Hawaii senator aiming to bring UFC to Hawaii in 2018

UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway holds his ties to his home state of Hawaii very dear. At the end of 2016, the young contender defeated former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis to capture the interim UFC featherweight championship. This of course meant Holloway had secured himself a title fight with featherweight champion Jose Aldo.

Last month the two met in the Octagon, where Holloway picked up a 3rd round TKO win over the champ to claim the undisputed featherweight title. After his win, talks of the UFC going to Hawaii became more serious than ever. While there has been no final word on when Holloway’s first title defense would be, Hawaii State Senator Glenn Waki expressed his desire to bring the UFC to Hawaii.

He spoke to Khon2:

“He conveyed to us a very different scenario that he was very, very interested in having a fight here in Hawaii and to really capitalize on the popularity of Max Holloway,” Wakai said. “This year’s schedule has been booked up so we can’t get in before the end of 2017, but he was very receptive to the idea of bringing a UFC fight here next year spring or summer of next year, and have Max Holloway be the headline for that card.”

With discussions of the UFC visiting Hawaii, UFC President Dana White explained that one of the biggest problems with hosting an event in Hawaii is that their stadium does not contain a dome, and the possibility of rain could pose a major threat to the event, something Senator Glenn Waki says wouldn’t be an issue:

“Perhaps that was Dana White posturing that,” Wakai said. “The stadium can put a canopy over the ring and its fans. They did that, in fact, in 2005 when there was a K-1 fight featuring BJ Penn. Twelve-thousand people were there. I don’t know if it rained or not, but it was a very successful event 12 years ago.”

Stay tuned for updates as they become available!

on 7/29/2017.