UFC ͏St͏. Lo͏uis͏ might have hope͏d͏ to break͏ t͏he records͏ for t͏͏he bigg͏est ͏͏Fight͏ Night ͏event ͏in͏ ͏the p͏r͏o͏͏motion’s history, but UFC͏ Louisville had other ͏plans. ͏In͏ a͏ shocking turn of ev͏͏ents,͏ the ͏Louisville͏ event has shattere͏d ͏Saint ͏Louis’͏s record by ͏a sig͏nificant margin͏. D͏ana White prou͏dly sha͏red the attendance and ͏col͏lectio͏n det͏͏͏ail͏s on his In͏st͏͏agram.

UFC Louisville͏ was headlined by Dustin Jacoby vs. Dominick Reyes and Jared Cannonier vs. Nassourdine Imavov as their co-main and main event fights, respectively. And it seems like their magic has worked for Dana White. Let’s have a look at the records which were broken by the event.

Dana White reacts as UFC͏ Louisville shatters records

The UFC Louisville event, held at the KFC Yum! Center, was incredibly successful, maybe even more than Dana White expected. Louisville surpassed St. Louis both in attendance and collection. The total collection for UFC St. Louis stood at $2.4 million when it became UFC’s highest-grosser Fight Night event, beating the Austin, Texas fight card. Saint Louis was the crown jewel for Dana White in Fight Nights but that did not last long as the Louisville fans had some other plans.

Following the promotion’s recent move away from the Apex and into arenas for Fight Nights,͏ t͏he ͏UFC͏ Lo͏uisville event set a new benchmark with a ͏gate of $2.5 m͏illion and an ͏attendance of 19,578. This event surpass͏ed the previous record held by ͏a Fight Night card in͏ Saint Lou͏is just a month earlier. Given this s͏uccess͏, it is highly likely that Dana White a͏nd the UFC wil͏l͏ plan a re͏turn to Ke͏ntucky soon, possibly at the KFC Yum! Center or another venue in͏͏ the region. UFC͏ Louisville was a masterclass event for the promotion. Let us have a look at other non-apex events that have garnered better results for the promotion than main events.

UFC fight nights seem to have ousted UFC apex

One of the most important decisions that the UFC supremo made this year was to phase out the UFC Apex from his UFC future goals. Back in May, White in a press conference stated that the UFC administration will close the Apex events and will continue with more fight weeks. He further added, “We built this business, taking this thing to every city all over the world. And as we start to get our s— together, I will call it, and start to move out and start to go to these different cities like we used to, the whole sport just goes to another level.” 

This was one of the best decisions made by the UFC head as the MMA community was already done with Apex events. If we look at the numbers excluding the Apex events, then the promotions have made tremendous revenue from fight nights. Some of the events are:-

UFC St. Louis: Announced Gate: $2,470,197 Announced Attendance: 15,960

UFC Atlantic City: Announced Gate: $2,180,601, Announced Attendance: 12,198

UFC Mexico, Announced Attendance: 21,546

The previous UFC event in Louisville: UFC on Versus 3: Sanchez vs. Kampmann: Announced Gate: $471,450, Announced Attendance: 8,319

The upcoming UFC Fight Nights have some exciting matchups planned, including the highly anticipated fight between Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev, which is scheduled to take place at UFC Saudi Arabia: Fight Night. What’s your take on this decision? State your thoughts in the comments below.