PFL Boss Takes Shot At UFC’s Proposed Saudi Card

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PFL founder Donn Davis took some shots at the UFC over their upcoming proposed Saudi card.

Last week, Ariel Helwani reported that the Saudis were not happy with the UFC‘s March 2nd fight card and forced the company to move the date until they could come up with an adequate card.

’Ive been told, via sources, that the planned March 2nd UFC event in Saudi Arabia is being postponed—and the target is June,” Helwani said via his MMA Hour Youtube show. “I was told that the reason for the postponement is because they just want—the powers that be in Saudi Arabia—want a… more entertaining fight card.”

Davis also appeared on Helwani’s show to take a shot at the UFC for not stacking the Saudi card.

Via MMA Fighting

“I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the UFC March 2 card was cancelled the day before our fight [announcement],” Davis said. “Those who know MMA said, ‘That is not a mega-event. That is not worthy of being hosted in Saudi Arabia. That is a poor fight-quality card the UFC put forth on March 2.’”

Davis went on to tout the PFL’s efforts in Saudi Arabia while trashing the UFC.

“Could UFC load up a card and have a mega-card? They could!” Davis continued. “Do they do it that often? They don’t. We’re going to do it every time we do it, and so our partners who are host partners, like Saudi Arabia — our partners who are PPV partners like DAZN or ESPN+, they know they can count on us for these two fights a year, best of the best of the best. That’s how we’re thinking about it in terms of the business model in the future.”

It is worth noting that UFC CEO Dana White has already refuted Helwani’s report and claims he never proposed any fights to the Saudis before moving the date.

“We moved the card and I know there’s been a lot of talk about the card wasn’t good enough,” White said. “We never even proposed a card to them. We didn’t tell Saudi Arabia about one fight, so that’s all bulls—t. It was all bulls—t. We never even proposed a card to them. What we wanted to do is—every time UFC puts on an event, we wanna blow the doors off the place. We want people to be excited.”

“It was our first fight ever in Saudi Arabia and a couple of the fights that we wanted to line up, they weren’t ready to go, so we pushed the card back because we’re gonna deliver. But never once was one fight proposed to Saudi Arabia and they were like, ‘Yeah, no, this isn’t good enough.’

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