UFC Commits To More ‘Fight Night’ Cards At APEX

UFC officials enjoy working at the APEX facility in Las Vegas.

Which to some degree, is like working from home. There’s no need to pack up equipment, shack up in a faraway hotel, deal with the headaches of air travel, or clean up after messy MMA fans. They simply turn off the lights and lock the doors.

That’s why “Fight Night” cards at APEX are here to stay.

“I think the APEX is always gonna be in the mix now, it make a lot of sense,” Senior Vice President for International Operations and Content Dave Shaw told reporters at the UFC 284 press conference (watch it here). “We kinda turn off the lights and lock the doors when the event is over. It makes sense from an ease of operations. It also makes sense as a good fallback plan, if we have something that just doesn’t work out in a venue or if it’s tough to get to a certain city we want to get to, we can always go to the APEX. I think there’s a lot of advantages to it. I don’t know the number (of events per year) but I think it will always be in the mix.”

Sorry to all those venues hoping to score the “Andrade vs. Blanchfield” event.

“Translation: We’ll keep signing mediocre Contender Series fighters who aren’t UFC caliber, and it’s just easier to have them at the APEX where they won’t get booed,” one fan wrote on Twitter.

“We’re gonna keep putting on filler cards full of $10k/10k guys to meet our ESPN+ event quota, so it’s good to have a place that every fight won’t get booed,” said another.

“So fucking lame. Lazy. UFC taking big steps back as an organization,” added another. “They should be talking about Alligent, Sofi and Cowboy stadium. Not the fucking APEX.”

But not every UFC fan is opposed to APEX cards.

“I don’t mind the APEX and plenty of fighters said they don’t mind it,” a fan wrote. “APEX has clean cameras and crisp audio, shots that land are appreciated more plus we get to hear any and all shit talk. We get to hear instructions from the corner and see how the fighters react.”

“Love the APEX put the full size cage and we are good,” another added. “The atmosphere of the place is something else hearing the rawness of fighting.”

UFC returns to APEX for UFC Fight Night 69 this weekend in “Sin City” (details) followed by UFC Fight Night 70 on Feb. 25 (see that card here).