Dana White might want to have a word with the “co-leader” in MMA.
Following a historic UFC 300 card with 20,067 fans in attendance, the UFC CEO spent most of the post-fight press conference celebrating an incredible night of action until somebody made the ill-fated decision to mention the name “Bellator” to him. The subject came up while discussing a possible UFC card in Hawaii, which White shot down due to infrastructure problems that would prevent the promotion from actually traveling there.
When a reporter mentioned that Bellator previously held cards in Hawaii, White scoffed at the remark before joking that the organization now owned by PFL could probably “put on a f****** fight in the parking lot.” That led to White noting that the PFL actually promoted a card in Las Vegas this past Friday night, a fact he only heard about at the very last minute.
“You know ‘PFL-ator’ was here on Friday?” White said combining PFL and Bellator into one name. “Did anybody know that? I didn’t know until f****** Friday.”
The PFL 2 card took place at The Theater at Virgin Hotels with light heavyweights and lightweights headlining event.
White promised he wasn’t trying to take unnecessary shots at his competition but he couldn’t help but mention a promotional email he saw from PFL trying to drum up ticket sales.
“They were selling tickets buy two, get two free,” White said. “I’m not busting on them. That’s a f****** fact. They put out a memo buy two, get two free. You’re having a bad f****** week if those are the memos you’re putting out. There were more people in my f****** green room tonight than there were at the fight.”
To be fair, PFL actually sent out an email advertising “buy two tickets, get two free” for the upcoming card in Chicago scheduled on Friday, April 19 and not the event just held in Las Vegas this past week.
![](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5h-42iALvwVe3fyv-pFw8fw2TeA=/0x0:1502x726/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1502x726):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25393320/Screenshot_2024_04_14_at_4.16.05_AM.png)
The April 19 card takes place at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago.
Either way, White couldn’t help but note the struggle for ticket sales that seems to indicate if a promotion was willing to offer that kind of deal for any event. UFC 300 certainly didn’t face those problems after producing a $16.5 million gate, the third-highest in the company’s history.
Loading comments...