"Can't save the UFC," "Gonna ask Dana to run his boxing business" - Fans react to Dana White's meeting with Turki Alalshikh before UFC Saudi Arabia

UFC President Dana White met with the Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia, Turki Alalshikh. This development comes ahead of the UFC Saudi Arabia event that takes place this Saturday in Riyadh.

White is always looking to expand his promotion's reach and the Middle East is a considerably large market for sports and entertainment. UFC's first event in the region came on April 10, 2010 at UFC 212. But after COVID-19, the UAE capital has become a yearly stopover for the leading MMA organization.

This year, for the first time, the UFC President brings a card to Saudi Arabia, and the subsequent meeting with Alalshikh has fans speculating on the future between the two:

One fan commented on how the proposed boxing organization needs a leader like White:

"He's gonna ask dana to run his boxing business"

Another fan wondered if this was how UFC was going to be saved:

"Can't save the UFC"

More reactions can be seen below:

Fan reactions

Certainly, the stardom of Khabib Nurmagomedov and the explosion of Muslim athletes in the UFC have led to a rapid upsurge in the MMA fandom in the Middle East.

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Turki Alalshikh has huge plans for boxing

Turki Alalshikh has spoken about his plans to bring all the major boxing organizations under one umbrella. He aspires to create a UFC-like promotion which encapsulates all the major promotions and organizations in boxing for the purpose of finding out the best pugilist in the world.

Boxing has always faced flak for not being able to declare who is the greatest fighter in a weight class. If an MMA fighter wins a belt in the UFC, everybody assume that he is the greatest fighter of that weight in the world. But, with four major sanctioning bodies in boxing, it is quite difficult to name one boxer as the undisputed champion in their respective weight class.