Two of the biggest names in mixed martial arts, Canelo Alvarez and Dana White, will go head-to-head in Las Vegas on September 14th, in a rare overlap between two big-name boxing and mixed martial arts events.
Mexico’s Alvarez, a top boxing star, will defend the unified super middleweight championship against Edgar Berlanga at the MGM-owned T-Mobile Arena, while UFC 306 will see UFC host its first-ever live sporting event at the revolutionary Sphere venue two miles away.
Sean O’Malley Defends the UFC bantamweight championship. Merab Dvalishvili The MMA promotion will be planting the flag in the main event of UFC Riyadh Season Noche, where boxing’s biggest star traditionally plants the flag over Mexico’s Independence Day weekend.
“Canelo is one of the fighters I respect. [PBC’s Al] “Haymon took those dates away from me right away. The guys at MGM have had nothing but scorn for me and UFC for 20 years. Here’s the thing. Here we go,” UFC president White told ESPN on Friday.
UFC has held four pay-per-view events at T-Mobile Arena each year for the past two years, and MGM controlled all sporting venues on the Strip until Madison Square Garden Co. opened the Sphere in September.
This paves the way for White and UFC to hold a headline event on Sept. 14, even after PBC and Canelo booked the date with MGM Resorts International. Last year, White held the inaugural Noche UFC, a fight-night event at T-Mobile Arena, ahead of Canelo after the MMA promotion booked the date.
Alvarez instead fought two weeks later at T-Mobile Arena and won against Jermell Charlo.
“PBC is thrilled to continue its more than 20-year tradition of bringing championship boxing to Las Vegas over Mexican Independence Day weekend with our friends and partners MGM Resorts and T-Mobile Arena,” a PBC spokesperson told ESPN on Friday.
“This year is even more special as boxing’s biggest star, Canelo Alvarez, will fight Edgar Berlanga on September 14th. This will mark the sixth time that Mexican icon Alvarez will celebrate the holiday weekend in Las Vegas, and we wish our friends at UFC every success for the event.”
An MGM Resorts International spokesman said they had nothing to add to the PBC statement.
Before Alvarez took control of boxing’s revered days (along with Cinco de Mayo weekend), these two Mexican holidays were reserved for Floyd Mayweather (and before that, Oscar De La Hoya). This year, the September weekend will be shared by both Alvarez and UFC.
This was made possible after Turki Al-Alshik, chairman of the Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority, agreed to sponsor UFC 306 as part of the commercialisation of the Riyadh season.
“We’re going to beat him,” Alarczyk told ESPN about his event against Canelo.
White has expressed on multiple occasions how expensive it would be to host an event at the Sphere with the immersive screens and art direction necessary to take advantage of the venue’s audio and video capabilities. The Sphere also boasts the world’s highest resolution LED displays that envelop the audience.
Thanks to sponsorship money from Al-Arshiq and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, UFC is the first live sporting event to be held at the Sphere, and White acknowledged at the UFC 303 post-fight press conference last month that they have already spent $17 million on the event. He claimed that the experience UFC will provide at the Sphere “can never be replicated because it would be too expensive.”
“This will be a wonderful tribute to the extraordinary contributions of the Mexican people to martial arts,” White said.
But now White and the UFC must fight Mexico’s biggest sports star, Canelo Alvarez.
Canelo is expected to handily defeat the heavily underdog Berlanga, and Alarczyk hopes that could then lead to the biggest fight in boxing: Terence Crawford, the No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter on ESPN’s 2019 pound-for-pound rankings, versus Canelo.
Crawford will fight Israel Madrimov on Aug. 3 in Los Angeles, the main event of the first Riyadh season held outside Saudi Arabia. If Crawford is successful and wins a title in a third weight class, Alarczyk will be looking to set up an Alvarez-Crawford match next year.
“I’m willing to pay Canelo what I think is a fair price,” Alarczyk said. “If he accepts it, he will negotiate with me directly and make the deal. I don’t want any middlemen. I promised Crawford a big fight. I want a Crawford-Canelo swap and Crawford wants Canelo. But if Canelo is crazy, [with his financial demands] I’m willing to guarantee any fight Crawford wants.”
Alarczyk has competed in five boxing events since joining the boxing world against Tyson Fury in October.Francis NgannouHis biggest boxing bout was the undefeated heavyweight championship bout between Oleksandr Usyk and Fury in May.
Alarczyk and White hosted the first UFC event in Saudi Arabia in June.
