Why the UFC must evolve to win over Saudi Arabia  

UFC is looking to replicate it's UAE presence in Saudi Arabia. (UFC)
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Updated 13 March 2024
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Why the UFC must evolve to win over Saudi Arabia  

  • The premier MMA franchise has got off to a rocky start in the Kingdom and needs to put on a strong showing with its June 22 card  

DUBAI: Since its inception in 1993, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC, has been the undisputed leader in the world of mixed martial arts. Led by its tireless CEO and face of the company, Dana White, the promotion has taken the sport to heights that others can only dream of.

It has made fighters like Conor McGregor, Jon Jones and Islam Makhachev household names — a feat traditionally reserved for boxers. Although most of its cards are held in its US home, the UFC regularly sells out arenas worldwide when it takes the show on the road. It is a juggernaut.

It has found a second home in the UAE. What started as a one-off event in Abu Dhabi back in 2010 has turned into a mutually beneficial relationship. The bond between Abu Dhabi Tourism and the UFC grew stronger during the COVID-19 lockdown as Yas Island was turned into Fight Island, which allowed bouts to be beamed into homes around the planet. The recent contract renewal that runs to 2028 adds an extra annual event to the Abu Dhabi calendar and provides another significant foothold for the UFC in the Middle East.

But for the first time in its 30-year existence, the UFC has been presented with a puzzle it has yet to solve, which is that Saudi Arabia has quickly become the fight capital of the world.

The speed at which this happened has caught many combat sports fans and organizations off-guard. Having dabbled in boxing bouts back in 2018, with George Groves and Callum Smith duking it out in Jeddah and a stint hosting influencer boxing events such as Jake Paul versus Tommy Fury, the Kingdom is now the home to some of the biggest fights around. Heavyweight champions Anthony Joshua, Oleksandr Usyk, Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder have all showcased their pugilism in Saudi Arabia.

Over the last 12 months, the architect of these showstopping bouts, Turki Alalshikh, chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, has been calling the shots. He only wants the best — “real fighters, not YouTubers” — and his decision-making has not only seen the Kingdom become the premier spot for combat sports but has breathed new life into heavyweight boxing, which has diminished as a spectacle over the last two decades.

Alalshikh has fixed his gaze on MMA and is determined, once again, to deliver the very best of the sport in Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom-backed Professional Fighters League pulled out all the stops to put on a “Champions vs Champions” card on Feb. 24, between its own stable of stars and those of its recently purchased Bellator franchise. It was an unprecedented event that fit Alalshikh’s call for the best of the best. Although PFL/Bellator does not have the same level of star power as the UFC, yet, they put them all on one card, which was a savvy move.

For the UFC’s first foray into Saudi Arabia, serving up a stellar card should have been easy. But the UFC missed the mark for the first time in recent memory. The card was earmarked for March 2 but has been pushed to June 22. Rumors suggest that the proposed card lacked stars and was rejected by the powers that be. Dana White quickly dismissed this accusation as a lie and mischief-making. However, despite the protests, the UFC was left unusually vulnerable. It also allowed the PFL’s President Donn Davis to throw a few jabs at the rival promotion.

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the UFC March 2nd card was cancelled the day before our fight (announcement),” Davis told The MMA Hour host Ariel Helwani at the time. “That is not a mega-event. That is not worthy of being hosted in Saudi Arabia.”

Mudslinging aside, Davis would know the criteria Alalshikh demands being met of any sporting roadshow coming to Saudi Arabia. The truth is likely somewhere in the middle. What further bloodies the nose of the UFC in this situation is that not only is the allure of world-class combat sports enough to put the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis and more ring- or cage-side, but its own superstars too.

Current UFC heavyweight champion Jones was at the PFL versus Bellator showdown recently, and McGregor was at the Tyson Fury versus Francis Ngannou bout. McGregor, who was interviewed ringside, was furious with the UFC for not getting him a fight, and praised Saudi Arabia’s contribution to the world of combat sports. There is no chance that these two things went unnoticed at UFC headquarters.

