London — Following a massively successful card at the O2 Arena on Saturday, UFC President Dana White has revealed another major international show is set to happen: France.
Asked by Cageside Press at the UFC London post-fight press conference what the criteria for the promotion visiting other locations was at this point, with several countries reopening after months and years of COVID-related shutdowns, White replied by saying the London show itself nearly fell through.
“We had some problems. I was considering pulling out of here two weeks ago, I was going to refund everybody’s tickets and go to Abu Dhabi,” White revealed. Without specifying what the issue was in particular, he would add that “There’s certain things. The world’s a nutty place right now, it’s not as easy to do business. And I said, I’m just not going to play games. I’m going to go to places where I’m able to go and just run my business, and do what I want to do.”
“But I can tell you this,” White continued. “We will definitely do France this year. We will definitely do France. And I will definitely come back here again.”
That news will no doubt be greeted enthusiastically by UK fight fans, who turned out in droves and made the 2022 UFC London card one of the most memorable Fight Night events in several years.
And to think, it almost didn’t happen — something White touched on again.
“We had a little bit of a wobble a couple of weeks ago, but we got it worked out, we got it fixed. People kept their word, and we were able to come over here and do what we do. So I’m very happy in every sense of the word with this event, and I’m going to come back as soon as possible.”
Watch the full UFC London post-fight press scrum with Dana White above. More coverage from the event can be found below.
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Muhammad Mokaev
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Elise Reed
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Jack Shore
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Paul Craig
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Makwan Amirkhani
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Sergei Pavlovich
