According to a report on The MMA Hour, plans for the UFC to head to Saudi Arabia in March are no longer on the table.
Instead, the event is expected to take place in June.
The UFC Fight Night event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was originally planned for March 3. The new target date, according to Ariel Helwani, is June 17.
No main event has been made public for the card, which is part of the reason for the delay. Big names are expected to be included.
Reports have indicated that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia paid the UFC upwards of $20 million for the event. Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk are scheduled to meet in a boxing showdown for the heavyweight titles in Saudi Arabia on February 17.
Last October, Fury earned a narrow decision over former UFC champion and current PFL fighter Francis Ngannou. PFL is launching a Middle East-based league to coincide with the one here in the U.S. and PFL Europe.
UFC Fight Night Bouts Already Announced
Several fights have been announced for the event, which was expected to mark the debut of the UFC in Saudi Arabia.
Among those planned include Muhammad Mokaev vs. Alex Perez, Eryk Anders vs. Jamie Pickett, Ludovit Kelin vs. Joel Alvarez, Vinicius Oliveira vs. Yanis Ghemmouri, Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Shamil Gaziev, Mohammad Yahya vs. Brendan Marotte, Javid Basharat vs. Aiemann Zahabi and Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady vs. Loik Radzhabov.
It is likely that many of those fights could be delayed to a future event.
