100 events in: Weighing the pros and cons of the UFC Apex as ‘the future of fighting’

“In the next two months, I’m going to unveil the future. Not of the UFC, of fighting. I’m going to unveil the future of fighting in the next two months.”

That was UFC CEO Dana White in an interview with ESPN just after UFC 236 in April of 2019. He was referring to the UFC Apex, of course, which on Saturday will play host to a UFC Fight Night event billed as UFC Vegas 100 (4 p.m. ET, ESPN+).

As usual with UFC events, numbering conventions can be tricky. The Apex actually passed the century mark for UFC events earlier this year. And even this event is simultaneously billed as UFC Fight Night: Magny vs. Prates, UFC Fight Night 247 and UFC on ESPN+ 105.

But still, here we are at a milestone of sorts for the facility that really did end up changing the way the UFC operates. That makes it as good a time as any to pause for reflection and ask ourselves: how has the Apex shaped the future of fighting — at least in the UFC — and what have we learned about where things are headed?

For starters, we must acknowledge that there is one party that loves these events more than any other, and it’s the people behind the camera. When I talked to UFC executive vice president of operations and production Craig Borsari a few months back, he spoke in glowing terms about the ease and efficiency of having an in-house arena that’s also its own production studio.

“The Apex was a just incredible facility for us for all the reasons that I’m sure you’re aware of through COVID,” Borsari said. “But it also wasn’t just physical space that allowed us to put on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ and ‘Dana White’s Contender Series,’ but from a production perspective, it also allowed us to produce it without having to roll up a mobile unit and configure that truck so that we’re able to do remote production out of that mobile unit. It’s set to our standards, it’s bespoke for the way we produce our live events. So it became more plug and play, which is just a massive advantage in terms of efficiency in the way we approach producing the shows.”

Certainly, this is one of the main reasons why the UFC was reluctant to leave the Apex and head back out on the road for UFC Fight Night events, even when COVID restrictions were lifted across the country.

In 2023, the UFC put on 17 UFC Fight Night events (not counting UFC on ESPN or UFC on ABC fight cards). Of those, 11 were held at the UFC Apex. So far in 2024 there have been 16 UFC events at the Apex. And while company executives have said there are plans to take these events to more places, UFC VP David Shaw also made clear last week that the Apex events will probably never fully disappear.

“I think having home games and being in the Apex where we can just turn off the lights and lock the door, it makes a lot of sense for us,” Shaw told reporters at Saturday’s post-fight news conference in Edmonton. “So will we ever get back to pre-COVID or no Apex? I don’t think so. But I think we’re going to find the right balance for us.”

One result of these Apex events has been to create an entirely new tier of UFC programming that didn’t exist before the pandemic. At one time, there were essentially only two types of UFC events: pay-per-views and fight nights. Fans and fighters both knew that the former was for important stuff like title fights and genuine stars, premium content at premium prices. The latter? That was for the other stuff. Possible contenders. Debuting fighters. Generally a lot of names unknown to most MMA fans. But hey, it was included with a cable or streaming service subscription, so it cost nothing extra to watch.

Now there’s another layer to that stratification. There are UFC Fight Night events like the one in Edmonton last week, headlined by one former champ in the main event and another in the co-main event, with an arena full of fans cheering them on. And then there are Apex events like this Saturday’s offering, which has a few recognizable names and some solid matchups, but does not include a single fighter in the top 10 of any division.

There’s also a major difference in feel between these two types of fight nights. You turn on the TV and see 15,000 fans screaming their approval while some fighter’s walkout music blasts through the speakers at ear-splitting volume, that feels important. It feels like big time live sports.

If instead you see a fighter making the extremely short walk to the cage to the sound of tepid applause echoing through a mostly empty building, that feels almost like an exhibition. The experienced viewer knows, without needing to be told, that if this one were really important the UFC would have taken it somewhere else to sell thousands of tickets.

This isn’t lost on fighters. Back in February, when Renato Moicano was slated to be the co-headliner for one of these events, he shrugged it off by telling us “nobody cares” about these events.

“Nobody likes the Apex, my brother,” Moicano said. “You can ask anybody. The fans hate the Apex. The fighters, I’m pretty sure they don’t like the Apex, too. … I know the UFC has so many fighters right now and [has] to make so many fights. It makes sense for the Apex and ESPN. If you’re asking me if I’m happy to fight at the Apex, no way, brother.”

Still, it all makes good sense for a live event company that puts on a show almost every weekend of the year. The Apex eliminates a ton of travel costs. No need to fly people all over the world and plunk down the cash for hotel rooms when a lot of fighters already live in Las Vegas, where they can take advantage of the UFC Performance Institute while having plenty of coaches and training partners to choose from. If there’s a last-minute fight card shakeup that leaves a hole in the lineup, it helps to be just a short drive from the venue. Careers have been built on less in this sport.

The fact that the UFC is currently working on an expansion of the Apex tells us that these events aren’t going anywhere. Seeing the place outfitted with something more closely resembling an actual arena with a real crowd for one of the WWE’s NXT Battleground events earlier this year gave fans a glimpse of a different possible future for the Apex.

In the meantime, it still feels like the place the UFC returns to when it has something to show us that’s not as good as the other stuff. That’s not necessarily bad. For the UFC, it’s certainly cost-effective. Which, let’s be honest, was probably always going to be the real future of fighting.