It’s been some time since a month-long stretch of the UFC calendar didn’t include a present on the Apex in Las Vegas, however possibly that might change quickly.
Following the conclusion of UFC on ESPN 56 at a raucous Enterprise Middle in St. Louis, UFC CEO Dana White revealed the promotion’s all time UFC Struggle Night time gate report was damaged with a whopping $2,470,197 on the door.
“Even in the event you have been watching on ESPN, I’m certain you guys have been getting texts too, like, ‘Jesus Christ, it’s like a pay-per-view there proper now,’” White instructed reporters at his post-fight information convention. “And when you consider how we constructed this enterprise, it was taking it out of the massive markets.
“Once we first bought into the struggle enterprise, all people simply went to Vegas, Atlantic Metropolis, generally New York, generally L.A. These have been the one locations that basically had fights except you had an area child that might struggle. We constructed this enterprise to taking this factor to each metropolis everywhere in the world. As we begin to get our sh*t collectively, I’ll name it, and begin to transfer out and exit to those completely different cities like we used to, the entire sport simply goes to a different stage.”
The UFC Apex occasions started in 2020 after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak as a strategy to maintain lower-cost reveals in Las Vegas and adjust to authorities protocols.
Whereas all indicators pointed to the in-house shift being short-term, the venue nonetheless housed dozens of UFC occasions within the years that adopted: 29 in 2020; 42 in 2021; 29 in 2022; and 27 in 2023. As of the tip of August, the promotion could have held 15 occasions on the UFC Apex in 2024.
Whereas White has lengthy indicated he needs to maneuver away from the in-house reveals on the UFC Apex, he mentioned 2024 would be the yr the promotion will increase its roadshows additional.
“I’ve been saying this for a very long time,” White mentioned. “We’ve bought to get out of the Apex and begin doing extra occasions in all these completely different cities. We’re beginning to do it. We’re getting it performed this yr.”
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