Photo by Rey Del Ri/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Dana White says the UFC has recently purchased an additional 10 acres in Las Vegas.
The UFC headquarters in Las Vegas is already pretty massive, hosting their corporate offices, the UFC Performance Institute, and the UFC Apex center. According to Dana White though, they’re going to continue to expand and have already purchased 10 acres of land in the area. The purpose? To build their own UFC hotel.
“I don’t even know if you guys know this, but f—k it, I’ll tell you anyway. We just bought 10 acres over here.” White told the assembled media after the Contender Series. “We just bought some land, 10 more acres of land.
“We’re going to build our own hotel. We’ll be completely self-sufficient,” White said. “Hopefully next year.”
The UFC president explained that the purpose isn’t exactly for the public, but instead for fighters and staff working events.
“Obviously with what’s going on right now, our own hotel would pay for itself real quickly,” White said.
“It will be more designed for fighters. Just like the Apex was designed for fighting and putting on special events, this place would be designed exactly for what our needs are in a hotel.”
During this COVID-19 pandemic, the UFC took over local hotels for their mini “bubble.” Building their own hotel would seem to be an expensive venture, but in the long run, it could also save them money on future Las Vegas events where they normally house people in luxury hotels.
As predicted, UFC has managed to be very successful financially in 2020, even during a pandemic and without a live audience. White himself boasts that they’ve “never been bigger,” and their brand has grown so much being one of the very few sports running despite lockdowns. Apart from lucrative contractual deals, pay-per-view buys have reportedly been great in 2020, and they’re also earning money from Abu Dhabi government for past and future “Fight Island” events.
UFC is able to afford massive expansions like this and thrive during a pandemic, while other MMA or even boxing promotions have struggled. It’s mainly because they’ve had large margins through the years, but hopefully fighter pay follows suit, as UFC’s own estimates of revenue share have been far too low.