VIVA LAS VEGAS
There has been a total of 102 live UFC events through the end of 2007. Thirty-nine of those events, or 38.2%, have been held in the state of Nevada, and all of those have been in Las Vegas. Each of those Las Vegas events have taken place since Zuffa LLC (Lorenzo Fertiita, Dana White) took over the UFC, which means that 56.5% of all events in the “new era” of the UFC have been in Las Vegas.
The first Las Vegas show was “UFC 33: Victory in Vegas,” which took place on September 28, 2001, just a couple of weeks after the 9/11 attacks. Dave Menne, Jens Pulver and Tito Ortiz all won title bouts on the show, which was the first ever to be officially sanctioned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC).
UFC events have been held in eight different individual venues in Las Vegas. Here is the breakdown:
* Mandalay Bay Events Center — 14
* MGM Grand Arena — 9
* Hard Rock Hotel & Casino — 7
* Palms Casino Resort — 4
* Cox Pavilion — 2
* Red Rock Resort Spa & Casino — 1
* Thomas & Mack Arena — 1
* Bellagio Hotel & Casino — 1
INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR
Much ballyhoo surrounded the UFC’s April 21, 2007 show at the Manchester Evening News Arena in England. In this event, Gabriel Gonzalez defeated Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic to become the top contender for Randy Couture’s UFC heavyweight title. But this was not the first UFC event held outside the U.S., nor was it the first the Zuffa crossed the pond either.
UFC 38: Brawl at the Hall was held in July of 2002 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, where Matt Hughes beat Carlos Newton to retain his UFC welterweight crown. the first-ever UFC event held outside the U.S. was the “Ultimate Japan,” held on December 21, 1997 in Yokohama, Japan.
* The first UFC event that was held outside the continental U.S. was UFC 8: David vs. Goliath, which took place February 16, 1996 at the Ruben Rodriguez Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
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