The UFC’s first-ever venue is now a car park.
With a capacity of 16,000, the McNichols Sports Arena was completed in 1975 at a cost of £12.6million ($16m).
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The indoor sports arena in Denver, Colorado, witnessed eight of the world’s deadliest fighters locked horns in a never-before-seen mixed martial arts tournament.
MMA pioneers like Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock competed at the November 1993 event when all fights were no-holds barred.
The only rules in place were no eye gouging or biting, but headbutts and shots to the groin were all given the green light.
Those competing didn’t wear gloves either, and with no time limit in any of the bouts, each fight would continue until someone was knocked out or submitted.
The eight men were attempting to settle the growing debate on the most effective discipline in the sport.
Fighters were experts in the likes of Savate – also known as French boxing – sumo wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) and Taekwondo.
World famous BJJ artist Royce Gracie won the tournament by submitting Shamrock and Gerard Gordeau.
The event sold 90,000 live pay-per-views and catapulted BJJ in the U.S, which led to the continued growth of UFC and MMA eventually across the globe.
However, the venue acted as the catalyst for Dana White’s current $12billion promotion has since been reduced to a car park.
It was the home of NBA side the Denver Nuggets for its entire existence from 1975 to 1999.
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Multiple hockey teams also played in the arena, including the Denver Spurs, the Colorado Rockies and the Colorado Flames.
It also witnessed Elton John, Elvis Presley, Prince and Michael Jackson perform concerts in 1975, 1976, 1986 and 1988 respectively.
The venue was so popular at the time that 27 luxury suites and new video screens in colour were installed in a 1986 renovation.
But when the Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche moved to the Ball Arena, which opened in 1999, the entire arena was demolished in 2000 to make space for a car park.
Empower Field at Mile High, home to NFL side the Denver Broncos, now overlooks the former UFC venue where fans can now park their vehicles, instead of watching elite fighters go at it.
The UFC has since held its events in some of the most luxurious arenas on earth.
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UFC 306 – also branded as Noche UFC – in September 2024 brought MMA, and sports in general, to the Las Vegas Sphere.
UFC CEO White claimed the ultra-modern £2bn venue was his most expensive card of all time.
Standing at 366ft tall and 516ft wide, the Sphere was a remarkable new addition to Vegas’ famous skyline.
The arena, which boasts a 18,600-capacity, is used for a variety of different purposes.
It has the world’s largest LED screen on its exterior, which has been used to produced a series of stunning displays, including ones to promote the UFC card and on fight night to show fighters’ stats before they met in the Octagon.
And the reported $20m White splashed out on the event was money well spent.
It shattered numerous records, bringing in the UFC’s highest-ever gate of $22m, breaking the $17m record set by Conor McGregor‘s clash with Eddie Alvarez in November 2016.
UFC 306 also brought in the biggest gate in the history of Vegas’ Sphere and smashed the promotion’s biggest-ever merchandise sales.
