AEW President Tony Khan and WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross recently made an appearance at the UFC 273 event at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.
The main event of the bout is for the UFC Featherweight Championship between current champion Alexander Volkanovski and challenger Chang Jung Sung, also known as 'The Korean Zombie.'
Current Bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling will go up against interim champion Petr Yan for the unified UFC Bantamweight Championship. It was their second meeting since UFC 259 when Sterling won by disqualification.
On Twitter, ESPN's Marc Raimondi revealed that the AEW figureheads were in the building for the event:
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AEW's headquarters is at the TIAA Bank Field Drive in Jacksonville, near VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena.
Tony Khan is open to working with UFC
Khan and Ross' presence at UFC 273 wasn't a big deal as they were there to watch the fight. However, the AEW CEO has shown interest in working with the premier MMA promotion.
In his interview with Raimondi on ESPN, Khan asked the UFC to appear in the Double or Nothing event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 22. Khan hoped for some interaction with UFC's top brass, including President Dana White:
"I asked them [UFC] to come. I don't know. We'd have to see. If we could find a way to make that work, I think it would be great."
Several UFC stars appeared in AEW, including Jorge Masvidal, Henry Cejudo, Amanda Nunes, and Paige VanZant. The possibility of a working relationship with the UFC is open. It'd be interesting to see if Khan and White reach an agreement in the future.