Sometimes it’s hard to top a Fight Night card, even if some of the fighters are relatively unknown in the card. Of course, Israel Adesanya was headlining the UFC Saudi Arabia card, so the number of people tuning into the non-numbered UFC card was massive. Remember Vinicius Oliveira? Yes, the exact same man who became the second to beat Nurmagomedov within a month. And since the stakes are high with the pay being relatively low for most athletes on these cards, fighters are literally competing to either keep their jobs in the promotion or attain that next big opportunity. UFC Saudi Arabia delivered on so many fronts. And despite UFC 312 showcasing a stacked main and co-main event, the rest of the card seems alright at best.

The famed MMA reporter, Ariel Helwani, claimed the same on February 1, 2025. He shared a picture of the main card for UFC Fight Night 250 and wrote, “Ariel on X: Low key this Fight Night main card is way better than next week’s PPV offering.” Sure Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland are headlining, and Zhang Weili and Tatiana Suarez are co-headlining, but what about the rest of the card? This is the promotion’s first Australia event, after all.

And to generate buzz and excitement, Dana White took to social media to try and hype up the card. His least favorite MMA personality Ariel Helwani took to his YouTube talk show and said, “Dana White used to say all the time, ‘We’re not boxing. We don’t make top-heavy cards.’ Are they making top-heavy cards now? I would say so… But week in and week out, it’s very top-heavy.” 

Reflecting back on the X post on February 1, Helwani stated that he’d make only one minor adjustment to it. He continued, “I said it somewhat jokingly on Saturday, lowkey, the Saudi Arabia card is better than the 312 pay-per-view card. I should’ve really said high-key.”

Despite Dana White‘s efforts, fans don’t seem satisfied with UFC 312’s lineup. In fact, the UFC head honcho even lashed out at one fan who stated that UFC Saudi Arabia looked better than UFC 312. White simply stated, “don’t watch it”, in his usual dismissive tone to statements he doesn’t like. Well, what else did fans say about the upcoming card in Australia? Let’s have a closer look.

Fight fans stand against Dana White’s UFC 312 card

One fan wasn’t ready to give up on the card, despite noting the abysmal line-up for the card – “On paper it was. The actual fights were mostly garbage. I felt the same way though so I’m not talking shit. They just don’t always turn out the way we expect them to.” Of course, the fights in the MMA realm are pretty unpredictable. Anything can happen even in the low-level matchups. UFC Saudi Arabia was a clear example of that. However, the doom-and-gloom over this card was apparent with one particular comment that read, “Facts, Strickland v du plessis feels like a co main of a bigger card. That card has low vibes overall honestly.”

One fan admitted that having two title fights added some weight to the card but it wasn’t enough. They commented, “Disagree because of the title holding such weight. But entertaining and fighter quality wise, probably.” Needless to say, it was nowhere close to the hype that UFC Saudi Arabia had created. And the fans knew it pretty well. One more fan commented, “312s main and comain could honestly be fight nights. They don’t have the star power of this Saudi card.”

And as far as Helwani’s “low-key” statement was concerned, the fighting community seemed to agree. One fan wrote, “Ain’t no low key about it. It is, absolutely,  100% better than the PPV next week. However, this HW fight is not hitting the way we thought it would lol.” Another fan commented, “Very high key I’m not sure how many people were dying to see DDP fight Strickland again… then the rest of the PPV doesn’t help much either.” Meanwhile, one fan pointed out that the cards in Riyadh paid really well – “Saudi pays.”

Do you agree with the statement that Ariel Helwani made? Could Dana White have done anything to make the card more exciting? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.