Kansas City — While he didn’t have dates to share, following UFC Kansas City on Saturday, UFC President Dana White had two more cities to add to the promotion’s road plans for 2023.
Those would be Boston, MA and Jacksonville, FL.
“We’re going back to Canada, we’re going to hit Boston again,” said White, who is originally from the New England area, during the UFC Kansas City post-fight press conference, attended by Cageside Press. “This last fight in Jacksonville is a thank you to the mayor down there, who did a lot of good things for us during COVID.”
The UFC visited Jacksonville early during the coronavirus pandemic, holding three consecutive empty venue shows in the Florida city, prior to returning there in both 2021 and 2022 for a full house of fans at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena.
One other city that will be getting its second UFC event of 2023 has had its show downgraded, however. With Leon Edwards suggesting he won’t be fighting in July, a planned event at the O2 Arena in London, England is back to a Fight Night card.
Just last week, White had expressed hopes of hosting a second PPV in the English capital. That is no longer the case. “Yes,” White said simply when asked if it was back to a Fight Night for London.
Early at UFC Kansas City, the promotion’s submissions record for women was once again extended by Canadian Gillian Robertson. White was bullish on her performance, not surprisingly given the promotion saw fit to grant it one of three Performance of the Night bonuses handed out at Saturday’s event.
Asked whether Robertson, who made the move to strawweight, has flown under the radar in her UFC run so far, White replied by saying that “she doesn’t go under my radar. I love that kid. Every time she fights, win lose or draw, she goes for it. She goes in there to fight.”
Against Piera Rodriguez, “she could have easily kept that top position, just kept dropping punches and elbows. No, she goes for the arm-bar. Which is super-dangerous, to give up that position, a lot of people don’t do it, they play it safe,” observed White. “She never plays it safe. She goes in there and she goes to war. She was on the bottom, she starts scrambling, then she gets on the top— she’s a tough woman to fight. I love watching her fight, I’m a huge fan of hers.”
“She definitely does not go under the radar. If you’re a fight fan, every time she steps in there, if you’re a real fight fan you know you’re in for a treat. Win, lose, or draw.”
Watch the full UFC Kansas City post-fight press conference with Dana White above.
