The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Apex facility in Las Vegas, Nevada, has been in our lives for several years now. And it feels like every five to six months, UFC CEO, Dana White, or another top figure in the company will say, “there will be fewer Apex events” and “we’re getting back on the road again.”
To be fair, 14 of the first 20 UFC events in 2025 will be outside the Apex and in packed arenas.
But, President and COO of TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (TKO), Mark Shapiro, spoke at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference recently, revealing there is no difference between quiet Apex “Fight Night”-themed events and packed stadium shows.
“When it comes to UFC, our margin could be higher if we decided to do less international events,” Shapiro said. “Maybe even less domestic touring events and do them in the Apex arena in Las Vegas, where we own the arena, and when you are watching on TV, you can’t tell if you are in a stadium or in an arena or if you are at the small but mighty Apex that we have in Las Vegas.
“When you compare UFC to MLB, which has been around a 100 years when you compare it with NFL, which has been around for over 100 years, we have a long way to go here,” Shapiro added. “So, we have to balance reach, engagement, brand strength, with ‘dollars.’ Which, of course, most folks in this room are more focused on. But, we are playing a long game here.”
As someone who has been to every single Apex “Fight Night” since the middle of 2022, I can tell you from first-hand experience that there is a significant difference between that building and, say, Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.
It is night and day.
The Octagon looks the same, for the most part, but UFC cannot substitute a sold-out arena crowd of 18,000 with an Apex crowd of 500 people (sometimes just one!).
Indeed, UFC’s Apex cannot simply replace this:
To check out UFC’s upcoming event schedule click here.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
