Dana White will face stern competition when he brings Noche UFC to Mexico for the first time ever.
On Saturday night, UFC 320 was revealed as the next host of White’s annual Mexican Independence Day event.
Getty‘The Assassin Baby’ from Mexico is now likely to fight at UFC 320 next[/caption]
No fights have been announced for the card yet, but it will take place at Arena Guadalajara in Mexico on September 13, which happens to fall on the same night as another combat sports spectacle.
White may struggle to attract pay-per-view buys, even from his loyal Mexican fan base, as UFC 320 takes place on the same day as Canelo Alvarez‘s mega-fight with Terence Crawford.
Crawford is set to move up two weight classes to super middleweight in September to face Canelo, provided the Mexican superstar defeats William Scull on May 3 for the undisputed crown.
The fight is part of Canelo’s huge deal with Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh, which will see the former contest four bouts under the Riyadh Season banner.
The UFC’s announcement followed Brandon Moreno’s victory on home soil at its Fight Night in Mexico City weekend, as the Tijuana native cruised past a sluggish Steve Erceg.
Speaking on the news, UFC executive Dave Shaw recognised the importance of entering Mexico twice in one year to continue its exponential growth in the country.
“It’s important for our strategy in Mexico and Latin America for us to come more than once,” he said.
“It’s also the one-year anniversary of our Performance Institute opening, which is an accolade and accomplishment that our entire team is really proud of.
“We’ve planted our flag. We’re here. If anyone was at the opening 12 months ago and then has returned at any point in the last 12 months there’s been a lot of progress at the PI.”
He later added: “We’re thrilled. Two events in Mexico this year, the next instalment of Noche as we’ve talked about, and just further success of the UFC Performance Institute here.”
UFC 320 marks the first time the promotion’s Noche UFC event heads to Mexico in what will be the third celebratory card of its kind since the tradition started two years ago.
Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko’s rematch headlined the first Noche event in 2023, before White attempted the impossible and pulled off the first sporting event to take place in Las Vegas’ Sphere for its second instalment.
Sean O’Malley dropped the bantamweight title to Merab Dvalishvili at the £2billion venue in the historic card’s main event back in September for UFC 306.
The arena allowed fans to see once-in-a-lifetime visuals, as those in attendance were engrossed in remarkable visuals displayed on the 160,000 square-foot screen.
Thankfully for White the event proved a huge success for his promotion as UFC 306 shattered four records on the night having reportedly spent £20m on it.
It brought in the UFC’s highest-ever gate of $22m, surpassing the record of $17m set by Conor McGregor vs Eddie Alvarez in 2016.
The card also became the UFC’s highest-grossing event of all time, brought in the biggest gate in The Sphere’s short history, and generated record-breaking numbers in merchandise sales.
Having lost two of his last three bouts heading into UFC Mexico City this past weekend, Moreno threw his name back into title contention through his convincing unanimous decision victory over Erceg.
He won the UFC flyweight title for the first time in June 2021 before losing it in his second stint as champion to current 125lb king Alexandre Pantoja.
‘The Assassin Baby’ suffered another defeat after Pantoja to Brandon Royval, but bounced back with a win over Amir Albazi last November, and is now almost certain to feature at UFC 320 in September.
Elsewhere on the Fight Night card, Manuel Torres cemented his status as a top lightweight contender by knocking out Drew Dober in the co-main event and Edgar Chairez submitted CJ Vergara.
The UFC’s youngest ever fighter, Raul Rosas Jr, also secured his fourth consecutive victory in the promotion by defeating Vince Morales.
