Hawaii Tourism Authority decision on UFC looks even better with time

There were a lot of reasons — beginning with the exorbitant $6 million price tag — why the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s proposal to bring an event to Aloha Stadium next month didn’t make sense for the state.

One of them was the potential peril of the Hawaii Tourism Authority putting so much of an investment on the back of any one fighter, even hometown world featherweight champion Max Holloway.

The proposed Aug. 4 card was to have been largely built around Holloway as the main attraction, with other Hawaii fighters playing supporting roles.

Given the way UFC cards had been disintegrating over the previous year, there was, correctly as it turns out, legitimate concern over what would happen if something caused the cancellation of Holloway’s bout.

And, if what befell both Holloway and Makaha’s Yancy Medeiros as main and semi-main event figures in UFC 226, had taken place on the HTA’s dime, the value of any sizable investment by the state would have dropped precipitously.

Medeiros (15-5) had been scheduled to fight Mike Perry in a welterweight match on the card before suffering an injury in training last month.

I mean, who had any inkling back on Jan. 23, when UFC officials met with HTA and Aloha Stadium officials in Las Vegas, that the heretofore durable Holloway would get scratched off three shows, UFC 222, 223 and 226, in a bizarre five-month period?

After decking Jose Aldo for the title on Dec. 2, Holloway seemed set to expand his 12-bout winning streak in 2018. Instead, he was sidelined by an ankle injury preparing for UFC 222 in March, pulled off 223 in April over the inability to cut 30 pounds in six days as an 11th-hour replacement fighter for the lightweight championship.

And now, whatever it is that caused the “concussion-like symptoms” — flashing vision, slurred speech, difficulty rising from a nap etc. — led to the cancellation of what was to have been Saturday’s title bout with unbeaten Brian Ortega.

While these maladies have come out of the blue to sideline Holloway, the UFC has had an on-going struggle to keep its marquee fighters on the cards for which they have been booked.

This is the fourth consecutive year that UFC’s marquee show, this weekend’s International Fight Week, has had champions scratched from the card.

Overall this year, nearly 20 bouts have been canceled or had to undergo a switch in opponents necessitated by injuries, failure to make weight or suspension. Even in a tough, punishing business, those kinds of numbers should give the UFC pause for thought.

Most times when cancellations happen, it is the UFC that eats it. Had Hawaii been in $6 million deep as the sponsor, the state would have done it, too.

Meanwhile, the HTA did not lack for reasons to pass on what the UFC proposal.

For one thing, the asking price was more than the NFL got ($5.2 million) for rights to host the annual Pro Bowl. For another, the date, smack in the middle of prime tourism arrivals, didn’t need the UFC to fill hotel rooms. A UFC card, at a fraction of the price, would have been better placed in a slow period.

So all the hand-wringing, not to mention UFC president Dana White’s finger pointing over the HTA’s rejection of his proposal, recent events confirm it was the right call.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.