By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
While Major League Baseball appears to be heading to a grounded season because of non-bubble coronavirus cases, it was pandemic business as usual for Las Vegas-based UFC and its Fight Night event at the MMA promotion’s Apex building in the southwest valley.
On May 30, LVSportsBiz.com was inside the Apex venue to eyeball the first bigtime sports event in Las Vegas after the COVID-19 pandemic halted big league sports in the United States.
By now, UFC has the pandemic protocols down at the Apex, the 130,000-square-foot former Scientific Games Corp. building nearly next-door to UFC’s headquarters campus.
Constant testing, quarantines and face masks are the protocol at the Apex. On May 30, there was a sense of curiosity to see how UFC would handle the first live sports event. Inside the Apex for that first pandemic fight show in late May, I heard the whack of punches to the heads, kicks to the body and skin-on-skin blows, with coaches screaming instructions. The Apex venue had only doctors, sports commission officials and less UFC staffers than usual for events.
UFC boss Dana White said sports organizations have to stage sports in a bubble — check White’s comments here.
Now two months later on Aug. 1 amid a pandemic that claimed the lives of 152,000 Americans, UFC is picking up the pace with no less than nine events at the Apex in the month of August. There are five Saturday night events, including UFC 252 pay-per-view on Aug. 15, and four Dana White’s Contender Series events this month.
White forged ahead in May when people said holding live sports during a pandemic could not be done. He staged a UFC event in Jacksonville, Florida May 16, then brought the fights home to Las Vegas for the May 30 event before June saw a slew of fight shows at the Apex before White took the MMA promotion on the road to the Middle East and Abu Dhabi in July to accommodate many international fighters on UFC’s 600-fighter roster.
Today’s card features nine fights, including four prelims and all the bouts are on ESPN+. The big fight is a middleweight showdown between Edmen Shahbazyan and Derek Brunson.
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