Where is the UFC APEX and what is it? The facility hosting Cormier vs Miocic fight at UFC 252 that president Dana White calls ‘game changing’
The UFC juggernaut is back home in Nevada for the titanic showdown between Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic.
UFC 252 will take place at the state-of-the-art APEX, which has come to the promotion’s aid during the pandemic, prior to Fight Island.
Miocic (left) reclaimed his heavyweight title against Cormier (right) last August at UFC 241 and the pair will complete their trilogy in an empty APEX
Amanda Nunes beat Felicia Spencer at UFC 250 there and live events will be hosted there for the foreseeable future until fans are allowed back in to watch.
“We built the Apex facility next door just in time to save the day from this pandemic,” UFC president Dana White revealed.
Where is the UFC APEX?
The 130,000 square-foot production facility in Las Vegas contains more than 50,000 square feet of production space and more than 70,000 square feet of office space.
It opened in June of 2019 and hosted the season three premiere of Dana White’s Contender Series.
The state-of-the-art APEX facility is located next to the UFC’s Las Vegas headquarters
A new IP-based control room was installed this year allowing UFC to produce live events remotely from any location in the world and broadcast them in 4K resolution.
That’s key to UFC’s plan given travel restrictions in some parts of the world right now.
The third series of Dana White’s Contender Series used the UFC APEX – essentially it sees the boss scouting new talent for the promotion, which is similar to the Ultimate Fighter
UFC APEX comprises of 22 rooms, including their main arena stage. A 50’ x 50’ sound stage originally intended for pre and post-fight shows is a prominent feature while the building is also supported by a VIP Suite, Media Lounge and four locker rooms – which should aid social distancing – engineering room, production office and, finally, 12 general purpose rooms and one multi-purpose room.
What makes it so special?
“UFC APEX is going to be a massive game changer for combat sports and for UFC,” said White at its launch last year.
“This facility gives us the flexibility to try new things and push the envelope on producing and distributing combat sports all over the world. We are limited only by my imagination.
“When you think of where we started and where we are now, it’s pretty incredible, but we haven’t even scratched the surface of how big this will become.”
The UFC APEX production studios that will put the coming shows together
Why was it built?
While there is no way UFC saw the current social climate coming, they did realise they had to build an infrastructure that allows them to be self sufficient.
“With UFC APEX, we’re future-proofing the way we produce and distribute our content,” said Craig Borsari, UFC Executive Vice President of Production.
“The combination of the state-of-the-art technology, with this enormous highly configurable arena space, gives us the opportunity to host other live events beyond combat sports. UFC APEX allows us to branch out into creating other forms of in-demand sports and entertainment content and distribute them anywhere in the world.”
UFC APEXs main stage is very capable of holding a UFC card behind closed doors
Who might be fighting there?
The APEX hosted the company’s landmark 250th main event, which was headlined by women’s double champion Amanda Nunes, who is considered to be one of the greatest fighters ever.
Now it will host the trilogy fight between Miocic and Cormier, which will also be live on talkSPORT 2.
UFC 252: Main fight card
Main card (from 3am UK time, Sunday morning)
- Stipe Miocic (c) vs. Daniel Cormier – Heavyweight
- Sean O’Malley vs. Marlon Vera – Bantamweight
- Junior dos Santos vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik – Heavyweight
- John Dodson vs. Merab Dvalishvili – Bantamweight
- Magomed Ankalaev vs. Ion Cuțelaba – Light Heavyweight
Calvin Kattar scores brutal KO of Jeremy Stephens at UFC 249 with brutal elbows
Prelims (from 1am UK time, Sunday morning)
- Alex Caceres vs. Chase Hooper
- Ian Heinisch vs. Gerald Meerschaert
- Cody Stamann vs. Brian Kelleher
- Charles Byrd vs. Maki Pitolo
- Alex Perez vs. Jussier Formiga
- Alonzo Menifield vs. Devin Clark
- Evan Dunham vs. Herbert Burns
UFC 250: How to catch the action
UFC 252 is coming to talkSPORT 2 this Sunday morning, beginning at 1am.
Adam Catterall, Nick Peet and Dan Hardy will be your commentary team.
You can follow the action through the radio player below or right here.
You can also listen through the talkSPORT app, on DAB, through your smart speaker or on 1053 or 1089 AM.
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