“Stay tuned" - Rizin president leaves fans guessing after “secret” meeting with UFC CEO Dana White
Rizin president Nobuyuki Sakakibara recently met with UFC CEO Dana White at the promotion's headquarters in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The president of the Japan-based MMA organization shared a series of photos on Instagram on Wednesday morning from his visit to the UFC office and meeting with White. In his post, Sakakibara humorously mentioned that the details of their discussion were confidential and kept the specifics undisclosed for now:
"Visited the UFC headquarters and had a meeting with Dana White. It was raining all day that day, which is very unusual in the desert-based Las Vegas. What we talked about is a secret. lol, Stay tuned!"
Check out Nobuyuki Sakakibara's post below:
Last month, combat sports journalist Bruno Massami reported that Sakakibara expressed interest in holding discussions with the chief executive of the leading MMA promotion to advocate for Kyoji Horiguchi and Kai Asakura's potential inclusion in the UFC.
The meeting between White and Sakakibara is not their first encounter, as these MMA giants have previously met at the residence of boxing icon Floyd Mayweather in April 2021.
White also recently had a meeting with BKFC president David Feldman. Although the specifics of their discussion remain undisclosed, Feldman mentioned in a press conference that the focus was on "creating an ally".
Fans react to Nobuyuki Sakakibara's meeting with Dana White
The recent meeting between Nobuyuki Sakakibara and Dana White has left the MMA community perplexed, sparking a variety of reactions.
Former UFC fighter Roan Carneiro wrote:
"Bringing the Pride FC BACK!!!"
One fan wrote:
"Please don't be about selling the promotion to UFC again!!! 😢 by the way... PRIDE NEVER DIE!!!"
Check out some more reactions below:
"You know the game we want! Bring our mma back 🙏🏾💪🏿👊🏿🔥"
"Hopefully pride brand will be back. Be a good feeder for the UFC main roster"
"DONT DO IT NOBU"
"Whatever book that is, I want one"
"They don’t do cross promotions but this could be a buy out for capitalizing on the Asian market to stick it to ONE"
"Doubt we’ll ever get a cross promotion unfortunately but would love to see it"
"Feldman and now Sakakibara, what is going on 🫣"
"I feel like these are rights to have them on Fight Pass"
