UFC 300 will take place next month in Las Vegas. That’s no surprise.
True, Denver was the site of UFC 1, the promotion’s 1993 debut. But according to an analysis by Kneebar News, the dominant player since then has been Las Vegas, which has hosted a total of 101 PPVs.
No other city or state has come close to matching Las Vegas’s stranglehold. Number 2 on the list is California, which has hosted 21 PPVs across six cities. After that comes New Jersey and Texas, with 13 apiece, and New York, with 11.
| State | PPVs | % of all U.S. PPVs |
|---|---|---|
| Nevada* | 101 | 44.5% |
| California | 21 | 9.3% |
| New Jersey | 13 | 5.7% |
| Texas | 13 | 5.7% |
| New York | 11 | 4.8% |
| All U.S. PPVs | 227** | 100.0% |
** Includes UFC 233, which was cancelled, and UFC 37.5
If not for Zuffa Inc.’s acquisition of the mixed martial arts promotion in 2001, Nevada might have been an afterthought. None of the UFC’s first 35 PPVs was held in the state. But Zuffa was headquartered in Las Vegas. Within several months of the purchase, the city hosted its first pay-per-view show, at UFC 36. Las Vegas has been a top destination for numbered events ever since.
In fact, the three busiest venues for UFC pay-per-view shows all are located in Las Vegas. MGM Grand Garden Arena leads the pack with 39 events, followed by Mandalay Bay Events Center with 27 and T-Mobile Arena with 26.
Each state has a UFC story. New York, for example, was an early adopter. The state hosted UFC 7 (“The Brawl in Buffalo”) in 1995 and planned to hold UFC 12 in the same city. But before the latter event could take place, New York’s legislature and governor outlawed the sport for being excessively violent. It took nearly 20 years, a UFC lawsuit, and multiple votes by lawmakers before New York lifted the MMA ban, in 2016.
Not every New York lawmaker was happy about the vote to legalize MMA. One state assemblyman, Daniel J. O’Donnell, compared the sport to “gay porn.” “You have two nearly naked hot men, rolling around on top of one another, trying to dominate each other,” he lamented.
Louisiana also has a story, if one of contraction rather than growth. During the 18 months that began March 1998, the state held five PPV events. But it hasn’t hosted a single one in the 23 years since.
Given the challenges of putting on events overseas, it’s impressive that 74 PPVs, or 25% of all numbered shows, have been held on foreign soil. Canada is #2 behind the U.S., with 22 events (7% of all PPVs), and Brazil and England each has hosted 12 (4% of the total).
| Country | PPVs | % of all PPVs |
|---|---|---|
| U.S.* | 226 | 74.8% |
| Canada | 22 | 7.3% |
| Brazil | 12 | 4.0% |
| England | 12 | 4.0% |
| UAE | 9 | 3.0% |
| All countries | 302** | 100.0% |
** Includes UFC 233, which was cancelled, and UFC 37.5
The COVID-19 pandemic helped propel the United Arab Emirates to fifth place on the list, with nine events. At a time when almost all U.S. states restricted both travel and crowds, the Middle Eastern monarchy and its “Fight Island” facility provided UFC fighters and staff with a “bio-secure bubble.” During the nine months from UFC 250 (on June 6, 2020) through UFC 260 (on March 27, 2021), four PPVs were held in Abu Dhabi, while the remaining seven took place fan-free at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Overall, however, the UFC has cut back on international shows after years of expansion. From UFC 1 to 100, there were 15 foreign events. The total more than doubled, to 33, from UFC 101 to 200. But since UFC 201, the promotion has held just 26 PPVs abroad.
Kneebar News’s analysis of pay-per-view events includes UFC 37.5. The oddly-named show came about when Fox offered to broadcast a fight card between UFC 37 and UFC 38. The breakdown also includes UFC 233, which was canceled when the company failed to land an adequate headliner.
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