"Dana White got told haha" - Fans react after first UFC Saudi Arabia event gets postponed

UFC Saudi Arabia is being moved to a later part in 2024 and some are teasing Dana White about the reported reason behind why that is.

Early March was the initially targeted juncture for the Riyadh event, but MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani stated this card would actually take place within Q2 of 2024.

X account @mma_orbit shared a post on this UFC Saudi Arabia information and said,

"🚨| The #UFCSaudiArabia event on March 2nd has been POSTPONED, per @arielhelwani . The new date for the UFC’s first event in Saudi Arabia is expected to be in June. It was reportedly postponed due to the Saudi Arabian higher-ups being unhappy with the current quality of the fight card. #UFCSaudiArabia #UFC #MMA"

Several X users rushed to voice their opinions in the comments, and a sizable tweet thread emerged from that.

@wi1dyy said:

"@Max_Branningg Dana white got told haha"

@casualmmainc stated:

"Dana tried to give them a Holly Holm main event"

@ZtnBlanco quipped:

"Yeah. That card was looking like some heaping ass tbh. Good decision."

@Shak_Fu said:

"They probably wanted Anderson Silva vs. GSP on there"

@RobbieSnipe stated:

"Saidi arabia calls the shots lol"

@DKD2421 quipped:

"Good on the Saudi’s for telling dana to kick rocks"

Check out the initial tweet on the UFC Saudi Arabia timeline amendment below:

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UFC Saudi Arabia and the announced card so far

UFC has been steadily adding fights to this event as recently as a few days ago. Per MMA Junkie, several new matchups for this event were announced.

Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Shamil Gaziev pits the ranked heavyweight against a surging unbeaten contender looking for a spot within the top 15.

Yanis Ghemmouri vs. Vinicius Oliveira was also solidified days ago, with the latter making his anticipated octagon debut. The former looks to have his sophomore UFC outing to put the controversy of his debut (one where many thought he actually took a low blow instead of a body shot) far behind him.

Also, Javid Basharat vs. Aiemann Zahabi and Brendon Marotte vs. Mohammad Yahya were a pair of exciting matchups that officially came to light late last week.

Already announced bouts for the card included:

• Mohammad Mokaev vs. Alex Perez
• Eryk Anders vs. Jamie Pickett
• Joel Alvarez vs. Ludovit Klein