The UFC’s debut event in Saudi Arabia, rescheduled from March to June, remains a UFC Fight Night Series card and will not include a title fight.
This was announced by UFC head Dana White in an interview with sports columnist Aaron Bronsteter, thus denying rumors of Islam Makhachev’s participation in the event.
“Yes, it will be a UFC Fight Night tournament with no championship fights,” the head of the organization said.
According to Canadian reporter Ariel Helwani, the tournament was postponed at the initiative of the host, who was not satisfied with the level of fights offered by the world’s strongest league.
“I know there was a lot of talk about the card not being good enough,” White explained. “But that’s complete nonsense because we haven’t offered them a single fight. We didn’t announce any fights. It was our first tournament in Saudi Arabia and there were a couple fights we wanted to do there but we didn’t meet the deadline. That’s why the decision was made to postpone it, because we always strive to show a decent result. It wasn’t like we offered Saudi Arabia fights and they said it wasn’t enough”
The UFC executive also confirmed the challenger status of the fight between Arman Tsarukyan and Charles Oliveira, the winner of which is expected to challenge current UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev this summer.
“Yes, it’s still a fight for the number one contender title.”
Recall that the bout of top lightweights will be part of the anniversary tournament UFC 300, which will be held on April 13 in Las Vegas.
Source: https://fighttime.ru/news/item/33689-islam-makhachev-ne-vystupit-na-turnire-ufc-v-saudovskoj-aravii.html?rand=19907
