Dana White and the UFC’s plans for one specific weekend in September have gone through a lot of changes already.
Last year’s Noche UFC was an award-winning spectacle at Sphere but with the 2025 instalment, the MMA leader would finally put on this celebration of Mexico in the country itself.
That same weekend, TKO Boxing was set to launch with Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford taking place the day before at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium.
This all changed when Turki Alalshikh announced that Canelo vs Crawford was moving to September 13, meaning that it will now clash with UFC 320 in Mexico.
White and TKO no longer appear to be involved in the boxing super fight but that doesn’t mean that it’s going to be a smooth build to fight night now that they only have one event to focus on.
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Arena Guadalajara cancels shows through September 4 with delays potentially impacting UFC 320
UFC 320 on September 13 was set to see the promotion put on its first event at the new Arena Guadalajara but this might not be the case.
The second-largest arena in Mexico was originally set to open last year but several construction delays have significantly postponed the new venue’s opening.
It was initially pushed back to February but the latest update suggests that it could be several months until the arena is ready to host events.
A post on the arena’s social media account has announced that several planned events have been postponed with one of the dates that has been removed from the schedule being September 4.
This suggests that at this time, the venue isn’t expected to be ready until just over one week out from UFC 320 but with this completion date being continuously pushed back, this is a big risk.
The promotion’s last several events in Mexico have taken place at Arena CDMX in Mexico City which isn’t an ideal destination for sporting events due to the significant altitude.
Arena CDMX is already booked for September 13 with Mexican musician Ramón Ayala performing on his ‘La Historia De Un Final’ farewell tour.
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The UFC was aware of the construction delays when they announced UFC 320
The UFC has been well aware of the construction delays surrounding Arena Guadalajara but it wasn’t deemed to be a major concern.
Rodrigo Del Campo Gonzalez asked UFC executive David Shaw about the delays shortly after the event was announced during the promotion’s last trip to Mexico.
“We’ve been in constant contact with them, enough so to be able to announce tonight. If we weren’t confident, we wouldn’t be announcing the fight.”
It remains to be seen whether the promotion will try to move the event which would suggest that for a third consecutive year, Noche UFC won’t take place in Mexico.