Turki Alalshikh Wants Conor McGregor To Fight In Saudi
Turki Alalshikh is serious about having Conor McGregor and the UFC hold events in Saudi Arabia.
Under his direction, Saudi Arabia is putting on the biggest boxing fights. Tyson Fury vs Francis Ngannou kicked things off as The Gypsy King won a thrilling split decision. Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua has also been announced.
That is in addition to reports that the Kingdom wants to make the Undisputed Light Heavyweight Title bout between Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev. After having done a major shake-up of boxing, Turki Alalshikh wanted to do the same with the UFC.
Turki Alalshikh On McGregor
“I talked to my sister Caroline here and she’s close friends with McGregor and myself. We are ready to have a fight with him [here]. We try maybe, and we will announce it and do something big [in the future]. I ask the UFC if there’s a chance to have McGregor in this card. Or, in the future card. I want to tell you something. There is two things I’m focusing in, [MMA] and the situation in boxing,” Turki Alalshikh said
The Saudis have already shown their commitment to MMA. Reports indicated that they have invested over $100 million in the PFL to grow the sport in the Middle East. The UFC was also set to have an event in March, but it has been postponed since the card was not ready.
If Turki Alalshikh does manage to get his vision across, it could increase the MMA fighters’ purses, especially since the UFC is currently in an anti-trust law suit over claims they were not paying their fighters enough having had a monopoly. By the looks of it, White wants to deliver the best card in Saudi Arabia, as he explained the delay.
White On Saudi
“We moved the card, and I know there’s been a lot of talk about that the card wasn’t good enough. We never even proposed a card to them. [And] we didn’t tell Saudi Arabia about one fight so that’s all bulls**t. We never even proposed a card to them.
“What we wanted to do is, every time the UFC puts on an event, we want to blow the doors off the place. We want people to be excited. So it was our first fight ever in Saudi Arabia, and a couple of fights that we wanted to line up, they weren’t ready to go so we pushed the card back because we’re going to deliver,” White revealed
McGregor and the UFC have shown themselves as the biggest MMA names. The increasing competition also means the pressure is on the UFC to maintain those standards. But if there is anywhere fighters can expand their profile and become household names, then it is Saudi Arabia. But that all depends on getting an agreement in place to put on those mega-fights.
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