Dana White is still determined to bring the UFC to both Spain and Africa.
After the underwhelming card in Manchester last Saturday, the outspoken CEO provided an update on his plans to host events in Spain and Africa. White mentioned that while they are still finalizing details for an event in Africa, they have faced challenges in securing a venue in Ilia Topuria’s home country.
“The problem with Topuria and Spain is Spain’s venues are so backed up since COVID,” White told TNT Sports. “They have so many events going on. It’s hard to get a venue there. But when we can, we will definitely do that.“
Right after Topuria’s second-round victory over Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298, Dana White expressed interest in organizing an event at the 80,000-seat Santiago Bernabéu, the home stadium of Spain’s Real Madrid football team.
Dana White details plans to run shows in Africa
Dana White has more plans in mind. He intends to bring the UFC to South Africa, where current middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis hails from. White also emphasized his desire to expand the promotion to other parts of Africa.
“I wanna go to Africa. We’re still working on an Africa fight; not just South Africa, but Africa,” White added. “You know, ’cause everybody will make the argument, ‘If you go to South Africa, that’s not really Africa.’ That’s Africa to me. But we’ll still look to go to other parts of Africa. It’s important to me.”
Du Plessis will defend his 185-pound title for the first time on Saturday, August 17 when UFC 305 returns to Perth, Australia. In the main event, ‘Stillknocks’ will face former two-time champion Israel Adesanya, who aims to become the division’s first-ever three-division champion.
DDP won the title after a closely-contested split decision victory over Sean Strickland at UFC 296 in January. Adesanya’s fight in Australia will mark his return to the octagon since his loss to Strickland nearly a year ago.
