White: It’s ‘frustrating’ that Texas still won’t allow packed arenas
Dana White can’t move UFC 260 to Texas.
On Thursday, Dana White revealed the possibility of moving UFC 260 and all future events to Texas. These plans were related to Governor Greg Abbott’s recent executive order, allowing businesses to operate at full capacity.
But during the UFC 259 post-fight presser on Saturday, the UFC president stated that the Texas plans likely won’t push through. Yet, despite the setback, White isn’t too bothered.
“The governor is claiming that Texas is open, I talked to him. He wants to open Texas, he wants all businesses to resume, but these Mayors in these towns feel differently. So, it’s unfortunate,” White told the media.
“The governor’s announcing that Texas is open. Texas isn’t open. As frustrating as it is… I’m ready to go. I will move March 27th to Texas today if one of these places would open, but they’re not doing it. But at the end of the day, oh well, we’ll all just stay here at the APEX.”
The APEX Facility in Las Vegas and Fight Island in Abu Dhabi have been the primary venues for UFC events since the pandemic shut the world down in March of 2020. For White, having these two at his disposal has been helpful in keeping the business thriving.
“I don’t know if you guys are getting as comfy here as I am and as lazy,” White said. “It’s pretty easy to swing over here and just walk in and to what we do here. So we can do this forever and yes, the APEX is one of the smartest things we’ve done in 20 years.
“Timing was everything in life. This place was done just in time for a global pandemic.
“This and Fight Island was a really big deal. We can only do so many fights here before we burn out all the American talent and you have to start having international fights. And we would’ve been in big trouble without Fight Island.”
UFC 260 is currently slated to happen on March 27 at the APEX. It will feature two title fights: Stipe Miocic vs. Francis Ngannou at heavyweight and Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega at featherweight.