September saw one of the rather unique moments in combat sports history. On precisely September 14th, Las Vegas played host to two mega events””first, the Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga event at the T-Mobile Arena and secondly, UFC 306/Noche UFC at the Vegas Sphere, headlined by Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili. This has led WBO super lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez, a close confidant of Canelo Alvarez, to blame His Excellency Turki Alalshikh for the two events colliding.

Riyadh Season, an annual state-managed sports and entertainment festival headed by the Saudi Royal served as a key sponsor for Noche UFC. The Las Vegas Sphere was the star of the event, and its technological marvel made it possible for the UFC to put on a unique fight experience. However, it also forced combat fans to choose between UFC and boxing, potentially splitting the profits in half. 

According to reports, the Alvarez-Berlanga event brought in $17 million in gate revenue and garnered 650K pay-per-view sales. Meanwhile, the UFC 306 did far better with a gate revenue of $22 million. Lopez feels His Excellency decided to have the UFC event on the same night just to slight Canelo Alvarez. 

“The Turki guy, I just think that for someone that wants to”¦ make boxing great again”¦ You don’t make the same event with the UFC and Canelo Alvarez [on] the same night,” Teofimo Lopez said. “Because a certain athlete”¦professional boxer, Canelo Alvarez, declined or feels like you’re not fit for the job of his choosing that’s between you two.”

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It’s worth mentioning that His Excellency reached out to Canelo Alvarez’s team in August when Terence Crawford fought Israil Madrimov for a potential fight between them later down the line. Canelo demanded an absurd amount of money for the fight, which led to the duo exchanging insults over interviews and social media posts.

Regardless, Lopez suggested Alalshikh chose the venue and took all the measures to outsell the Canelo-Berlanga event to take revenge. “You don’t go back around and dig at it by saying, let’s get to the Sphere because we have the funds. Let’s get all the influencers because we have the connections. And let’s blast Canelo out of the f**ing”¦,” he said.

However, it’s worth noting that the UFC Noche was announced along with its venue in June. Whereas, Canelo Alvarez announced his fight against Edgar Berlanga at T-Mobile Arena in July. This doesn’t suggest His Excellency explicitly planned to compete Canelo vs. Berlanga event. Regardless, that’s exactly what Lopez insinuated when the host of the interview tried to confirm Lopez’s statement. 

Teofimo Lopez says it was no coincidence

Hearing Lopez’s statement on His Excellency, the host of the show asked him whether he was accusing the Saudi Royal of concocting the plan on purpose. “I’m not saying that it was done on purpose. I’m just saying as a business standpoint, there’s things that you gotta look at and see the pros and cons,” Lopez said. 

He argued that since Canelo Alvarez traditionally fights on Mexican Independence Day, Alalshikh should have avoided scheduling the UFC event on the same night. “No, it wasn’t a coincidence. It was structured and set that way for a reason,” Lopez concluded. It’s worth mentioning that Lopez was seen training with Canelo Alvarez before the September 14th bout. 

Did His Excellency Turki Alalshikh purposefully try to sabotage the Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Beranga event? Teofimo Lopez seems to be confident in his stance, but there’s no definitive proof to support that was the case. What do you think?