Canelo Alvarez was not pleased when priority went to one of Dana White’s most successful UFC events in 2019.
The UFC 244 pay-per-view marked the third outing in a star-making year for Jorge Masvidal, as he challenged Nate Diaz at Madison Square Garden in a battle to become the promotion’s inaugural BMF champion.
Combat sports fans had more than just that to digest on November 2, 2019. Also taking place that night was Alvarez’s showdown with Sergey Kovalev, which saw the Mexican move up two weight divisions to challenge for the Russian’s WBO light heavyweight strap.
After confirmation of the date, White warned DAZN against competing with UFC 244.
“If you do that, you’re f—— nuts,” he told them.
And the broadcaster evidently agreed with that assessment, much to Alvarez’s frustration…
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Canelo Alvarez said he would never allow DAZN to delay his match again after UFC 244 clash
While the decision was made to stage Alvarez vs. Kovalev the same night as UFC 244, DAZN decided it was in their best interests to avoid the two marquee main events from taking place simultaneously.
That meant that as Masvidal beat Diaz via TKO at UFC 244 inside MSG, Alvarez and Kovalev waited around gloved-up backstage at MGM Grand Garden Arena, leading to a gap of over one hour between the co-main event and their WBO light heavyweight title fight.
The delay ultimately did not faze the Mexican star when it came to his performance in the ring. Alvarez went on to knock Kovalev out in spectacular fashion in round 11 to add another championship to his collection. But that does not mean he was content with how things had been handled.
Speaking to ESPN Deportes post-fight, an evidently angry Alvarez lamented the delay to his main event and insisted he would never permit a repeat of the situation.
“I will not allow them to do that, at least for my fights,” Alvarez said. “I will talk to them (DAZN).”
Fast forward six years and White is promoting Alvarez’s upcoming fight against Terence Crawford at Allegiant Stadium on September 13.
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ESPN let MGM Grand Garden Arena air UFC 244 during the wait
While boxing fans at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas may have been frustrated by the long delay to Alvarez vs. Kovalev, they did at least have some action to watch in the meantime.
MGM executives asked UFC and ESPN if they could put UFC 244 on the big screens at MGM Grand Garden Arena. The broadcaster and UFC allowed the venue 2,500 miles away to show the BMF title fight while the fans in Las Vegas waited for the match they had actually bought tickets for to go down in the ring.
“So we were sitting there, and MGM called and said that, ‘You guys are halfway through your co-main event right now,” White told reporters during the post-fight scrum in New York City. “’People are losing their minds here,’ or whatever. ‘Can we show the Diaz fight at the MGM?’
“I was just like, ‘Holy s—-! This is crazy! This is getting crazier by the minute!’ I woke up and dreamed all this, that it could happen.
“It was nuts. And, of course, we said yes, and they did (show it).”