UFC 254 will start early when compared to other shows from the promotion
UFC 254 features a mega main event which sees the undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov take on Justin Gaethje with the Lightweight title on the line.
This is a fight that many believe could be one of the best of the year. Khabib is undefeated in his MMA career with 28 wins and no losses. Gaethje, for his part, has only lost twice in his career and is coming off an incredible performance against Tony Ferguson.
The pair can wrestle too and this should be Khabib’s toughest test since coming to the UFC. The location for the event is Fight Island in Abu Dhabi, but the card has an early start time.
This isn’t the first fight to be held in Abu Dhabi and most of the clashes have taken place at the normal 7 PM PT/10 PM ET slot.
However, this event has an earlier time and Dana White explained why a while back.
The simple answer to this is Khabib. The Russian is one of the biggest names in the UFC and has a huge following in the Arab countries.
The main card for the event starts at 10 PM local time, which is far from the normal start time of 6 AM or 5 AM in certain cases.
White, the UFC president, had confirmed that UFC 254 would be time-friend for European fans. The fight would be at around 7PM for UK fans, which is a boost considering the crazy times European supporters have to wake up at to see the fights.
This isn’t the first time the UFC have done this for Khabib. The Russian won the title from Dustin Poirier at UFC 242 and that also had a friendly time for the European and Middle East fans.
Khabib is one of the biggest names in the UFC and this is an example of the pull he has. The UFC shifting its time slot for Khabib is something, and it will be interesting to see how the fight goes.
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