Dana White reveals the issue with hosting a UFC card in Hawaii

With Max Holloway the new undisputed UFC featherweight champion of the world, the Waianae native is more adamant than ever to have the UFC put on an event in Hawaii.

Both Holloway and Makaha’s Yancy Medeiros found success in Brazil at UFC 212 and were greeted back home by a group of fans when they arrived at the airport in Honolulu, Hawaii.

“Nobody wants to fly to Hawaii and do a show more than me and my staff,” White told MMAjunkie this past week. “Who wouldn’t want to go there? And the media? Everybody wants to go there. It’s a tough one to pencil.

“They don’t have an arena. They have the outside bowl. I’m terrified to do anything outside with fighting. I used to spend a lot of time in Hawaii early on when we bought the company because there were a lot of good fights out there. It rains every 10 minutes. It’s raining, and then it’s beautiful out … it’s raining, then it’s beautiful out. It’s scary, man.”

White has been one to say “never” but history goes to show that his mind can change rather quickly.

“Six months ago, I said we wouldn’t do the (women’s) 125-pound division,” White said. “So I’m not saying no anymore. We’ll see what happens.”

Other Hawaii venue possibilities for the UFC that are indoors include the University of Hawaii’s Stan Sheriff Center that can hold 10,300 fans and the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena that can hold 8,800 fans.

Since the start of 2016, UFC event attendance has ranged from 2,044 for The Ultimate Fighter: Tournament of Champions Finale and went as high as 45,207 in attendance for UFC 198: Werdum vs. Miocic. The UFC 212 event where Max Holloway headlined against Jose Aldo had an attendance of 15,412 in Brazil. Prior to UFC 212, Holloway headlined UFC 206 against Anthony Pettis in Canada where there were 18,057 in attendance.

on 7/5/2017.