By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
Not one to don a COVID-19 mask, UFC President Dana White told LVSportsBiz.com Thursday he is eyeing Houston to host UFC fights after Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he is dropping the mask mandate and coronavirus business restrictions in the country’s second biggest state.
“Dallas shot us down,” White told LVSportsBiz.com in a text late Thursday afternoon.
White, who forged ahead during the novel coronavirus to stage the country’s first major sports event in Jacksonville in May, has staged a stunning number of fight show events at UFC’s Apex facility next-door to the MMA promoter’s headquarters off the 215 in southwest Las Vegas in addition to holding international fights at the “fight island” structure in Abu Dhabi in the Middle East.
“Our business is on FIRE right now,” White told LVSportsBiz.com today after UFC closed a $350 million, five-year sponsorship deal with DraftKings.
It’s conceivable that White could hold UFC 260 on March 27 in Houston if he works a deal with a venue there. Right now, UFC 260 is set for the Apex.
Here is White today also talking with the media:
White said he wants to move UFC fight events to Texas ASAP because he has railed against governments that restrict business and fight shows. More than 500,000 Americans have died from COVID-19
Abbott made his announcement on Texas Independence Day.
And there’s probably not a more independent-minded sports president in the sports-business industry than White.