Dana White shuts down ‘bullshit’ Israel Adesanya vs Khamzat Chimaev at UFC Saudi Arabia bout rumors

Dana White has a contentious relationship with MMA media as evidenced by the controversy he has created with them in the past. However, White is not all to blame for it as sometimes the MMA media has run with stories that have often proven not to be true at all.

Saudi Arabia has delved into the MMA realm and the UFC will be making its debut in the kingdom in 2024. The main event for the Fight Night card has not yet been announced, but the MMA media recently leaked news of it, and Dana White had something to say about it.

Israel Adesanya vs Khamzat Chimaev bout rumors

Israel Adesanya, the former two-time UFC middleweight champion, and the undefeated Khamzat Chimaev were rumored to headline the upcoming Fight Night event in Saudi Arabia. The duo has been poised to fight for the middleweight title ever since Chimaev began to make big noise in the welterweight division.

However, the potential matchup began to lose fan enthusiasm, particularly after Adesanya began to have rivalries with Alex Pereira and Dricus du Plessis. Moreover, Khamzat Chimaev’s health issues post-COVID-19 contraction did not help matters either. Furthermore, Adesanya lost the title to Pereira, and won it back, only to lose it to Sean Strickland.

Even before the rumors of an Adesanya versus Chimaev bout in Riyadh, Adesanya was speculated to headline UFC 300 against Dricus du Plessis. Adesanya too filed the speculation with his social media posts, particularly after du Plessis called him out at UFC 297.

Nonetheless, Dana White announced Alex Pereira and Jamahal Hill as the main event of UFC 300 which interestingly, did not go well with fight fans on social media. Fans’ sentiments were in favor of Adesanya versus du Plessis or Adesanya versus Pereira.

Dana White talks on Adesanya vs Chimaev speculated bout

Numerous MMA media outlets announced that the UFC is in talks to make Israel Adesanya and Khamzat Chimaev headline the fight night event in the promotion’s debut in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Dana White immediately shut down the news with his stories on Instagram.

“Not happening. It was a fake post. All the MMA media that ran with it are the problem. Absolute Clowns”, White captioned one of his Instagram stories that had the screenshot of the fake news announcement. White further added another story with a picture he took of Sean Shelby and Hunter Campbell in the UFC War Room with the caption, “If you hear from MMA media and NOT us it’s probably BULLSHIT”.

The UFC’s original plans were to debut in Saudi Arabia on March 2 but Ariel Helwani reported that it was scrapped after the Saudis demanded a deeper card. Nonetheless, Dana White clarified that that was not the case and it was due to other reasons.

The PFL will make their debut in Saudi Arabia before the UFC as the scheduled PFL vs Bellator: Champs is on February 24. Moreover, Saudi-backed companies have already purchased a significant share of the PFL.

Who do you think will headline UFC Riyadh? Leave your prediction below!