As it stands, the UFC Saudi Arabia card is set for June 22. It is still a “Fight Night” (read: no title fight), and, at the time of writing, there is no indication of who might be on it.

There is no doubt that the promotion is keen to blow the doors off with its debut in the Kingdom. However, the UFC will need to think creatively if the card does not have a title match, especially as it regularly hosts them in the UAE. The newly crowned “Fight Capital of the World” will only gain more prominence as it becomes the de facto location for superstar events. The pressure is on the UFC to live up to its championship status.


PGA Championship invites 7 LIV players to get top 100 in the world

Updated 1 min 25 sec ago
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PGA Championship invites 7 LIV players to get top 100 in the world

  • The group of LIV players includes Patrick Reed, whose tie for 12th in the Masters moved him inside the top 100
  • The field has 21 club professionals — 20 from the PGA Professional Championship last week, and Michael Block, who qualified by finishing among the top 15 last year at Oak Hill

NEW YORK: The PGA Championship officially has Tiger Woods in a field released Tuesday that includes invitations to seven players from Saudi-funded LIV Golf, giving the major the entire top 100 in the world ranking at Valhalla next week.

The PGA of America strives to have the top 100 in the world to maintain its reputation for having the strongest field of the four majors, although it is not part of the criteria.

Instead, the PGA uses a catch-all category of “special invitations.” The group of LIV players includes Patrick Reed, whose tie for 12th in the Masters moved him inside the top 100. He is at No. 92, and the invitation keeps alive his streak of playing every major since the 2014 Masters.

The PGA Championship returns to Valhalla in Louisville, Kentucky, for the fourth time on May 16-19. Rory McIlroy won at Valhalla the last time it was there in 2014. The course is best known for Woods winning a playoff over Bob May in 2000 for his third straight major.

Joaquin Niemann, who won the Australian Open in December and has two LIV Golf wins this year, already received an invitation. The surprise was Talor Gooch announcing in an X post on Monday that he had received an invitation.

It was a sign the PGA of America’s selection committee was looking at LIV results on their own, as Gooch doesn’t play much outside the Saudi league. He won three times on LIV in 2023 and won the season points list.

Other invitations went to Dean Burmester, Lucas Herbert, Adrian Meronk, all of them inside the top 100 in the world. The seventh invitation went to David Puig, the 22-year-old from Spain who is No. 106 in the world ranking. Puig has finished in the top 10 in six of his last seven tournaments on the Asian Tour, including two wins.

LIV will be represented by 16 players, down from 18 a year ago.

There might have been one more, except British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen turned down his invitation. Oosthuizen, who is No. 125 in the world, won twice late last year in South Africa in tournaments co-sanctioned by the European tour.

His manager, Carlos Rodriguez, said in a text message that Oosthuizen already had some personal commitments.

The LIV group includes defending champion Brooks Koepka, who goes for a fourth PGA Championship title. He is the only active LIV player to win a major.

Kerry Haigh, the championship director for the PGA of America, has said he would consider deserving players from tours around the world. Invitations were given to Tim Widing of Sweden, who has won consecutive tournaments on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Another invitation went to Kazuma Kobori, a 22-year-old born in Japan who now plays under the New Zealand flag. He has won three times this year in the Webex Players Series on the PGA Tour of Australasia.

The field has 21 club professionals — 20 from the PGA Professional Championship last week, and Michael Block, who qualified by finishing among the top 15 last year at Oak Hill.

The PGA is keeping two spots open in case the winners of the Wells Fargo Championship and the Myrtle Beach Classic are not already eligible. Only four players in the 69-man field at the Wells Fargo Championship have not qualified. The first alternate is Doug Ghim.


