UFC is discovering two big surprises from their Saudi sugar daddy

Endeavor is finding out that the Kingdom wants a seat at the table.

Art by Chris Rini

UFC is learning that there are strings attached to receiving a reported $20 million dollars from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Two interesting surprises await MMA’s version of Team Abu Dhabi.

A combination of matchmaking demands and media influence campaigns is going to prove troublesome for the Ultimate Fighting Control freaks.

When the Kingdom writes a check for a $20 million fight card, they’re not going to sit around and accept sloppy seconds. They’re not going to sit by and watch a replay of what happened between UFC and Japanese advertising agency Dentsu a decade ago.

Ariel Helwani, on his flagship The MMA Hour weekly broadcast, broke the news “from sources” that “the powers-that-be” in Saudi Arabia were supposedly not very happy about the March 2nd fight card booked by UFC and that the Saudi UFC event would be postponed until June of 2024. Nolan King of MMA Junkie reported that the originally-booked UFC Saudi card would still take place… at the UFC APEX.

The UFC was trying to sell the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a warehouse-level fight card for $20 million!?!

As one can rightfully surmise, the Saudis were less than impressed with UFC’s business behavior and told them to come back under better terms and conditions. What this latest development reveals for UFC is two discomforting truths about their underlying business model and how the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia plans to navigate the combat sports landscape to get the business deals that they want from promoters.

A seat at the table? Or a seat… at the head of the table?

When The Financial Times reported on the Saudis investing a reported $100 million in the PFL, it raised a lot of eyebrows. Why would the Kingdom invest in a quasi-sport that is notorious for promoters going bust?