"We know it's a big market for us" - Dana White confirms UFC in European nation in the near future

Dana White recently confirmed that the UFC has big plans in store to host an event in a European nation in the near future.

During a recent media scrum, the UFC CEO revealed that Spain is a European market that they will be expanding to in the new year. He noted that surging featherweight contender Ilia Topuria is the inspiration for the expansion as he is a big star in Spain and mentioned that he believes it will be an important market for the promotion.

He said:

"We had heard he [Ilia Topuria] had a huge fan base in Spain, Hunter [Campbell] flew out there and met with him last week to talk to him and you know, it's big. That's the other thing too... we'll be going to Spain soon too. We know that Spain is a huge market for us, we know that they love Topuria and we just gotta figure it out now." [9:39 - 10:05]

Dana White also confirmed that the upcoming featherweight title fight between Ilia Topuria and Alexander Volkanovski will have no effect on their plans for an event in Spain. He said:

"No matter how the fight [Volkanovski vs.Topuria] turns out, we're definitely going to Spain" [10:08 - 10:11]

It will be interesting to see how soon Dana White would like to book a UFC event in Spain. It's likely that Ilia Topuria will headline the event, so it appears as though they will wait to see what transpires at UFC 298 before they commit to a venue and date.

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Dana White announces UFC's new media rights deal in Canada

Dana White recently made news in Canada as he officially announced that UFC 297 will be taking place at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, with the promotion's new media rights deal taking effect in 2024.

The UFC CEO announced that the promotion has signed a multi-year broadcast agreement that will see them return to Sportsnet. He was thrilled with the return and mentioned that the network played a big role in their success in Canada, saying:

"You think back to the 'GSP' days, Sportsnet helped build this business in Canada, so a lot of cool stuff, man" [0:39 - 0:47]