Hummels stuns Mbappe and PSG to take Dortmund to Champions League final

Updated 17 sec ago
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Hummels stuns Mbappe and PSG to take Dortmund to Champions League final

  • Hummels struck five minutes into the second half at the Parc des Princes and PSG were unable to muster a response
  • PSG have still never won the trophy despite all the money invested by their Qatari owners since the 2011 takeover, and there will be no dream send-off for Mbappe

PARIS: Mats Hummels headed in the only goal as Borussia Dortmund stunned Kylian Mbappe and Paris Saint-Germain in their Champions League semifinal second leg on Tuesday, winning 1-0 on the night and advancing 2-0 on aggregate to next month’s final at Wembley.

Hummels struck five minutes into the second half at the Parc des Princes and PSG were unable to muster a response, the home side all out of luck as they hit the woodwork four times in total.

Dortmund, who sit fifth in the German Bundesliga, were never expected to go so far and will be underdogs in the June 1 showpiece regardless of whether they face their old rivals Bayern Munich or Real Madrid, who meet on Wednesday.

It will be their first final since 2013 when, remarkably, the match was also played at Wembley and Jurgen Klopp’s Dortmund lost to Bayern.

Hummels played in that final and here, 11 years later, he was the hero as Dortmund built on the advantage given to them by Niclas Fuellkrug’s goal in the first leg.

“It’ll take us a bit of time to realize that, but we’re looking forward to it extremely,” Dortmund coach Edin Terzic told broadcaster Amazon Prime of getting to the final.

“We did it somehow, making it to London.”

The story of this semifinal, however, is as much about PSG’s failure in another crunch knockout tie in the competition.

They have still never won the trophy despite all the money invested by their Qatari owners since the 2011 takeover, and there will be no dream send-off for Mbappe.

He will leave when his contract expires after this season and had been hoping to play his last game for the club in the June 1 final.

Instead PSG will be left to reflect on how they failed to get their hands on the biggest trophy of all during Mbappe’s seven years at his hometown team.

“We were not clinical enough. They scored two goals, one from a corner and one from a long ball. We created lots more chances, many more than them, but we didn’t take them,” PSG captain Marquinhos told Canal Plus.

“We got so close and we wanted to get to the final. But we had to win tonight and be more clinical, and we were not.”

PSG’s last two semifinal appearances both came during the pandemic, meaning this was the first time they had hosted a match at this stage of a European competition with fans in 29 years, since losing to AC Milan in 1995.

Luis Enrique’s team had won 2-0 at home against Dortmund in the group stage and were safe in the knowledge that a repeat of that performance would be enough.

The PSG coach made one major selection decision, dropping Bradley Barcola and bringing in Portuguese striker Goncalo Ramos. That meant moving Mbappe from the middle onto the left wing.

Dortmund would have been bracing themselves for an onslaught from kick-off, but that did not transpire.

Mbappe took only seven minutes to produce his first attempt, yet his volley was easily saved by Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel.

The hosts had most of the possession but struggled to get Mbappe into the game, the France captain often looking isolated on the wing.

In fact it was Dortmund who had the best chance of the first half, when Karim Adeyemi led a counterattack before seeing his shot saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma.

It felt as though the hosts needed to change something or risk going out with a whimper.

They should have been ahead two minutes after the restart, when Ramos touched on a ball driven into the box by Mbappe, but Warren Zaire-Emery contrived to hit the post from close range.

That was to prove crucial as Dortmund struck moments later.

PSG cheaply conceded a corner, and Julian Brandt’s delivery from the Dortmund right was headed in by Hummels.

Ramos swept a shot over on the hour mark before Nuno Mendes became the second PSG player to strike the right-hand post, this time with a powerful shot from distance.

It was starting to look as if it would not be PSG’s night, and Luis Enrique realized he had to act as he sent on Barcola and Marco Asensio for Ramos and Fabian Ruiz, moving Mbappe through the middle.

Dortmund sent on an extra defender in the hulking Niklas Suele and they withstood everything PSG threw at them while also being helped by the frame of the goal.

