Dana White and the UFC have big plans for 2023. The UFC President delivered some details on where the promotion may be heading in the new year.
During an appearance on MMA on SiriusXM, White divulged some details while speaking to Din Thomas and RJ Clifford. Not only is the UFC looking to finally move on from its events at The APEX in Las Vegas, but the promotion will also look to travel abroad once again, returning to countries it has been long absent from.
“We’ve got some big plans for next year,” White said. “We’re excited about it. We got a couple of big fights. Obviously, big-name fights that people want to see, but the other thing that’s going to happen, unless the world loses its mind again, we’re looking to get out there and start traveling again and go to a lot of places we haven’t been in a long time.
I want to go to Africa. I’ve been talking about that forever. We gotta get back into Australia, New Zealand, We gotta get back into Canada, and a lot of these fights we’ve been doing at The APEX, even on Fight Nights, we’re gonna get out of The APEX and start traveling around again.”
"Even on fight nights we're going to get out of the APEX and start traveling around again."@danawhite discusses the 'big plans' the @ufc has in store for 2023.
@DinThomas @RJcliffordMMA pic.twitter.com/FsQy3PpT79
— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) November 13, 2022
The UFC Heads Back to Australia as Dana White Eyes Fight Card in Africa
At UFC 281, the promotion officially announced that they would be heading back to Australia in February with a monster main event featuring newly crowned lightweight champion Islam Makhachev. The successor of Khabib Nurmagomedov will defend his title for the first time against featherweight world champion and No. 1 ranked pound-for-pound fighter, Alexander Volkanovski.
As far as an event in Africa, it’s something that Dana White has expressed a strong desire in doing. Especially as many of the UFC’s top stars are African-born including former champions Israel Adesanya and Kamaru Usman. UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou is also a native of Africa, making a trip to the continent a huge opportunity for the promotion to feature some of the biggest names to ever grace the Octagon in their homeland.
