With the UFC wrapping up their second event in the US back with fans since the COVID pandemic, UFC President Dana White shared that the company has no plans of taking Fight Nights events outside of Vegas during 2021.
At the UFC 262 post-fight press conference White shared the news as well as explaining how important Fight Night events have been for the UFC.
“We’re not even looking at fight nights,” White said. “I mean we didn’t even have gates in our budget until October or November so right now to start trying to find places for Fight Nights it just makes no sense, we’ll stay at the cozy Apex and do our thing for the rest of the year I think.”
“One of the reasons that I believe personally that this sport has grown as big and fast as it is because we take this thing all over the world. You know, we go places like Oklahoma, you know places where people usually don’t get fights. So the Fight Nights are a big part of our brand and we’ll continue to do it when the whole country opens up.”
For the remainder of the year, the UFC plans to host Fight Night events at the Apex facility in Las Vegas. While not having any fans in attendance, this venue has been a key location for the company over the past year and played host to over 30 events.
UFC 259 in January was the first PPV event to host back fans in a limited capacity as Conor McGregor took on Dustin Poirier. The event was held on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi and was accompanied by a pair of Fight Nights that also held some fans, but since events returned to the US shores there have only been two events with fans, UFC 261, and now UFC 262.
Right now, the UFC will host their next event in Arizona as Israel Adesanya defends his title against Marvin Vettori, followed by UFC 264 in July back in Vegas. White shared that the UFC doesn’t have any venues scheduled to host their PPVs for the rest of the year after these two events.