We may finally be nearing the end of the UFC APEX as UFC CEO Dana White announced that the promotion wants to start leaving the APEX days behind.
98 events later and the UFC may finally be seeing what everyone else sees. 14.2% of all UFC events have taken place in the APEX, despite the first time it was used only being four years ago.
There is no doubt that the APEX was a shining light during such a strange and bleak time, and the UFC wouldn’t have gained so much popularity if it wasn’t for the quiet warehouse.
Nights like last Saturday – the UFC’s 2nd-ever event in St. Louis – highlight the reason why the APEX needs to be left behind. UFC St. Louis produced the largest live gate for any UFC Fight Night in the promotion’s history, surpassing $2.47m.
This resulted in UFC CEO, Dana White, admitting that they might finally start leaving the APEX behind, saying, “I’ve been saying this for a long time, we’ve got to get out of the APEX and start doing more events in all these different cities.”
Despite the venue being devoid of any atmosphere or excitement, it has housed some of the biggest fights in recent history, and I’m going to look back at 5 of the most unbelievable moments to have taken place there.
5. Anderson Silva bids farewell to his UFC career
Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva will go down as one of the greatest Mixed Martial Artists of all time, and one of the most influential pioneers in the sports history.
Many UFC fans to this day first fell in love with the sport, because of the sensational Brazilian striker. In October 2020, Silva fought under the UFC banner for the final time, with not a single fan in attendance.
The former middleweight king took on Uriah Hall in a five-round Fight Night main event and was unfortunately finished in the fourth round, unable to sail off into the sunset.
The most painful part about Silva retiring wasn’t that he went out with a loss, it was that there were no fans there to see him off.
4. Israel Adesanya loses for the first time in his MMA career
Israel Adesanya‘s reign over the middleweight division became so dominant, that in March 2021, he decided to move up to light heavyweight to try and capture a second title.
At the time, Jan Blachowicz was the king at 205lbs after beating Dominick Reyes in a vacant title fight.
Blachowicz welcomed ‘The Last Stylebender’ up to light heavyweight with open arms, knowing full well he had a huge size advantage over the middleweight.
Despite that, Adesanya was heading into the fight as a big favorite because he was undefeated in his MMA career, sitting at 20-0. Unfortunately for the New Zealander, he suffered his first loss in professional MMA, after the Ploish champion dominated him for five rounds.
3. The greatest flyweight fight of all time
One of the many PPVs to take place at the APEX during the COVID-19 pandemic was UFC 256 which was headlined by Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno.
After headling UFC 255 less than a month prior, Figueiredo did the UFC a favor by making the short turnaround to defend his newly won flyweight title, after the promotion’s plan to have Kamaru Usman vs Gilbert Burns headline fell through close to the event date.
Brandon Moreno went into the fight as a sizeable underdog, but the fight and performance that proceeded will go down in UFC history.
Just years after the promotion considered disbanding the 125lb division, ‘Deus Da Guerra’ and ‘The Assassin Baby’ put on one of the greatest title fights of all time, and the greatest fight in the division’s history.
After fighting to a majority draw, this marked the start of their historic rivalry which ended in a quadrilogy this past year.
2. Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier settle their incredible trilogy
At UFC 252 on August 15, 2020, Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier settled their emphatic trilogy – which was only the third trilogy in heavyweight history.
The two first met back at UFC 226 in 2018, and ‘DC’ knocked out the defending champion in the first round to become the simultaneous light heavyweight and heavyweight champion.
Just over a year later, they met again for a rematch, and after an incredible mid-fight adjustment from Miocic, he reclaimed the heavyweight strap, scoring a fourth-round finish.
Despite the pandemic hitting, it didn’t stop the UFC from making the trilogy so that they could settle their rivalry.
Stipe went on to win the fight via unanimous decision, and it marked the end of Daniel Cormier’s illustrious career as he put down the gloves to pick up the mic.
1. Francis Ngannou finally becomes UFC heavyweight champion
Francis Ngannou‘s story will always be one of the most inspiring across all sports and in 2021, he finally realized his dream.
After losing his first UFC title fight to Miocic back in 2018, ‘The Predator’ went back to the drawing board and went on an undeniable streak, scoring four first-round knockouts.
On March 27th, the promotion decided to grant him his second title shot in the ‘Biggest Baddest Rematch’ against Miocic. After his first loss to Miocic showing fans a clear hole in his game, he found himself being counted out, again.
Putting it all behind him, Ngannou avenged his 2018 loss, becoming one of the biggest stars in combat sports, after brutally knocking the greatest UFC heavyweight of all time, in round two.
If there was ever a moment that deserved an arena of screaming fans, that was it.