The ongoing pandemic is one that has seen the world of sports be forced to persevere and find innovative ways to continue satisfying the eager fans’ appetite. The sport of Mixed Martial Arts was no exception and it certainly refused to be left behind. Right at the forefront of the charge was MMA’s leading promotion – the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The UFC, much like other sports promotions and leagues, faced the dilemma of maneuvering the challenge of evading the virus (and all the issues that come with it) while still catering to their fans on as regular a basis as they can. Well, many might agree that the UFC proved exemplary in striking that perfect balance.
The promotion was dealt its first blow when the much anticipated UFC Fight Night 170 presented from Brazil on March 14th, 2020 was forced to happen behind closed doors, following the suspension of large gatherings as a result of the outbreak of the virus. Immediately following that, the UFC saw a few more of their events being canceled/postponed – including the much-awaited Woodley vs. Edwards fight night, which was set to come live from London’s O2 Arena. Over the next few months, UFC fans saw the promotion produce events behind closed doors from the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Florida before an eventual move to well the UFC Apex in UFC’s home of Las Vegas. However, on June 9th, the UFC rolled out its plan to host four events throughout the month of July coming from Abu Dhabi – thus fulfilling UFC President Dana White’s previously announced pursuit of an international venue, so as to accommodate fighters affected by the U.S. travel restrictions. This would see Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island be transformed into the UFC’s Fight Island. In addition to allowing their international fighters to get back into action, it also served as a cute reminder from the UFC that they will always give us fights – always.
For the remainder of the year, the UFC would host a series of events between that location and the Apex. At the top of the new year in 2021, the UFC made its way back to Abu Dhabi for a week of events but, this time, there were limited fans in attendance. Upon returning to closed door production at the UFC Apex, the executives began working towards having fan attendance in the U.S., and it all paid off because on March 15th, Dana White announced that the UFC would host UFC 261 from Jacksonville, Florida, with a full capacity crowd of 15,000 fans. Florida’s VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, once again, would get to host the promotion.
UFC 261 took place on April 24th this year and saw an arena record for highest gross and a sell-out of tickets in minutes with 15,269 fans in attendance. Following that, we have seen Fight Nights coming from the UFC Apex with no fans in attendance but, for UFC 262, the UFC headed to Texas’ Toyota Center to host 16,005 fans in attendance to witness Michael Chandler and Charles Oliveira battle for the vacant Lightweight Championship – before returning to the Apex. Looking at the UFC schedule, it seems that the promotion is striking the balance between having fans in attendance for their major pay-per-views whilst producing the Fight Night events behind closed doors at the Apex.
The past year has been tumultuous, as we have seen some unexpected changes in the daily running of sports – which, for many of us, is such a major aspect of life itself. Right now, we are having one of those break weeks where we do not have an event to keep us company over the weekend but with everything finally feeling back to some degree of normality, it just feels like this is the perfect time to step back and just appreciate the efforts of everyone in the UFC. We, as fans, have witnessed the promotion promising us nothing but the best, and the best is always delivered indeed. Regardless of how hard this past year and a half has come swinging, the UFC continues to fight on. That, right there, is something to be admired. In as much as we have witnessed and appreciated the countless fights we have been given by the UFC, there was no greater fight than that which the UFC, in itself, undertook.
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