Dubai Muscle Show 2026 Postponed to 2027: Check New Dates, Ticket Refund

Dubai Muscle Show 2026 Postponed to 2027

In this article you will find what to do about your 2026 ticket, the 2027 dates and venue, how to get 2027 tickets, and the fitness and bodybuilding events you can go to this year instead.

Latest announcements, updated 15 October 2026

• 8 September 2026: early-bird tickets for the 2026 show were still on sale. Your 2026 ticket
• 14 September: the organisers postponed the show to 2027 and promised every ticket holder a full refund. Is it cancelled?
• 15 September: the organiser's parent company gave its investors the reason. Why it was postponed
• 18 September: the floor plan for 2027 went live, and brands can now book stands. New dates and location
• Open now: pre-registration for 2027 tickets. How to pre-register
• Not announced yet: 2027 ticket prices, opening hours and the programme of events. What is still missing

Is the Dubai Muscle Show 2026 Cancelled?

Yes, in practice: the 2026 show will not happen. The organisers use the word "postponed", not "cancelled", because the show is coming back in 2027. But nothing replaces it this year, so for anyone who planned to go this October, the result is the same.

The news came on 14 September 2026, in a joint post on the Instagram accounts of the Dubai Muscle Show and Dubai Active. It said the organisers had "taken the decision to postpone the 2026 edition and return in 2027". Only six days earlier, early-bird tickets were still being advertised.

The change covers all three shows that share the halls:

• Dubai Muscle Show, the bodybuilding and fitness show
• Dubai Active, the fitness and wellness show for the public
• Dubai Active Industry, the trade show for gym owners and fitness businesses

The 2026 show would have been the 10th, so the tenth-year celebration moves to 2027 as well.

Many pages still show the old plan, and some of them rank high on Google. The ticket page on Virgin Megastore Tickets, the Dubai Muscle Classic competition site and the show's Facebook page still give 30 October to 1 November 2026. Even the official website still has an old "Expo City" line on some pages. Trust the dates in the organisers' announcement: 28 to 31 October 2027, at Dubai World Trade Centre.

What Happens to Your Dubai Muscle Show 2026 Ticket?

You get all your money back, and you do not need to apply for it. The organisers said that "all 2026 ticket holders will receive a full refund via Virgin Tickets within 5-7 working days". Virgin Megastore Tickets was the official seller for 2026, so the refund comes from Virgin, not from the show.

Two details from Virgin's terms decide what you see:

• The money goes back to the card you paid with. Virgin refunds online orders only to that card, not to another card or in cash. If you bought at a Virgin Megastore shop, the refund is made at that shop, and you take your original ticket and ID.
• Booking fees may not come back. Virgin's terms say service, delivery and order processing charges are not refunded, even when an event is cancelled. So the amount refunded can be a little lower than the total you paid.

The organisers counted from Monday 14 September, the day of the announcement. Seven working days after that is Wednesday 23 September 2026, so by now the refund should have been sent.

Your 2026 ticket will not work in 2027. Virgin's own rules say a ticket can stay valid when an event moves to a new date, but here the organisers chose to refund everyone instead. So when 2027 tickets go on sale, you buy a new one.

How to check that your refund has arrived

Start with your card or bank statement. Look for a credit from Virgin Megastore Tickets dated after 14 September, for the amount you paid.

If you cannot see it, find your order before you contact anyone:

• Search your email for the booking confirmation from Virgin Megastore Tickets. It has your order number.
• If you booked with an account, log in on the Virgin Megastore Tickets website and open "My Tickets" or "My Orders". Virgin's help page says your orders are listed there.

How to contact Virgin Megastore Tickets about a refund

Virgin's help page says you can reach its support team by website chat, WhatsApp, or at the customer service desk in any Virgin Megastore shop. These are the contact details on its ticket website:

• WhatsApp: +971 55 796 9431, the fastest way, according to Virgin's help page
• Chat: the chat window on tickets.virginmegastore.me
• In person: the customer service desk at any Virgin Megastore shop
• Email: tickets@virginmegastore.me

Have these ready, so they can find your order quickly:

• your order number, from the confirmation email
• the email address you booked with
• the date you paid and the amount
• the last four digits of the card you paid with

If Virgin cannot help, write to the organisers, IEG Middle East, at info@dubaimuscleshow.com or call +971 4 834 3800. Give them your order number and say that the refund promised on 14 September has not arrived.

What Is the Dubai Muscle Show?

The Dubai Muscle Show is a bodybuilding and fitness show, which its organisers call the leading one in the Middle East. Once a year, for three days in late October, gym-goers, athletes and fitness brands fill an exhibition centre in Dubai. It is part trade fair and part sports event, and you can walk around it the way you would walk around any big exhibition.

Here is what you could do at the 2025 show:

• Shop and try products. Supplement, sports nutrition, gym equipment and sportswear brands have stands, and many give out free samples.
• Watch the Dubai Muscle Classic, a bodybuilding competition run with the IFBB, the sport's international federation, and the Emirates Bodybuilding Federation.
• Watch fight sports such as boxing, MMA, Muay Thai and jiu-jitsu.
• Meet well-known athletes. The headliner in 2025 was Chris Bumstead, six-time Mr Olympia Classic Physique champion, with Big Ramy, Kai Greene and Flex Wheeler.
• Listen to talks on training and nutrition, called Dubai Muscle Talks.