Kobel turned Mbappe’s shot onto the bar on 86 minutes and Vitinha also rattled the woodwork but Dortmund hung on to book their date in London.


Riyadh Season extends partnership with UFC

Updated 08 May 2024
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Riyadh Season extends partnership with UFC

  • Riyadh Season will also be a sponsor for UFC 306

RIYADH: Riyadh Season has signed a strategic agreement to extend a partnership with the UFC, Saudi Arabia’s entertainment authority chief announced on Tuesday.

The agreement ensures another UFC event in the Kingdom during the 2024-2025 Riyadh Season.

Riyadh will also host, for the first time, the Power Slap event, the world’s top slap fighting competition.

It was also announced that Riyadh Season will be a sponsor for UFC 306 on Sept. 14, 2024, to be held in Las Vegas.

“This agreement is a continuation of Riyadh Season’s aims to host and partner with prominent and international events of mass interest,” said Turki Alalshikh. “UFC is the most prominent Mixed Martial Arts organization in the world and their platform of global fans is unrivalled.”

Kingdom Arena in Riyadh will host the first Saudi UFC event on June 22 as middleweight contenders Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev battle in a highly anticipated matchup.

Riyadh Season will host the heavyweight boxing clash between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk on May 18. Fury withdrew from the bout that was scheduled for February due to a cut during sparring. But the showdown is back on and has the boxing world enthralled.

Riyadh Season is an annual festival held in the Saudi capital, during the cooler months of the year, bringing together globally enticing entertainment, cultural and sporting events.

 


Delhi down Rajasthan to stay in IPL play-off race

Updated 07 May 2024
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Delhi down Rajasthan to stay in IPL play-off race

  • Delhi posted 221-8 courtesy of Jake Fraser-McGurk’s 20-ball 50 and an attacking 65 by Abishek Porel at their home Feroz Shah Kotla ground
  • Rajasthan looked good in their chase after Samson’s fifth half-century of this season but his dismissal turned the match in Delhi’s favor

NEW DELHI: Skipper Sanju Samson’s 86 went in vain as Delhi Capitals beat Rajasthan Royals by 20 runs on Tuesday to stay in the hunt for an IPL play-off berth.
Delhi posted 221-8 courtesy of Jake Fraser-McGurk’s 20-ball 50 and an attacking 65 by Abishek Porel at their home Feroz Shah Kotla ground.
Rajasthan looked good in their chase after Samson’s fifth half-century of this season but his dismissal, a catch in the deep which was ruled clean by the third umpire, turned the match in Delhi’s favor.
Rajasthan, who are yet to confirm their play-off spot, lost three more wickets in the next two overs and Delhi restricted the opposition to 201-8 for their sixth win in 12 matches.
“We had it in our hands, it was 10-11 runs per over which was achievable but these things happen in the IPL,” Samson said after the loss.
Inaugural champions Rajasthan, placed second behind toppers Kolkata Knight Riders, have eight wins in 11 matches and still favorites to make the top two in the play-offs.
Top four teams will make the play-offs but number one and two will have the advantage of getting an extra match to enter the final on May 26 in Chennai.
Spinner Kuldeep Yadav returned impressive figures of 2-25. Fast bowlers Khaleel Ahmed and Mukesh Kumar also took two wickets.
But the batters set up victory after Fraser-McGurk, who raised his 50 in 19 balls, and Porel attacked in an opening stand of 60.
Rajasthan lost wickets after the openers departed but Tristan Stubbs hammered 41 off 20 balls in a late charge to take the total to 221-8.
Stubbs was helped by Gulbadin Naib, who hit 19, and Rasikh Salam, who hit two sixes in his nine runs, as Delhi got 53 runs from the last three overs.
The in-form Samson, a wicketkeeper-batsman who has amassed 459 runs, attempted to set up the chase only to depart in the 16th over when Shai Hope caught the batsman off Kumar.
Hope’s foot was parallel to the boundary rope but the third umpire ruled it out and a disappointed Samson walked back after a chat with the on-field officials.
Veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin led the Rajasthan bowling with figures of 3-24.
Yuzvendra Chahal took his 350th T20 wicket — first Indian to achieve the feat — when he got skipper Rishabh Pant, a left-hand batsman, caught out at fine leg for 15.


