Despite Joe Rogan's approval, Dana White had to pause the UFC Apex fights because fans were upset about the performances at the UFC Vegas Fight Night

According to reports, the UFC Apex will be closing its doors for a while and fans can hardly contain their excitement! Opened in 2019, the Nevada facility has been the home of Fight Night events for some time. Since the start of the pandemic, the venue has been used by the promotion and its boss Dana White to host UFC events without an audience and behind closed doors.

Although the unique experience of watching fights without crowd noise certainly had its appeal, that appeal seems to have waned with fans! In a recent post shared on Reddit, it was reported that “A few things to look forward to in November: That stupid lore rule is being dropped and the UFC Apex will apparently be closed for construction until next summer.”

For many fans, the temporary closure of The Apex is a welcome change, and the community is eagerly awaiting what Dana White has in store next. Here's a look at what the fan community has to say.

Fans support changes to The Apex while Dana White and UFC struggle with declining interest in Fight Night cards

UFC commentator Joe Rogan had previously indicated that he preferred The Apex to other major venues for watching fights. According to Rogan, “It’s the best place to watch fights!”. However, this opinion is not shared by fans, as they claimed that the lack of atmosphere and the feeling of an “empty warehouse” at the “Fight Night” events was the reason they were happy to hear the news of the venue's temporary closure.

“For 7 months now, there hasn’t been an empty warehouse to be seen, man, I’ve always prayed for times like this”

One fan pointed out that while it made sense to use the venue during the pandemic when restrictions required events to be held behind closed doors, the UFC's recent success would be hampered by hosting “Fight Night” cards in the smaller venue in front of limited spectators.

“It's crazy that the UFC insists on using the APEX for Fight Night cards. The UFC has never been more successful, there is no excuse for not doing shows in front of people like they used to. The APEX should only be used for TUF and DWCS.”

Fans also claimed that the UFC plans to upgrade the venue. It remains to be seen if the renovations will make The Apex a better viewing experience for fans, but the reactions suggest that the fan base is looking forward to it.

“They're upgrading it. Dana or someone else mentioned it.”

Another controversial topic has been the UFC's “downed fighter” rules. The latest rule changes will, according to this fan, lead to less “confusion” among fighters and officials.

“What's even more stupid is that different states have different rules about what constitutes a knocked down fighter. This leads to confusion among fighters and even referees.”

One fan mentioned that the Octagon used at The Apex is smaller than the standard cage used in other venues. He pointed out that Dana White had previously claimed that the lighting system was the reason for the smaller Octagon. Another interesting fact is that the smaller Octagon makes it harder for movement-intensive fighters to execute their game plan. So, given the alleged increase in size, strikers might have an easier time at The Apex.

“I vaguely remember Dana saying the vertex was 20×20 and not 25×25 because the lighting system wasn't right and it would require a complete redesign of the lighting to make it bigger. I'm curious to see if that will be one of the changes.”

However, one fan was not so sure about the reports that the UFC would be pulling out of smaller shows in Las Vegas, pointing out that it would be difficult for the promotion to make this change. However, earlier this year, the UFC boss had claimed at the UFC St. Louis press conference that “Yeah… I've been saying this for a long time, we need to get out of the Apex and start doing more events in all these different cities. We're just starting to do that. We're going to do it this year.”

“I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they found a place in Vegas where they could continue to do shows without an audience. I just can't imagine them giving up the Apex format and going back on tour, even for 7 months.”

In conclusion, fans are excited to see if the UFC will use this opportunity to renovate the Apex and make it a more suitable venue for future events. Although the promotion has not made an official statement about the construction or potential changes to the Apex, the next few months could bring significant improvements to the UFC Apex and fans are excited! What do you think of UFC Fight Nights at the Apex and what changes would you like to see at the venue? Let us know in the comments below!