season” branding, including their first overseas card. That card , in Los Angeles on Aug. 3, is headlined by Terence Crawford (ESPN’s No. 2 pound-for-pound boxer) fighting Israil Madrimov for the WBA and WBO interim World Super-Welterweight title. And Alalshikh told Coppinger if Crawford wins, he wants to set up a fight with him and Alvarez in Saudi Arabia next year, but only if Alvarez will take “a fair price”:

“I will give Canelo what I think is a fair price,” Alalshikh said. “If he accepts it, he deals directly with me to finish the deal. I don’t want anyone in the middle. I guaranteed Crawford a big fight, I want Canelo for Crawford and Crawford wants Canelo. But if Canelo is crazy [with his financial demands] I will still guarantee Crawford any fight he wants.”

It’s fascinating to see someone so involved with boxing and boxing promotion spending huge amounts of money to finance a UFC PPV going head-to-head with a PPV featuring a boxer they want to arrange a future fight with. This also shows just how deeply Saudi money is becoming embedded in worldwide sports (with combat sports, also including WWE and the PFL , a particular focus there), and how the country’s controversial sporting influence goes well beyond their LIV Golf investment, and how their UFC relationship is likely to keep growing .

And it’s remarkable to see that lead to a UFC event at the Sphere. We’ll see how the PPV numbers stack up for the UFC and for Alvarez-Berlanga. Maybe this will be a big win for one side or the other, or maybe they’ll both draw off some audience from each other. In any case, one clear winner is Dolan and Sphere, who get an expensive UFC event at their venue thanks to these Saudi funds.

[ ESPN ]

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