Looking ahead, UFC President Dana White sees fun times for the promotion’s heavyweight division.
And that could include a heavyweight title unification bout in Paris, France, following Ciryl Gane’s interim title win on Saturday night at UFC 265.
Gane hails from France. Undisputed champ Francis Ngannou, from Cameroon in Africa, previously lived there.
A show in Paris makes all the sense in the world, if the ongoing coronavirus permits it. But there’s still UFC Africa on the horizon.
Following UFC 265, White was asked whether a trip to Africa was in the cards.
“You know what I guarantee you I can do? Florida and Texas,” White replied. “Florida and Texas I can do for the next however many years. I don’t know about anywhere else right now. So we’ll see.”
Since the UFC has gone back to live crowds at PPV events, Florida, Texas, Arizona, and Nevada have been the only states the promotion has visited.
That said, “provided everything goes right, I would love to do a fight in Africa,” White added. It’s something, in fact, that has been on the UFC head honcho’s mind for a while.
“To be honest with you, my whole life, I have dreamt of doing a fight in Africa. I’ve always wanted to do it,” he stated. It should come as no surprise that any fight promoter would want to visit the continent. After all, combat sports has deep history there, dating back the the Rumble in the Jungle boxing showdown between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali. When the UFC heads to Africa, “that will be a big one, and another monumental moment in my life,” White finished.
