Dana White Optimistic About Future of UFC-Japan Relationship

Dana White exited #UFC310 with RIZIN president Nobiyuki Sakakibara pic.twitter.com/GFvOvfiDsT

— Nolan King (@mma_kings) December 8, 2024

Though UFC 310 wasn’t a cross-promoted event, there were some elements that gave Saturday’s card a little bit of a different feel.

That started with the main event, where former Rizin Fighting Federation bantamweight champion Kai Asakura was given a flyweight title shot against Alexandre Pantoja in his Octagon debut. Though Asakura had his moments in the early going, he ultimately succumbed to a rear-naked choke from his Brazilian opponent at the 2:05 mark of the second round. There’s no shame in coming up short against Pantoja, who is one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the sport today. UFC CEO Dana White came away impressed with what he saw from Japan Top Team representative in limited action.

“There are two sides to this story. You take a guy like Asakura, who came into the UFC your first time. We talk about the jitters and all the things that happened, your first time fighting in a cage, etc., etc. – and he came in guns-ablazing, flying knee right away,” White said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “Then, Pantoja, how he put the pressure back on him – who in this room didn’t want to see three more rounds of that? It would’ve been amazing. It was a great fight and Pantoja went out and dominated. … He’s awesome. He looked incredible tonight.”

Meanwhile, Rizin president Nobuyuki Sakakibara was a noteworthy presence in the crowd at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Sakakibara met with White prior to the event and also spoke with the UFC boss that night.

White seemed optimistic about building a relationship with Sakakibara and Rizin to bring more Japanese fighters to the UFC.

“We did it tonight,” White said. “He [Asakura] had a good performance. I would love to do it. Having these up-and-coming Japanese fighters, we were just talking in my room. He’s saying now in Japan, all of these young guys want to be the first one to win a world title in the UFC. That’s exciting.

“There’s such a rich history of MMA in Japan. Some of the best days of my life were our rivalry with PRIDE. It was a really fun time in my life and in his too. We were talking about it, so the answer is yes to all that. I’d love to go do a Fight Night there, too.”

The Las Vegas-based promotion hasn’t held an event in Japan since Sept. 22, 2017, when UFC Fight 117 saw Ovince St. Preux submit Yushin Okami in the evening’s main event at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

明日の海の試合に先駆けてUFCのボスのダナに会って来ましたよ！
ダナも明日の海の試合を無茶苦茶楽しみにしていましたよ。

Today, I met with UFC boss Dana White ahead of Kai Asakura's fight tomorrow! He's also incredibly excited about Kai's fight tomorrow.#RIZIN#UFC pic.twitter.com/7JPRd8YaOd

— 榊󠄀原信行 Nobuyuki Sakakibara (@nobu_sakakibara) December 7, 2024