UFC and WWE staff fear Saudi trips as Adesanya's Dec. 5 Riyadh card nears

UFC and WWE staff say they have been told nothing about safety plans for the UFC's Dec. 5 card in Riyadh. The current and former employees of parent company TKO spoke anonymously to Ben Fowlkes for an Uncrowned report published on Tuesday night. TKO had not answered Uncrowned's request for comment by publication. The card, headlined by Israel Adesanya vs. Shara Magomedov, is still listed on UFC.com unchanged.

What the staff said

One source said some staff are weighing whether to skip the Middle East events, though they doubted many would. Others have largely resigned themselves to the situation, Uncrowned wrote. "Not one email has gone out saying, 'Here are the details and the plans for December 5th,'" one employee said. Another said: "This is a company that can fire you for no reason or any reason."

According to the staff, executives keep pointing to the State Department. "All [TKO executives] talk about is if the State Department says it is OK to fly there," one employee said. On Oct. 21, the U.S. ordered non-emergency government employees and their families out of Saudi Arabia, Uncrowned reported. The State Department's travel advisory is Level 3, "reconsider travel," according to Wrestling Inc.

The attacks

Houthi missile and drone strikes on Saudi Arabia picked up in October. A cruise missile hit Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport on Oct. 10, killing 13 and wounding more than 300, per Uncrowned. Debris from an attempted attack on Sunday, Nov. 8, caused minor damage to the Aramco Tower, Saudi officials said, according to Al Jazeera.

The latest came on Tuesday, Nov. 10, a day after a Houthi strike on the East-West oil pipeline. The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted a ballistic missile and a cruise missile aimed at Riyadh. AFP reported explosions in the city, and no casualties were reported.

The Six Kings Slam tennis event and the PIF Saudi International golf event have been postponed, according to Uncrowned. WWE ran Crown Jewel in Riyadh on Nov. 7. It reportedly offered crew $3,000 in hazard pay, and several crew members opted out anyway, POST Wrestling reported.

What TKO has said

At a late-October staff town hall, TKO president Mark Shapiro promised to pull events if needed. "We will not hesitate to cancel those events, damned be our budget," he said, in audio reported by Wrestling Inc. He named danger or a further escalation as the trigger. On TKO's earnings call, he told investors the risk of Middle East cancellations was extremely minimal, according to POST Wrestling.

"We go. We go. When we have a deal, we have a contract, we have a date, we'll be there," Dana White said after UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi, per SB Nation.

We think the lack of a plan is the real problem. Shapiro told staff that "the business is secondary." With under four weeks to go, staff say nobody has told them what that means for Dec. 5.

As Fowlkes notes, the UFC has moved a card fast before. In December 2018 it moved UFC 232 from Las Vegas to Inglewood, California, in six days over Jon Jones's drug test. That was a licensing problem, not a Riyadh Season deal.

The fight

Adesanya (24-6) has lost four straight: to Sean Strickland, Dricus Du Plessis, Nassourdine Imavov and Joe Pyfer. The Imavov loss came in February 2025 at the UFC's last Riyadh card. Magomedov (17-1) has won two in a row since his only loss, a decision to Michael Page.

The current odds on our fight page make Adesanya a -154 favourite, about a 58% chance, and that price can move before fight week. He was favoured in all four of his recent losses. He has won five of his 11 UFC fights since 2020 that have a closing price on our page, all as favourite.

What's next

• Zuffa Boxing runs TKO's next Saudi event in Riyadh on Saturday, Nov. 14.
• UFC Qatar follows on Nov. 21, and White has said it will go ahead.
• Adesanya vs. Magomedov is set for Saturday, Dec. 5 at The Venue in Riyadh, with the main card at 1 p.m. ET on Paramount+.