Dana White: We will get UFC Hawaii figured out eventually
“Listen, we want to come here. We love this place. We got the get this thing figured out eventually. We’ll see. We’ll see what happens.”
Hawai’i has more skilled fighters than any locale on Earth. It produced Max Holloway, BJ Penn, and the Inoue brothers. The average 25-year-old guy everywhere thinks he can scrap; in Hawai’i, he can scrap. Yet there has never been a UFC Hawai’i.
Late in 2017, State Sen. Glenn Wakai, chair of the Economic Development, Tourism, and Technology Committee, said he met with the Hawaii Tourism Authority about the idea. He reported that the agency wasn’t particularly receptive to supporting a UFC event.
“In their mind, they see that UFC fight fans are hooligans and kind of undesirables that we shouldn’t be luring to Hawaii,” said Senator Wakai to Chelsea Davis for Hawai’i News Now. “My response to that is, Hawaii Tourism Authority, you’re there to promote Hawaii for economic development. You’re not the department of morality.”
However, HTA’s chairman, attorney Rick Fried, denied the Senator’s claim, and said they would be happy to support UFC Hawaii if it draws in enough tourists and spending sufficient to justify the UFC’s site fee.
“We have no idea what they want,” said Fried. “But if the proposal makes sense, they don’t want an outrageous amount of money, I think it could well happen.”
Unbeknownst to many fans, the UFC often seeks a site fee, as an event brings in dollars to a city, state, or nation. And that’s the crux of the issue. There was a negotiation, during which the UFC said what they want; the two sides were reportedly millions of dollars apart. Or as UFC president Dana White put it with a chuckle earlier this year at the UFC 240 post-fight press conference, “Not very close.
Local dual FOX/CW-affiliated television station KHON-TV reported in 2017 that the fee was substantial:
After several meetings between UFC brass and the Hawaii Tourism Authority, those plans came to a crashing halt when the HTA refused to pay over $6-million dollars to have the organization bring a pay-per-view card to the islands.
Abu Dhabi is building a stadium as we speak right now for a fight, and we have a stadium there. I just think it’s one of those things that Hawaii doesn’t want it that bad, said featherweight champ Max Holloway.
When asked if he took exception to that being the superstar that would without a doubt headline the card, Holoway said, I want to fight at home. Every guy’s dream is to fight at home.
The dream came up again when White attended Trinity Kings 8 at the storied Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, on Saturday, October 12, as part of his Dana White: Lookin’ For a Fight” Youtube Series.
Back in the day, in 2001-2003, when we first bought the UFC, I used to come out here every month and go to fights, White said in a Saturday interview with KHON2. There’s so many fights out here that wasn’t legalized in a lot of places. It’s good to be back in Hawai’i. I love this place and obviously taking in another fight at the famous Blaisdell.
This place has been the spot for mixed-martial arts since the late 90s. I haven’t been out here for a fight in a while so it was good to be back. I had Max with me seeing some of the local guys, but the main event was the fight I was really interested in … it was great. I love being out here watching fights.
Max wants [UFC Hawaii] bad. Listen, we want to come here. We love this place. We got the get this thing figured out eventually. We’ll see. We’ll see what happens. I want it, does the tourism board want it? Do they or do they not? If they do, we’ll come. If not, we understand.
The HTA told KHON2 that they has not received a proposal from the UFC since the failed attempt in the summer of 2017.
Bellator will be holding their second event in Honolulu in as many years on December 21, with Hawaii’s Ilima-Lei ‘Illimanator’ Macfarlane defending her flyweight title. Bellator did not seek a site fee from the HTA. So UFC Hawaii comes down to money, still.
