Tony Khan pushes back AEW pay-per-view to avoid clash with UFC 268 owing to friendship with Dana White
UFC president Dana White shares a friendly relationship with AEW president Tony Khan.
In a show of respect towards the friendship they have, Khan decided to change the date of this year's AEW: Full Gear. The pay-per-view was moved back a week to avoid any possible clash with UFC 268, as reported by ESPN's Marc Raimondi.
UFC 268 is set to take place on November 6 at New York's Madison Square Garden. The event will be headlined by a welterweight title rematch between Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington.
Tony Khan has previously discussed his close relationship with the UFC chief in interviews. In a March exclusive with Forbes, the AEW head honcho revealed that he watches UFC fights regularly and often attends them live.
"I watch UFC, I'm friends with Dana White. I see Dana there probably a little bit more than you see me, but not that much more and it's not like the fights are all about him," Tony Khan said.
AEW: Full Gear will now take place on November 13 at the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis, Missouri.
What does the UFC 268 card look like so far?
The UFC will be returning to New York's iconic Madison Square Garden for the first time since UFC 244. That event was headlined by the 'BMF' title fight between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz.
At UFC 268, the packed MSG arena will see a welterweight title rematch go down between welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and his longtime rival Colby Covington. This will be Usman's fifth title defense. If he manages to defeat 'Chaos' again, 'The Nigerian Nightmare' will be just one win away from equalling Anderson Silva's record for the longest middleweight winning streak in the UFC. 'The Spider' recorded 16 victories in a row.
The co-main event of UFC 268 will feature another title rematch. UFC women's strawweight champion Rose Namajunas will meet former champ Zhang Weili for the second time in 2021. The pair previously met at UFC 261, where 'Thug' Rose took the belt away from Zhang with a first-round head kick KO.
The card is also set to feature an elite lightweight clash between former title challengers Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler.
The fight was initially up in the air after Chandler revealed that he would not receive the COVID-19 vaccine by November 6. The state of New York requires individuals to be fully vaccinated for sports and cultural gatherings. However, Dana White reassured fighters that the UFC would never make the vaccine mandatory for its athletes.