Top 5 Venues That Were the Story

UFC 306 at the Sphere in Las Vegas is going to be one of the most remembered Ultimate Fighting Championship events in recent memory. However, that has little to do with what took place in the cage, despite the best efforts of Esteban Ribovics and Daniel Zellhuber. Given how the co-main event between Valentina Shevchenko and Alexa Grasso sucked all the energy out of the arena, the headliner between Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley would have had to have been a “Fight of the Year” contender for the crowd to feel fulfilled by the action. That didn’t happen, but many who tuned in still believe they got their money’s worth thanks to the unprecedented visual displays allowed by the environment the Sphere provides.

It’s hardly the first time the location of a UFC event stole the headlines. Sometimes, the action in the cage matched the hype outside, and sometimes, it didn’t. Unfortunately, those aspects of the event tend to fade into the background in comparison to the action inside the cage. Fresh off one such show, it seemed like a good time to run through the Top 5 events where the venue was the story. Given its recency, I chose not to include UFC 306. Let’s dig in:

5. UFC 112

April 10, 2010

Concert Arena | Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Given the UFC has returned to Abu Dhabi several times since this event, it’s easy to forget what a novelty UFC 112 was at the time. Sure, the UFC had been making regular trips to the United Kingdom and even made its first stop in Australia just two months prior, but those locations didn’t come across as a complete culture shock in comparison to the United Arab Emirates. It was the first UFC event to be featured in an open-air venue—a fact that came into play but not in the way people would think. No, it wasn’t rain or anything like that. It was the combination of the heat and humidity, meaning the outdoor nature of the event was going to be a factor no matter what. For the most part, the fighters held their own in the atypical environment, but it also can’t be denied it played a part in a disappointing showing for MMA legend Renzo Gracie’s lone UFC appearance. What made it truly unique, though, was the “arena” that held the event. There’s a reason it’s hard to find anything about the Concert Arena; it was built specifically for the event and torn down the week after it was completed. A similar situation arose when the UFC was promoting Fight Island during the COVID-19 pandemic, but this was the first time it was done. Those in attendance got to see B.J. Penn’s lightweight title reign come to an end at the hands of Frankie Edgar and Anderson Silva draw the ire of UFC President Dana White for his clownish performance against Demian Maia. While I don’t believe it can be said everything went smoothly, things went well enough that the UFC has made several trips to the Middle East over the years. At this point, the fighters know what to expect, and there have been accommodations to deal with the extreme elements. Given that reality, there isn’t going to be another event like UFC 112.

4. UFC 12

Feb. 7, 1997

Dothan Civic Center | Dothan, Alabama

Often forgotten about because it happened in the early days of the sport, UFC 12 exemplifies the hardship endured by the early pioneers—or by those who opted to stick around, at least. Many, such as Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn, fled the sport for the paychecks the late-90s boon in professional wrestling provided. The fulcrum for what began the dark days, UFC 12 was originally supposed to take place in Niagara Falls, New York. The UFC had previously run events in the state of New York—UFC 7 was held in Buffalo—but Sen. John McCain’s crusade against the sport was at its peak. Less than 48 hours before the event was supposed to take place, the state athletic commission informed the UFC that it wouldn’t be sanctioned to hold the event. Thus, the UFC packed up into a plane and flew down to Alabama at the last minute. Keeping in mind this was 1997, the world wasn’t as online then as it is now. Those looking to tune in for the pay-per-view may not have known about the move across the nation. The event went off without a hitch. Still running the tournament format, Jerry Bohlander claimed the lightweight title with a victory over Nick Sanzo in the final, and future legend Vitor Belfort made a memorable debut as a 19-year-old, disposing of his opposition in a combined two minutes to claim the heavyweight tournament championship. However, the fight everyone wanted to see saw Mark Coleman make easy work of Severn to officially be crowned the first heavyweight champion. It also turned out to be the debut of Joe Rogan, who provided interviews in the backstage area as opposed to commentary. There’s no doubt the crowning of the company’s oldest current title still in circulation was a historic event, but the gumption of the UFC staff and crew to make sure the event continued when they had every excuse to give up was even more important. I don’t want to say the sport would have died had the event not occurred, but its progress would have been severely delayed at the very least. It may have even resulted in the demise of the UFC, as fans may not have been willing to invest any sort of money into the organization if they believed it screwed them over instead of showing the promised card. Thanks to officials in Alabama, the sport has been able to grow into the monster it is today.