So who is it for? If you train in a gym, follow bodybuilding or buy supplements, this is your show. You do not need to compete. Most visitors come to watch, shop and meet the athletes.

The 2025 show was open from 10am to 7pm each day, and you could also buy tickets at the door. These were the early-bird prices on Virgin Megastore Tickets in August 2025, the last prices published. A Dubai Muscle Show ticket also got you into Dubai Active on the same days.

The 2027 prices have not been announced, and they may be different.

The show is run by IEG Middle East, the Dubai arm of Italian Exhibition Group. The same company runs the Riyadh Muscle Show in Saudi Arabia, and that show has also been postponed to 2027.

Dubai Muscle Show 2027: New Dates and New Location

The next Dubai Muscle Show runs from Thursday 28 October to Sunday 31 October 2027 at Dubai World Trade Centre, on Sheikh Zayed Road. Two things change for you.

First, the show gets a fourth day. Every show until now ran for three days. With four, the first two days fall on a Thursday and a Friday, so you have two weekdays to choose from if you would rather avoid the weekend crowds.

Second, the show goes back to Dubai World Trade Centre, where it was held until 2023. In 2024 and 2025 it was at Dubai Exhibition Centre in Expo City, in the south of the city. Dubai World Trade Centre is in the middle of the city and has its own Metro station, World Trade Centre, on the Red Line.

A lot is still missing. The organisers have not announced the opening hours, the ticket prices, the halls or the programme for each day. We do not know yet whether the Dubai Muscle Classic and the fight sports will return in the same form. So far the only 2027 news is for brands: on 18 September the organisers put the floor plan online and opened stand bookings.

How to Get Dubai Muscle Show 2027 Tickets

Tickets for 2027 are not on sale yet, and no prices have been announced. What you can do now is pre-register. That is not a ticket, and you pay nothing. You give the organisers your details, and they promise you will "be first to hear about ticket sales".

It takes about a minute:

1. Open the form. Go to the 2027 Ticket Pre-Registration page on the official website. The "Ticket Pre Register" button at the top of every page takes you there.
2. Fill in your details. First Name, Last Name, Email and Mobile number must be filled in. Country is optional.
3. Type your mobile number with the country code. For a UAE number, start with +971 and leave out the first 0, with no spaces.
4. Tick both boxes. One gives IEG Middle East permission to contact you. The other says you have read its Privacy Policy. The form will not send without both.
5. Press Submit. The page shows "Thank you for your enquiry", and the organisers will contact you when sales open.

The organisers have not said when that will be, or whether early-bird prices will come first. For 2026, early-bird tickets were sold through Virgin Megastore Tickets, and the Dubai Active website still links to Virgin for tickets.

Buy only through the official website or the seller it links to. Some ticket pages for 2026 are still online, and a ticket for 2026 is not valid for 2027.

Why Was the Dubai Muscle Show Postponed?

The organisers have not given a detailed reason. Their announcement says only that the decision followed "extensive discussions with exhibitors, partners, industry leaders and other key stakeholders".

A little more came from the company that owns the show. Italian Exhibition Group is listed on the stock market in Milan, so it has to tell its investors about big changes.

In an update reported on 15 September 2026, it said it moved the show to protect the event's brand and to grow it as a meeting place for the fitness business in the Middle East. In plain words, the decision was a business one, about the show's position and its exhibitors, not about visitors.

Bodybuilding Competitions in the UAE in 2026

Yes, there is still a bodybuilding show in Dubai this year: the Al Majed Classic, from Friday 27 to Sunday 29 November 2026. It is a new competition. The organisers have announced a prize purse of AED 400,000 across several weight classes and bodybuilding divisions, with support from the UAE Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation. The IFBB lists it on its calendar as the IFBB Al Majed International Championships, in Dubai.

The venue, the entry rules for athletes and any tickets for spectators have not been announced yet. The IFBB calendar says "more info coming soon", so check it again in early November.

If you are willing to travel, two professional shows of the IFBB Pro League are on in the Gulf:

• Kuwait Pro, 6 and 7 November 2026, in Kuwait City
• Saudi Arabia Pro, 5 and 6 December 2026, in Riyadh

Fitness Events in the UAE This October and November

If what you liked about the Dubai Muscle Show was the crowd, the energy and the chance to test yourself, the next six weeks are full of it, and much of it is free. The biggest is the Dubai Fitness Challenge 2026, which runs from 31 October to 29 November. You sign up free and try to move for 30 minutes a day, and the city lays on free classes and events all month.

Three parts of the challenge come closest to a big show day:

• Dubai Ride on Sunday 1 November. Sheikh Zayed Road closes to cars, and you cycle it on your own bike. It is free, and you book a place in advance.
• Dubai Run on Sunday 22 November. You run or walk 5km or 10km down the same road, also free.
• The Fitness Village at Zabeel Park, which is open through the challenge. It has free classes, sports courts and ladies' areas, and it is where you collect your bib for the ride and the run.

If you want a real test, try a race. HYROX is a fitness race of running and gym exercises, and it comes to ADNEC in Abu Dhabi from 23 to 25 October and to Dubai Exhibition Centre at Expo City on 27 and 28 November. You can buy a ticket to race or a ticket to watch.

Spartan, the obstacle race, holds its world championship weekend at Al Wathba in Abu Dhabi from 19 to 22 November, with races from a 3km team relay to a 21km course.