5 UFC Cities Dana White Should Host More Fights In

“When you think about how we built this business, it was taking it out of the big markets. When we first got into the fight business, everybody just went to Vegas, Atlantic City, sometimes New York, sometimes LA. That’s the only place that really had fights unless you had a local kid. We built this business, taking this thing to every city all over the world,” Dana White said of the early days of the promotion in an interview.

Indeed, the UFC, which was banned in many states – including New York until the mid-2000s – used to hold many of its events in rec centers in tier-three cities. Ultimately, this gave the promotion no choice but to go to the heartland. And boy, did they make the most of it! In the early Zuffa days of the 2000s, the promotion held cards in locations like Ohio and Connecticut. However, of late, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, most of its cards were held in the same major cities. But now that the UFC plans on going back on the road, we take a look at some of the cities that warrant big UFC cards in the days to come.

1. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philly is one of the greatest sporting cities in America, period. One of the few cities to have won all four major sporting trophies in American sports, the city has a sports culture like no other in the country. And combat sports holds a special place in the hearts of Philadelphians.

Joe Frazier, of course, was from Philadelphia, as were Sonny Liston and Bernard Hopkins. While the city has not produced many mixed martial artists, former UFC lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez is a proud Philadelphian. Despite Philly’s rich sporting history and famously raucous sports fans, the UFC has only gone there a total of three times in its three-decade history, the last time in 2019, which is entirely too long for a sports hub like Philadelphia.

2. Detroit, Michigan

Detroit has been a veritable hotspot of combat sports for a long time. The legendary, world renowned Kronk gym, famous for its uber-exciting, all-offense-all-the-time style of fighting. Emmanuel Steward, the godfather of Detroit boxing trained 41 world champions in the legendary gym, most notably, Thomas ‘The Hitman’ Hearns and Lennox Lewis.

But despite its vaunted history, Mo-Town has only seen two UFC cards, the last one in 2017, more than twenty years after UFC 8 was held here back in 1996. Not to mention the city, whose fortunes have gone down significantly in the past two decades, needs all the big events it can get. Hopefully Dana White and co. won’t wait another twenty years to visit it again.

3. San Diego, California

The MMA scene is nowhere as strong as in California. The UFC was literally conceived and implemented in the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu gyms of the Sunny State in the early nineties, and the state still has possibly the strongest MMA scene in the country. And yet, the state has seen only thirty four of the seven hundred something total cards the promotion has put on till date.

The city that is the most overlooked by Dana White and co. within California is clearly San Diego. The Southern California metropolis is home to many notable gyms, most famously Alliance MMA, which has produced UFC champions and title contenders like Dominick Cruz, Jan Blachowicz, and Alexander Gustafsson. Yet, the UFC events rarely come here, which may change in the near future as the UFC looks to go back to its historic cities.

4. St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis once used to be the center of the world for professional wrestling. Back in the mid-twentieth century, when pro wrestling was still a niche business, some of the biggest pro wrestling events were held in the city. In fact, without events like ‘Wrestling at the Chase’, which began in 1959 and ran for twenty-four years until 1983, pro wrestling would probably never have become a staple of living rooms as it is today.

Needless to say, this makes the culturally rich, once-French-owned city a great potential destination for Dana White and co. to put on a PPV card or a stacked Fight Night card. Till date, the city has seen merely two cards so far, one of them just last year. Hopefully that marks the beginning of a new chapter for the city and the UFC.

5. Miami, Florida

Miami being the home of era-defining combat sports icons like Floyd Mayweather and Hulk Hogan, it boggles the mind why the UFC has held only three cards in the Florida metropolis. The city’s night-life and club scene are legendary, its beaches stunning, and its heavily Cuban-influenced culture is fascinating to behold.

All of these make Miami the perfect city for big and exciting UFC PPV cards. Despite its undeniable appeal, the UFC has only recently started hosting events here, having held a card there in 2023 and 2024. White is heading there again in 2025 for UFC 314 on April 12, which could be a sign that the UFC head honcho might’ve finally found the appeal there too.

Which city would you like to see a UFC most in? Let us know in the comments below!