By:  | March 28, 2024 3:01 pm

The UFC’s inaugural event in Saudi Arabia is set for June 22nd. The postponed fight card has a main event with Khamzat Chimaev set to face Robert Whittaker in a middleweight matchup.

UFC Fight Night 238 had been scheduled for March 23rd in Saudi Arabia. Ten fights were booked and none of them featured fighters who fans would regard as being big names.

Rumours started to circulate that the Saudi Arabian’s were unhappy with the calibre of the fight card. UFC president Dana White admitted that the event had to be pushed back in order to get some bigger fights lined up,

“Every time the UFC puts on an event, we want to blow the doors off the place, we want people to be excited, so as our first fight ever in Saudi Arabia, and a couple of fights that we want to line up, they weren’t ready to go, so we pushed the card back because we are going to deliver.”

Title shot

White appears to have decided that a title eliminator pitting #11 ranked Chimaev against #3 ranked Whittaker will be sufficient to separate the aforementioned door from its hinges. The latter hails from Sweden but recently announced he would be switching nationality to represent the UAE.

Whittaker (25-7) is a former middleweight champion. Meanwhile Chimaev (13-0) was promised a title shot after beating Kamara Usman at UFC 294 last year.

Best of the rest

The co-main event sees two Russian heavyweights face off as #3 ranked Sergei Pavlovich (18-2) takes on #6 ranked Alexander Volkov (37-10). The latter is coming off a loss to Tom Aspinall in a fight for the interim belt.

UFC on ABC 6, Saudi Arabia, June 22nd
Robert Whittaker vs. Khamzat Chimaev (Middleweight)
Sergei Pavlovich vs. Alexander Volkov (Heavyweight)
Kelvin Gastelum vs. Daniel Rodriguez (Welterweight)
Johnny Walker vs. Volkan Oezdemir (Light Heavyweight)
Sharabutdin Magomedov vs. Ihor Potieria (Middleweight)
Nasrat Haqparast vs. Jared Gordon (Lightweight)