“Beautiful venue” Deontay Wilder left FASCINATED by the facilities at hand at the UFC Apex

“Beautiful venue” Deontay Wilder left FASCINATED by the facilities at hand at the UFC Apex

Deontay WIlder (L). The UFC Apex (R)

The UFC is known to invest heavily in infrastructure for the long-term engagement of the sport. Case in point, when every other sport had to be halted due to Covid-19, the UFC kept powering on like the juggernaut that it is.

While major sports like football, American football, basketball and F1 had to be cancelled because of the risk of Covid-19 and the heavy restrictions, it is singlehandedly the UFC’s legal and logistics team, and the infrastructure that it has set up that came through.

Dana White next to the UFC's cutting edge investment, The Apex
Dana White next to the UFC’s cutting edge investment, The Apex

The UFC Apex is still used to host some events, as it has been for the last three years. Now, ex-boxing champion Deontay Wilder has had his say on the Apex and the immense facilities available to the UFC’s roster, as he trained here just yesterday.

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He said, of how he came about training at the Apex, “One of my coaches lives out here and we had an idea to come and do some free camp stuff. He was telling me about this beautiful venue that Dana White and his partners have put together, and I wanted to come out and see something different.”

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Speaking of how we were treated at the Apex, Wilder said, “It makes it good for them to know I’m here, because everyone wants to impress me and show me the power of what they can do.”  Interestingly, this was both a remark towards the UFC looking after him and the fighters that put on a fired-up display to impress the great boxer.

Wilder also said that he and Francis Ngannou have been training together at the Apex.

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While all other sports were held to a standstill, The UFC Apex came in clutch to host events

The UFC Apex, which houses the octagon in all its glory
The UFC Apex, which houses the octagon in all its glory

The UFC Apex was ready to be used in May 2020, as the first event of the Covid-19 rolled along. We got to witness the marvel of UFC 249, which was headlined by Justin Gaethje and Tony Ferguson.

While the Apex, located in Las Vegas, could only be used for fights between fighters based in America (given the travel restrictions), the UFC was hard at work putting on high-interest events, like UFC 249, a couple of Fight Nights and UFC 250; till PPV events could be taken to Abu Dhabi.

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Justin Gaethje emerges victorious at the first event held at the Apex, UFC 249
Justin Gaethje emerges victorious at the first event held at the Apex, UFC 249

While most of the bigger PPVs were held in Abu Dhabi – that is, UFC 251, which was headlined by Jorge Masvidal and Kamaru Usman; and UFC 253, which featured the all-time great Khabib Nurmagomedov taking on Justin Gaethje; The UFC Apex was also chosen for the display of a few big name PPVs – including that of Stipe Miocic vs Daniel Cormier, the Poirier-Hooker fight night and others.

When not being used as a fighting location, the Apex and the adjacent Performance Institute form the hub of the mecca of the UFC, which has gone out of its way in establishing Las Vegas as the fight capital of the world, and no fight capital would be resplendent without its necessary accessories.  

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