- UFC 252 will take place at the Apex facility in Las Vegas on August 15 without fans.
- UFC President Dana White indicated that events will continue regularly in Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi.
- White said that the UFC isn’t even considering events with fans at this point.
The UFC was among the first US sports to return to action after the shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic due in large part to promotion head Dana White’s tenacity in working out logistical issues. Now as the economy ‘reopens’ in many jurisdictions there has been speculation that the promotion was looking for locations for future events that could allow fans in attendance. That is not the case, however, and on Saturday night White confirmed that the promotion will continue regular events without fans for the foreseeable future.
The next big UFC pay-per-view event will take place on August 15 headlined by the third fight between heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic and former champ Daniel Cormier. Initially, the UFC didn’t announce a venue for the event which led to the speculation that the location would not be at the promotion owned Apex facility in Las Vegas. The reasoning was that the UFC was at least exploring the possibility of having the event with fans in the building. On Saturday night, White dispelled this idea:
“I am not even thinking about doing an event with fans. I just don’t see that happening any time soon in the United States. I could see it happening in another country. Not here, though.”
White pointed to the endless conflicting information from Federal, state and local government as well as the mainstream media as the reason that the UFC isn’t even exploring the possibility of holding events with fans at this point:
“I’m not even thinking about that right now. I’ve got my (expletive) dialed in. I’ve got it worked out. I’m hearing they’re shutting down casinos in Arizona. The governor here came out and said we’re all going to have to start wearing masks like California. I don’t know.”
“You can’t believe anything you read. You don’t know what’s true and what’s not. You hear flatten the curve and it had flattened. Now they’re saying things are spiking up in Texas or Arizona or Florida or wherever. I don’t know the answers to this stuff. That’s why I stay in my lane now. We’ve got the Apex. We’re kicking off Fight Island soon.”
The UFC will have one more event at the Las Vegas Apex facility before spending the month of July at Yas Island aka ‘Fight Island’ in Abu Dhabi. The promotion holds events there as a way to accommodate the many internationally based fighters who would find it difficult to travel to the US for events. The promotion will return to Las Vegas for events on August 1, August 8 and the UFC 252 card on August 15. White further indicated that the US based shows would remain in Las Vegas for the time being.
