This has been a dream and goal of mine since
2001. To finally be here and walk the halls of the @ufc Performance
Institute in Mexico City is a monumental moment in the history of
our sport. The impact this facility will have on Mexico, as well
as, both Central and South America… pic.twitter.com/DZyhLikXkA— danawhite (@danawhite)
February 23, 2024
There was more to the
Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to Mexico than just
Saturday’s fight card in Mexico City.
Advertisement
While the promotion’s first event South of the Border since 2019
was a monumental occasion by itself, the UFC also officially
launched another Performance Institute in Mexico last week.
“There’s still a lot of work to do down here. This is just the
beginning,” UFC CEO Dana White said at Saturday’s post-fight press
conference.
UFC Fight Night 237 took place at Mexico City Arena on Saturday
and featured a host of talent from the home country. Moving
forward, White hopes to take the Octagon all over the country.
“This was obviously incredibly successful,” he said. “Now with the
opening of the PI…we have huge plans for Mexico, and it’s not just
Mexico City — I want to go all over Mexico.
“We are in Mexico now. The UFC is officially here in Mexico now,”
he added. “We actually planted a flag, we have our own building, we
have our facility. We’re gonna be doing a lot in this country now.
We’re here.”
The Las Vegas-based organization made its first visit to Mexico in
2014, when UFC 180 was headlined by a heavyweight clash between
Fabricio
Werdum and Mark Hunt in
Mexico City. The UFC returned to Mexico twice in 2015 and for the
most part made the country an annual destination through 2019
before COVID-19 hit.
The pandemic slowed the UFC’s progress in Mexico, but that has
changed with the opening of the PI.
“The opening of the PI has been a goal of mine for a very long
time. We had a place in the works. Then COVID hit, that deal fell
apart,” White said. “We found this new place, we got it together,
we’re finally here. This is something that I’ve been waiting for
for a long time. It was very satisfying to walk through the gym
here in Mexico City.”
According to White, the UFC Performance Institute in Mexico City
will serve a dual purpose: It will help build the roster, but it
will also serve the community.
“We’re gonna do what we always do …. look for people that we think
have potential to break into the Top 10 or potentially be world
champions someday just like we did with the other program that we
built before the Performance Institute here in Mexico,” White
said.
“The other thing that I’m excited about is the work that it’s going
to do in the community to bring kids in off the streets and have
the opportunity to learn how to train, learn how to do jiu-jitsu,
wrestle, box, muay thai, nutrition, strength and conditioning. It’s
going to do a lot of good things for a lot of young people in the
community here in Mexico City.”
The UFC’s return to Mexico was a largely positive event, but a
brawl in the crowd during Saturday’s card briefly took
attention away from those proceedings. However, White considers
that to be an occurrence unique to this particular locale.
“That never happens. That literally never happens. It happened here
in Mexico City,” White said. “The crazy thing about that fight, it
felt like it kept going forever, so I ran over there and I was
watching it. Nobody stopped it. I was waiting for security to come
in…they just let them go til it was over.
“That’s one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen. I don’t think
it’s a bad look for the UFC. It happened, and that was the end of
that. I think after everybody else saw that s—t, nobody else wanted
to try that again. No security. The fight just went on until the
fight was over. I’ve never seen any s—t like that in my life.”