2023-10-28 11:00:08
The arrival of Francis Ngannou in Riyadh, October 24, 2023. AHMED YOSRI / REUTERS
Do you know the Riyadh Season? Contrary to what one might think, it is not the name of a luxury hotel or a restaurant just opened on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, but of a major festival organized in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. For several months, shows, huge shows and sporting events will follow one another.
For its kick-off, Saturday October 28, the 2023 edition hit hard, offering the English boxing fight between the British Tyson Fury, world champion of the noble art, and the Cameroonian Francis Ngannou, former weight champion heavyweights of the UFC – the world’s largest mixed martial arts (MMA) league. Two fighting superstars will share the same ring.
The choice of pugilism, to launch the largest sporting and cultural event in the kingdom, is not insignificant. In addition to football, Formula 1 and other celebrations, Saudi Arabia has also invested in combat sports in recent years. When Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou agreed to face each other, the Saudis “showed interest, organization, logistics”explains to Monde the Cameroonian giant.
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Not surprising given the kingdom’s recent history. In 2019, the revenge fight between the Englishman Anthony Joshua and the American Andy Ruiz took place at the Diriyah Arena in Riyadh, a 15,000-seat venue built for the occasion. Recently, the SRJ investment fund, a branch of the all-powerful Public Investment Fund (PIF, $620 billion in assets in 2022), became a minority shareholder in the rising global MMA league, the PFL. Finally, among specialists, it is rumored that the UFC should organize its first event on Saudi soil in 2024.
A purely state policy
Raphaël Le Magoariec observed the strategy of Mohammed Ben Salman, known as “MBS”, the Saudi crown prince: “There is a desire to broaden the range of disciplines to become a center of attractiondevelops the geopolitologist at the University of Tours, specialist in the Gulf. And this with sports which are becoming more democratic on a global and regional scale, which reach a population which previously saw it as violent. » A bit like the raid on football in Europe this summer. With one advantage: MMA, still gaining momentum, is a less expensive and less competitive investment than football.
Especially since with a financial strike force like that of the PIF, everything becomes easier. “In boxing it’s a bit complicated, everyone has their own organization for promotion, fighting…explains Francis Ngannou. We wanted to make this fight but it wasn’t easy until Saudi Arabia got involved. We were trying to get a date at Wembley in England. (…) From the day they became interested, nothing was a promise, only achievements. »
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