3. UFC 134

Aug. 27, 2011

HSBC Arena | Rio de Janeiro

While we could debate all day about how deep the roots of MMA run, there’s no denying Brazil plays a very significant role in the development of the sport prior to the creation of the UFC. After all, one of the most important martial arts within MMA is called Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Even so, outside of a token appearance in 1998, the UFC didn’t bother to prioritize making a trip to Brazil until 2011. It proved to be not just a memorable night but one in which the audience stole the show. Stacking the card with Brazilians, there were eight contests in which a native faced off with someone of a different nationality. The Brazilians emerged victorious in seven of those contests; Stanislav Nedkov prevented the sweep when he beat Luiz Cane for his only UFC victory. Brazilians fed off the energy of the audience, with the majority of their contests either being blowouts or quick finishes. At the top of the card, Mauricio Rua earned his revenge on Forrest Griffin, blowing out the former light heavyweight champion with ease. Meanwhile, Anderson Silva also earned retribution over Yushin Okami, toying with him before putting an end to things in the second round. Eating up the energy of the Brazilian crowd, the UFC was quick to rebook Rio de Janeiro, returning just five months later with UFC 142. In total, including the trip to Brazil for UFC 134, the UFC traveled to the South American country a total of 36 times before the COVID-19 pandemic changed the frequency with which the organization hit the road. Aside from the United States, that makes Brazil the most frequented country to which the UFC has traveled. The UFC made up a lot of ground following the 13-year gap between appearances, and the success of UFC 134 is precisely why it did so. The trips to Brazil haven’t been as frequent since the pandemic, but the UFC hasn’t been on the road much in general since that time. If the UFC gets back to the road full-time, it’s hard to believe it won’t resume its frequent trips to the homeland of MMA.

2. UFC 261

April 24, 2021

Vystar Veterans Arena | Jacksonville, Florida

There were several instances that could be pointed to in reference to the COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, the first event in a completely empty arena in Brasilia, Brazil, as the world first learned the coronavirus wasn’t confined to China; or UFC 249, where the promotion hosted the first major sporting event of any type after the lockdown orders initially went out; or the first events with any sort of audience on Fight Island. However, I’ll settle on the first time a full capacity arena audience was permitted to view the fights—a huge step towards a return to normalcy that so many were craving at the time. The UFC likely could have delivered a subpar card on paper and the fans still would have showed up. People were desperate for live action. Fortunately, the UFC decided to reward both the live audience and those viewing at home with three title fights, none of which advanced past the second round. Valentina Shevchenko handled Jessica Andrade with ease before finding a ground-and-pound finish in the second round to extend her streak of women’s flyweight defenses to five; Rose Namajunas snatched the strawweight title from Weili Zhang with a brutal head kick knockout just over a minute into their contest, becoming the UFC’s first multi-time women’s champion in any weight class; and Kamaru Usman secured the highlight of his career when he knocked the sweat and consciousness out of Jorge Masvidal with a single punch for his fourth title defense. After a year of listening to the fights in empty venues, it was refreshing to hear a live crowd reacting to the action in the cage. It added an ambiance that even those watching from home missed. Sure, some found the empty venues to be a nice change for a while, as we were able to hear the corners with clarity, but it grew tiresome. The first two fights of the night established just how much the fighters feed off the energy of a crowd, as well. Watch those bouts and tell me the fighters weren’t reacting to their live audience. While there is no absolute return to what once was prior to the worldwide lockdowns, this was as close to a return to normalcy as we were going to get. Even if you weren’t in the live audience, the energy was felt through the television. It felt like a signal that we were nearing the conclusion to a time we would all like to forget.

1. UFC 205

Nov. 12, 2016

Madison Square Garden | New York

For those who have only come into interest in the sport of MMA, this probably seems like a terrible choice for the most consequential location. Yes, Madison Square Garden is the world’s most famous arena, but I would agree with the detractors who would claim that isn’t reason enough for it to top this list. Yet, it sits here atop the list of the most consequential venues in UFC history. It was the fact that the UFC had finally knocked down the final wall. The sport of MMA was fully accepted in all corners of the country. Accepted by the mainstream. It was only appropriate the reward for that was to touch down in the same place where Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier split the first two contests of their renowned trilogy. The same place Willis Reed hobbled out for Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals to inspire his team to victory. It became the same place where the UFC crowned a simultaneous two-division champion when Conor McGregor—then the featherweight titleholder—snatched the lightweight crown from Eddie Alvarez. It was only appropriate the biggest star in the history of the sport accomplished his crowning achievement on the night where the sport became fully integrated into American culture. The UFC had tried to force New York’s hand previously by booking the arena for UFC 197 before the sport was officially sanctioned. However, the state had refused to budge in sanctioning the sport in time for that event. In retrospect, it proved to be fortuitous, as things couldn’t have worked out any better. McGregor hit the apex of his MMA popularity at UFC 205. While we tend to curse the MMA gods more than we praise them—such as when an injury robs us of a much-anticipated fight—sometimes they know better than us peasants and reward us with the right fight at the right place at the right time. Throughout the broadcast and in the weeks leading up to the event, the UFC couldn’t emphasize the importance of its return to New York enough. While I admit it tended to be annoying at the time, I understand the point. No longer was the UFC the black sheep of the sporting world and an easy scapegoat for politicians. It was now fully accepted into sporting world without any shackles. It hasn’t eliminated the weird looks when telling someone unfamiliar with the sport that you’re into MMA—I’ve found that people still understand me better when mentioning the UFC as opposed to the actual name of the sport—but at least we can tell them it’s entirely legal across the nation now.