UFC Hawaii back on the table after Gov. Green commits to ‘partnership’ with UFC, PI facility for Aloha Stadium District

Gov. Josh Green has big dreams for the New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District (NASED), which includes “major interest” in bringing Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to Hawaii.

Don’t be scared, homie.

Replacing the old Aloha Stadium in Halawa, NASED will include a 22,500-seat multi-purpose stadium designed to accommodate various sports and entertainment events including football, soccer, rugby, and more, along with all the modern amenities expected from today’s sports fans. Target date? March 2029.

That might be too late for this dream to be realized.

The stadium district will be anchored by residential housing and hotels, as well as office, retail, commercial, and entertainment space for locals and tourists alike. Among those new tenants could be UFC and its Performance Institute, not unlike the training centers recently constructed in Mexico and Shanghai.

“We want to bring UFC to Hawaii. We’ve also talked to some of the benefactors of the UFC to do that,” Green told Khon2. “It’s not just going to be one fight. What we’d like to do is a partnership with UFC, where we can perhaps bring a training facility like they have in Las Vegas to the stadium district. I think it’s a very good plan for us. We’ll hash out these details in the coming months.”

Hopefully those details don’t include this comeback.

“It’s more opportunity to kind of reshape some of the tourism experience that we have, and it’s something that people are very high on,” Green continued. “Having that kind of excitement, there’s a person-to-person, higher rate of interest in UFC in Hawaii than anywhere else in the country, except for maybe Nevada.”

Bellator MMA previously staged fight cards in Hawaii but UFC has yet to pull the trigger because “it rains every 10 minutes.” The creation of its fourth Performance Institute would provide an indoor arena — not unlike the APEX facility in Las Vegas — to allow for combat sports events in any weather. That said, it seems like a waste to hold fights in a place as beautiful as Hawaii — only to be stuck indoors.

See you in 2029?