Turki Alalshikh announces "strategic agreement" signing between the UFC and Riyadh Season to extend partnership deal

The General Entertainment Authority chairman of Saudi Arabia, Turki Alalshikh, revealed on Tuesday that Riyadh Season and the UFC have signed a "strategic agreement" that would expand their collaboration.

Alalshikh recently took to X and made the announcement with the following caption:

''A strategic agreement has been signed between Riyadh Season and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), including the sponsorship of the UFC event in Las Vegas, the UFC event in Riyadh, and Power Slap competitions''

Alalshikh informed ESPN that a significant UFC event is scheduled to take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, either around the end of 2024 or the start of 2025. He declared that the event would be huge in contrast to the June 22 UFC event in Saudi Arabia, which is set to feature a middleweight bout between Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev as the main attraction.

The yearly state-run sports and entertainment festival, Riyadh Season, draws major sponsors from the area's top businesses. It will sponsor UFC 306 on Sep. 14, the MMA promotion's inaugural event at The Sphere in Las Vegas. According to Alalshikh, UFC 306 branding and merchandising will feature signage commemorating the Riyadh Season.

''This is a strong message to the market with [this] UFC [partnership], We are working with everyone. My favorite is boxing, but we will try to make Riyadh one of the biggest cities around the world in MMA.''

Last year, the UFC and WWE combined to become TKO, a publicly traded business. WWE has hosted at least one of its high-end live events in Saudi Arabia since 2018. In 2014, WWE had its inaugural shows in the kingdom.

Alalshikh added:

''We will do big things with the UFC and TKO.''

Alalshikh also revealed that Riyadh will be the host of one of Dana White's Power Slap events.

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Joe Rogan is excited for UFC Saudi Arabia

Robert Whittaker will face Khamzat Chimaev in the main event of UFC Saudi Arabia on June 22. UFC CEO Dana White revealed that the middleweight match will be a title eliminator.

Joe Rogan, a long-time commentator for the organization, recently discussed the UFC Saudi Arabia headliner on a podcast session with Joey Diaz. He said:

"Whittaker vs. Khamzat Chimaev in Saudi Arabia. That one is gonna be f**king wild! That's a wild one. That's a wild fight."

Check out Joe Rogan's comments below (1:28:34):