Dana White Says UFC Hawaii Is Coming Once a New Arena Opens by 2029

Hawaii has been feeding the UFC talent and pay-per-view buys since the company's earliest days, yet in more than three decades the promotion has never put on a single event there. Dana White wants to fix that, and he thinks a new arena penciled in for 2028 or 2029 is the piece that finally makes it possible.

Asked on The Rich Eisen Show where he'd most like to run a card, White didn't hesitate before naming the Aloha State. He described Hawaii as one of the UFC's biggest markets from the very beginning, pointing to the multiple world champions the islands have produced while admitting the current infrastructure simply can't handle a show of that scale.

Why It's Taken This Long

The holdup has always been the building, not the interest. White has spent years explaining that no existing venue on the islands can support a full UFC production. That's the whole story here: the fan base was ready long ago, but the walls to put it in weren't.

The new arena reportedly lands in that 2028-2029 window, and White framed the eventual event as a when, not an if. He said staff would be fighting each other for the assignment and that fans would lose their minds over the trip — the kind of destination card the company likes to build hype around.

The Roster Would Line Up

There's no shortage of Hawaiian talent that would want a spot. Max Holloway remains the biggest name from the islands still active, and B.J. Penn's legacy is the reason Hawaii registers as a UFC stronghold in the first place. A hometown card would give both a natural centerpiece and a deep local undercard.

For now it's a tease, not a date. But White sounded more certain than he has in years, and if the arena timeline holds, the UFC's longest-standing blank spot on the map could finally get filled before the decade is out.