In July 2020, the UFC’s gamble in Abu Dhabi turned out to be a masterstroke that not even CEO Dana White could have fully seen. But that trip reshaped the future of the company and produced champions who now dominate the sport.
White often talks about 2020 as a major turning point in the company's history. The UFC was the first major sports league to return to competition during the Covid-19 pandemic, and White said that led to extraordinary growth and boosted the company's market value, which now exceeds $12 billion. With no other sports to watch, UFC pay-per-view cards sold three or four times more than what the company had expected.
That helped the promotion grow dramatically.
What White doesn't often talk about, though, but what was equally as big, is the significant amount of elite talent that debuted in the company during its summer trip to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. UFC 251 was held in Abu Dhabi on July 12, 2020. The UFC then held fight night cards on July 16, July 19 and July 25 in Abu Dhabi's Flash Forum. The UFC had developed a strong relationship with business leaders in Abu Dhabi and took advantage of its willingness to host fights when many venues were shut down because of Covid-19.
The month-long trip enabled the UFC to add star-level talent to its roster of fighters and is paying enormous dividends now.
Among those who debuted in Abu Dhabi were:
- Tom Aspinall (interim heavyweight champion)
- Jiri Prochazka (former light heavyweight champion)
- Dricus Du Plessis (middleweight champion)
- Ilia Topuria (current featherweight champion)
- Contenders Khamzat Chimaev, Roman Dolidze and Amir Albazi
It's a remarkable haul of talent in one month that is fueling the UFC now. Each of those fighters has at the very least headlined a Fight Night card and four of them (Topuria, Du Plessis, Chimaev and Aspinall) are fixtures on the various pound-for-pound lists.
Du Plessis is one of those fighters who figures to be at or near the top for at least another five years. He's gone 8-0 in the UFC, defeated Strickland at UFC 297 in Toronto on Jan. 20, 2024, to win the belt and successfully defended it on Aug. 18 with a Submission of the Year victory over Israel Adesanya.
Du Plessis is an ambitious fighter who has enormous physical strength and a somewhat unorthodox style. But what makes him such a compelling figure is his hunger to evolve and to set a standard never before seen.
The middleweight division has been dominated by two men in the UFC's history. Anderson Silva knocked out Rich Franklin in Las Vegas on Oct. 14, 2006, to win the belt. He kept it through 10 defenses for nearly six years before losing it to Chris Weidman. Adesanya then won the interim belt in 2019 and remained champion until losing to Strickland on Sept. 10, 2023, through seven defenses.
Du Plessis said it's all perception.
"You get a lot of guys, they win the belt, and that's their pinnacle and it's all downhill from there," he pointed out. "Then there are guys, they make it to the UFC and that was their goal. They never pushed themselves to dream bigger than that. They dreamed of making it to the UFC and when they did, they were [satisfied]. I dreamed of making it to the UFC, but that was never my end goal. But that was just a part -- a very important part -- of reaching my ultimate goal.
"But it was just a part of my goal of being the greatest I could be in the UFC. Too many guys set their goals too low. Too many of them set their goal just to make it to the UFC. They're happy when they get there, then they lose three in a row and they're cut. Then what? It's all over. Then guys set their goals to win the belt. They have a massive performance to win it and then how many times have you seen them drop off after that? ... There are a small percentage of guys that believe and have this, not a dream, but a goal, a belief in themselves to be the greatest of all-time. That's where I feel like I am."
Du Plessis acknowledged that he still has a long way to go to reach his ultimate goal. Part of that will be getting past Strickland on Saturday so that he can start to pile up those defenses. There are huge fights looking, particularly one against Chimaev, who destroyed ex-champ Robert Whittaker in his last outing.
He felt the first fight with Strickland wasn't close but emphasized he's vastly improved in the last 13 months and aims to prove it Saturday.
He referred to Strickland derisively as a points fighter, which is a fighter happy getting a decision. He said it's harder to finish a fighter who stays back like that, but said he no doubt would perform better on Saturday than he did in Toronto at UFC 297 when he won the belt.
"I'm not going to fight a point-fight, trying to be defensive, because that is boring," he noted. "I'm not going to be satisfied, even with a win. I train every day to go out there, look for that finish, push forward, meet in the middle and we fight. I think I'm better. I'm a lot better than I was in that first fight. In terms of performance then, I felt I did great. I made a lot of mistakes; that happens, but ... I promise you I'll be better than I was."
He joined the UFC less than four years ago, an unknown to all but the diehards who follow regional MMA promotions. He headlines a major pay-per-view card now on Saturday and shows promise to be among the best to ever do it, yet another reminder of the awesome haul the UFC collected on that pandemic-forced trip to Abu Dhabi.