{"id":324221,"date":"2019-09-03T10:04:42","date_gmt":"2019-09-03T17:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=324221"},"modified":"2019-09-03T10:04:42","modified_gmt":"2019-09-03T17:04:42","slug":"dana-white-expects-middle-eastern-ufc-champ-soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/dana-white-expects-middle-eastern-ufc-champ-soon\/","title":{"rendered":"Dana White expects Middle Eastern UFC champ soon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This Saturday, the UFC will touch down in Abu Dhabi with UFC 242. While the card features several Middle Eastern fighters, there has yet to be a UFC champion from the region. UFC President Dana White believes that will change soon.<\/p>\n<p>The UFC boss believes the UFC could have a Middle Eastern titleholder within the next six or seven years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI won\u2019t be surprised \u2013 I said this about England, I said this about Australia, Canada and every country we have gone to \u2013 there will be a champion from the Middle East probably within the next six to seven years,\u201d White said (via <a href=\"https:\/\/mmajunkie.usatoday.com\/2019\/09\/dana-white-first-middle-eastern-ufc-champ-next-six-to-seven-years-ufc-242\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">MMA Junkie<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>UFC 242 marks the first of five annual trips the UFC is scheduled to take to Abu Dhabi. White seems very happy with the foothold the promotion has developed in the United Arab Emirates capital.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a really close connection with Abu Dhabi because we\u2019ve already been there a few times and the fights we\u2019ve done there before,\u201d he said. \u201cThe people of the UAE have been so good to the UFC. We are going to continue to come back and bring big fights to the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>White expects the UFC&#8217;s continued stops in Abu Dhabi to supercharge the MMA industry in the area \u2014 meaning more gyms, better training, and ultimately, more world class fighting talent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince we have done events in Abu Dhabi \u2013 and it happens everywhere we go, it kick-starts the market,\u201d White said. \u201cGyms pop up and people are training. Talent is coming out of the area.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Do you agree with Dana White? Is it a matter of time before the UFC crowns its first Middle Eastern champ? Who might that champ be?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>BJPENN.COM<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>\u00a0on 9\/3\/2019. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This Saturday, the UFC will touch down in Abu Dhabi with UFC 242. While the card features several Middle Eastern fighters, there has yet to be a UFC champion from the region. UFC President Dana White believes that will change soon. The UFC boss believes the UFC could have a Middle Eastern titleholder within the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":300154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10112,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Dana White expects Middle Eastern UFC champ soon | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UFC President Dana White believes it&#039;s onlya matter of time before the UFC crowns its first Middle Eastern world champion.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/dana-white-expects-middle-eastern-ufc-champ-soon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dana White expects Middle Eastern UFC champ soon | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UFC President Dana White believes it&#039;s onlya matter of time before the UFC crowns its first Middle Eastern world champion.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/dana-white-expects-middle-eastern-ufc-champ-soon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-03T17:04:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dana-White.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/dana-white-expects-middle-eastern-ufc-champ-soon\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/dana-white-expects-middle-eastern-ufc-champ-soon\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tom Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87\"},\"headline\":\"Dana White expects Middle Eastern UFC champ soon\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-03T17:04:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-09-03T17:04:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/dana-white-expects-middle-eastern-ufc-champ-soon\/\"},\"wordCount\":299,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Dana White\",\"UFC\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/dana-white-expects-middle-eastern-ufc-champ-soon\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2019\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/dana-white-expects-middle-eastern-ufc-champ-soon\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/dana-white-expects-middle-eastern-ufc-champ-soon\/\",\"name\":\"Dana White expects Middle Eastern UFC champ soon | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-03T17:04:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-09-03T17:04:42+00:00\",\"description\":\"UFC President Dana White believes it's onlya matter of time before the UFC crowns its first Middle Eastern world champion.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/dana-white-expects-middle-eastern-ufc-champ-soon\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/dana-white-expects-middle-eastern-ufc-champ-soon\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/dana-white-expects-middle-eastern-ufc-champ-soon\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"UFC\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Dana White expects Middle Eastern UFC champ soon\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA &amp; UFC News, Results &amp; Fight Videos\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":148,\"caption\":\"| BJPenn.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87\",\"name\":\"Tom Taylor\",\"description\":\"Tom Taylor is a globetrotting writer currently based in Ottawa, Canada. He is a staff writer for BJPenn.com, and also covers mixed martial arts for Fightland and Vice Sports. Follow him on Twitter @TomTayMMA.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/tom-taylor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Dana White expects Middle Eastern UFC champ soon | BJPenn.com","description":"UFC President Dana White believes it's onlya matter of time before the UFC crowns its first Middle Eastern world champion.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/dana-white-expects-middle-eastern-ufc-champ-soon\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Dana White expects Middle Eastern UFC champ soon | BJPenn.com","og_description":"UFC President Dana White believes it's onlya matter of time before the UFC crowns its first Middle Eastern world champion.","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/dana-white-expects-middle-eastern-ufc-champ-soon\/","og_site_name":"| BJPenn.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","article_published_time":"2019-09-03T17:04:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":696,"height":399,"url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dana-White.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Tom Taylor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_site":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tom Taylor","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/dana-white-expects-middle-eastern-ufc-champ-soon\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/dana-white-expects-middle-eastern-ufc-champ-soon\/"},"author":{"name":"Tom Taylor","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87"},"headline":"Dana White expects Middle Eastern UFC champ soon","datePublished":"2019-09-03T17:04:42+00:00","dateModified":"2019-09-03T17:04:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/dana-white-expects-middle-eastern-ufc-champ-soon\/"},"wordCount":299,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Dana White","UFC"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/dana-white-expects-middle-eastern-ufc-champ-soon\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2019","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/dana-white-expects-middle-eastern-ufc-champ-soon\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/dana-white-expects-middle-eastern-ufc-champ-soon\/","name":"Dana White expects Middle Eastern UFC champ soon | BJPenn.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-09-03T17:04:42+00:00","dateModified":"2019-09-03T17:04:42+00:00","description":"UFC President Dana White believes it's onlya matter of time before the UFC crowns its first Middle Eastern world champion.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/dana-white-expects-middle-eastern-ufc-champ-soon\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/dana-white-expects-middle-eastern-ufc-champ-soon\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/dana-white-expects-middle-eastern-ufc-champ-soon\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MMA News","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"UFC","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Dana White expects Middle Eastern UFC champ soon"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","name":"| BJPenn.com","description":"MMA &amp; UFC News, Results &amp; Fight Videos","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization","name":"| BJPenn.com","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","width":600,"height":148,"caption":"| BJPenn.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87","name":"Tom Taylor","description":"Tom Taylor is a globetrotting writer currently based in Ottawa, Canada. He is a staff writer for BJPenn.com, and also covers mixed martial arts for Fightland and Vice Sports. Follow him on Twitter @TomTayMMA.","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/tom-taylor\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324221"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54430"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}