UFC News: Dana White Says Opening Mexican Performance Institute Was ‘Dream’
Upon cutting the ceremonial ribbon Thursday evening for the new UFC Performance Institute in Mexico City, UFC CEO Dana White jubilated with a wide-eyed smile.
The two-decade-plus promoter has continued his journey by taking a fringe sport on the verge of bankruptcy in Feb. 2001 before turning it into a $4 billion empire 15 years later.
Milestones have since followed, which included the UFC’s ESPN venture, being one of the few sports to successfully hold events during COVID-19 and achieve the highest-grossing pay-per-view in company history, UFC 229.
But, for White, establishing a presence in Mexico and marketing Hispanic-born champions like Brandon Moreno, Alexa Grasso, and Yair Rodriguez, one of whom is a current flyweight champion, was always part of the plan.
“This has been a dream/goal of mine for a very long time going back to 2001,” White said. “I was just saying to these guys, to be walking the halls, looking at the gym and [seeing] this incredible facility is amazing. I’ve wanted this for a long time, so, I’m very excited.”
This is the UFC’s third performance institute built in the last 10 years, joining the ones in Las Vegas and Shanghai, China.
Global expansion is one of White’s key pillars, which he says he wants to emphasize by bringing in younger kids from challenging environments to help better their life journeys.
“It gets better and better and better and better every time we build one," White said. "Now, you can honestly say that the PI in Mexico is the best performance institute in the UFC, without a doubt."
UFC Mexico City takes place Saturday night and can only be seen on ESPN+.
Below is the promotional bout order.
Who is fighting on UFC Mexico City?
Main card (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT)
- Main Event: Brandon Moreno vs. Brandon Royval, flyweight five-rounder
- Co-Main Event: Yair Rodriguez vs. Brian Ortega, featherweight five-rounder
- Daniel Zellhuber vs. Francisco Prado, lightweight
- Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Ricky Turcios, bantamweight
- Yazmin Jauregui vs. Sam Hughes, women’s strawweight
- Manuel Torres vs. Chris Duncan, lightweight
Preliminary card (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT)
- Cristian Quinonez vs. Raoni Barcelos, bantamweight
- Jesus Santos Aguilar vs. Mateus Mendonca, flyweight
- Edgar Chairez vs. Daniel Lacerda, flyweight
- Claudio Puelles vs. Fares Ziam, lightweight
- Luis Rodriguez vs. Denys Bondar, flyweight
- Victor Altamirano vs. Felipe Dos Santos, flyweight
- Erik Silva vs. Muhammad Naimov, featherweight
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