By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
When you watch ESPN’s promotional coverage of Las Vegas-based UFC’s fight events these days during a pandemic that has devastated the sports industry, you have to be in awe over the fact that at one time this MMA promotion could not even get on TV.
When you see UFC getting ready to hold its 251 event Saturday amid its “Fight Island” hoopla at a fancy resort island in Abu Dhabi, it’s hard to believe this same cage fighting promotion could not even get permission to hold these fight shows in New York state up until only a few years ago.
And when you hear all about this Fight Island talk about UFC 251 being staged on Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island, keep in mind UFC has already held three fight events in Abu Dhabi in 2010, 2014 and less than a year ago in September.
The UFC fighters, including a half-dozen in three title matches, did not come to Fight Island on boats during this COVID-19 pandemic. They flew in on corporate jets on UFC’s dime.
UFC 251’s pay-per-view event was even promoted during a TV spot on ABC-TV during a Friday night network report on Jeffrey Epstein, a millionaire money manager accused of alleged sex trafficking.
While former Major League Baseball All-Stars like Dodgers pitcher David Price and Giants catcher Buster Posey have dropped out of playing in MLB’s 60-game schedule during a pandemic and college football’s biggest conferences are eliminating non-conference games , UFC President Dana White through his unrelenting “I’m-in-the-fight-business” personality has pushed UFC onto the marquee of sports not only in the U.S. but across the world.
“We are a global company,” White told ESPN.
The Abu Dhabi event is a global event, and White is poised to cash in on lucrative pay-per-view buys even if he is losing $100 million in gate receipt revenues from fans not attending the cage matches that he and his staff are arranging for UFC during a pandemic that has claimed the lives of nearly 135,000 Americans.
Nobody can predict with certainty whether the NBA and NHL will be able to follow through and realize their goals of crowning championship teams when play begins in both leagues in late July and early August.
But UFC has been holding fight shows during this pandemic since May 16 in Jacksonville, Florida, nearly two months ago. And for five consecutive Saturdays in late May and June in Las Vegas at UFC’s Apex building next-door to the MMA promotion’s headquarters and campus of the 215 beltway, UFC has been putting on fights, with most of them broadcast on partner ESPN.
More than 600 UFC staffers, fighters and support workers made the trip to Abu Dhabi.
“The infrastructure we are building will be such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the fighters that’s never been done before – from the arena, the private training facility, and the Octagon on the island – it’s going to be an experience that none of us will ever forget. I can’t wait to deliver amazing fights from Yas island,” White said a few weeks ago.
UFC and Abu Dhabi have history. UFC and DCT Abu Dhabi have a five-year partnership to bring UFC events to the emirate. UFC 242, which featured Khabib Nurmagonedov vs. Dustin Poirier Sept 7, 2019 and was first event held under the deal, attracted more than 14,000 fans to Yas Island. The agreement to bring UFC’s Fight Island concept to Abu Dhabi is an expansion of the original five-year partnership between UFC and DCT Abu Dhabi.
After Saturday’s UFC 251, UFC is putting on fight night events on July 15, 18 and 25.
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