Strong Day 4 showing from World’s Top 10 as Saudi Smash livestream viewership surpasses 2 million globally

Updated 07 May 2024
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Strong Day 4 showing from World’s Top 10 as Saudi Smash livestream viewership surpasses 2 million globally

  • Trio of Top 10 players progress to women's singles last 32; four of men’s Top 10 also progress
  • Over 260,000 hours of Saudi Smash action watched on WTT Livestream & Livestream Replay; impressions reach 10 million

JEDDAH: The world’s best players were back in full flow at Saudi Smash 2024 with several top seeds securing statement wins on Tuesday. After some sensational upsets 24 hours prior, the table tennis elite showed their quality and skill on Day 4 of Saudi Arabia’s latest international sporting event – moving within touching distance of the latter stages with some exceptional play and performances.

With the highest-ranked Saudi and Chinese players in action across 29 matches in Jeddah, a wonderful blend of local and international fans watched on as the Men’s Singles round of 32 took centre stage at King Abdullah Sports City. World number 2 Fan Zhendong, French fifth seed Felix Lebrun, Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto (#9), and Germany’s Dang Qiu (#10) all progressed to the last 16 with impressive victories.

A trio of top 10 players also moved within one match of the Women’s Singles quarter-finals. China’s world number 1 and Saudi Smash favorite Sun Yingsha secured passage to the next round alongside her countrywoman Chen Xingtong (#6). Mima Ito (#10) also progressed, setting up a highly anticipated all-Japanese showdown with Miyuu Kihara on Wednesday.

Day 4 came to a close on Table 1 inside the Infinity Arena as hometown heroes Ali Alkhadrawi and Abdulaziz Bu Shulyabi faced off against the Men’s Doubles top seed pairing of Wang Chuqin and Ma Long – the world’s number 1 and 3 ranked players. The Chinese duo progressed to the quarter-finals following a high-quality clash.

Despite falling short against the Men’s Doubles favourites, Ali Alkdahrawi – the Kingdom’s highest-ranked player – was full of optimism ahead of Saudi Smash 2025 and beyond. He said: “Playing against the world’s best pairing is invaluable experience for both of us and the occasion was all the more special because of our home supporters. We’re blessed and fortunate to have received the best support possible in this event. We really enjoyed today’s match and went into it with high confidence. It stands us in good stead as we look to continue our development and we can’t wait to return for next year’s second edition.”

Organised by the Saudi Table Tennis Federation (STTF) and World Table Tennis (WTT) in collaboration with the Ministry of Sport, Saudi Smash is the newest WTT Grand Smash event and one of three major tournaments in the WTT Series Calendar.

Since Saudi Arabia’s first officially sanctioned table tennis event started, its influence and impact have been felt around the globe with accumulated livestream views on WTT channels surpassing two million. Over 260,000 hours of Saudi Smash action have also been watched across livestream and livestream replays – where impressions have also exceeded 10 million.

Running until May 11, Saudi Smash combines the precision and skill of the world’s best table tennis players with the dynamic and entertaining experience of a WTT Grand Smash with 240 of the world’s best men, women, and doubles athletes from 55 countries competing.

The Saudi Smash joins an incredible year-round schedule of international sports in Saudi Arabia and is a part of the Kingdom’s investment in sport, which aims to inspire its people to enjoy active and healthy lives as part of the country’s Vision 2030 cultural transformation.

Tickets to Saudi Smash are on sale here.

For the complete player list, visit here.