November 3, 2024 11:20 am ET
EDMONTON, Alberta, Canada – The UFC added a brand new file for its books Saturday in Edmonton, a not-uncommon incidence when the promotion travels within the post-COVID period.
UFC Struggle Evening 246 at Rogers Place at attendance in extra of 16,000 for a $2.6 million gate, based on Dave Shaw, the promotion’s senior vice chairman for worldwide operations. That greenback complete is a brand new high-water mark for UFC “Struggle Evening” occasions in North America, Shaw mentioned.
The UFC has elevated the quantity of occasions it does exterior of its Las Vegas house base, however the overwhelming majority of its non-pay-per-view occasions have been on the UFC Apex. That is smart, Shaw mentioned. However he additionally mentioned followers can anticipate some possibilities to see a card exterior “Sin Metropolis” an increasing number of in 2025.
“There’ll be an elevated variety of fan occasions exterior of the Apex relative to this yr as we get into the 2025 schedule,” Shaw mentioned after UFC Struggle Evening 246. “With that mentioned, is there all the time going to be a sure variety of Apex occasions transferring ahead – like it is going to all the time be possibly one a month? Sure.”
The UFC began utilizing its Apex facility in Las Vegas to maintain occasions occurring throughout the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Shaw mentioned there are ample and apparent advantages to the promotion from a price financial savings standpoint. Plus, he mentioned, it helps recharge the proverbial batteries for the manufacturing groups that journey.
“It’s powerful for us to anticipate what two or three years down the highway goes to seem like, however it makes a whole lot of sense for lots of causes (for us to do a whole lot of Apex occasions),” Shaw mentioned. “A variety of fighters (reside) in Vegas. It’s simpler for us operationally. It’s clearly easy from a budgetary perspective and the rigor and the stress – you know the way laborious it may be to be on the highway.
“… I feel having house video games and being within the Apex the place you’ll be able to simply flip off the lights and lock the door, it makes a whole lot of sense for us. Will we ever get again to pre-COVID of no Apex? I don’t suppose so. However I feel we’re going to seek out the correct steadiness for us.”
Take a look at Shaw’s full post-event information convention within the video above.
For extra on the cardboard, go to MMA Junkie’s occasion hub for UFC Fight Night 246.
You should definitely go to the MMA Junkie Instagram web page and YouTube channel to debate this and extra content material with followers of blended martial arts.
