Today in Las Vegas, the UFC took another step forward in its development as it began work on its new corporate campus.
What’s really catching eyes, however, is that the building isn’t just to be a new office for the company’s 400-some employees. The company is planning on including a 40,000 square foot ‘Athlete Health and Performance Center’.
The idea behind the center is seemingly an attempt to stop the endless amount of injuries that currently plague the sport (for example, Jose Aldo’s untimely pulling out of UFC 189), and bring in a new era of training for its fighters.
The move represents the next step in the sports evolvement, and the next step for the UFC rosters injury rehabilitation.
Today, the company’s top brass hosted a ceremony where UFC Co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta discussed the benefits to the new facility.
“What we found in this sport is that it’s taking time for the training to progress and develop,” Said Fertitta. “When you look at other sports, take the NFL for example, 30 years ago they were still putting on pads on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and banging on each other until they figured out that, if they did that, they couldn’t actually compete on Sunday. The fact is, we need to educate our fighters that you can’t go full speed every day. You can’t spar every day. There’s going to be new technologies as far as how to warm up, how to cool down, how to rehabilitate.”
“If you get an injury and blow out your knee, now we’re going to invite you to come to Las Vegas where you can live here and stay here and we can actually take care of you. No different than if you played for a professional sports team and you get injured. You have to show up at the rehabilitation facilities until you get cleared. We’re really trying to take leadership on this position so we can prevent injuries and we also just want the athletes here.”
UFC President Dana White was also in attendance, stating the campus was an overdue move and one that caused by a need for necessary space, but significant for the company.
“I was in a broom closet over [at the previous office],” said White, “and we slowly started to venture out and take a little space. Then we ended up buying the building. Then we owned three buildings over there. Then we leased 70 percent of the space right down to the McDonalds by Palace Station. When you think about it, it’s been almost 15 years now. Here we are breaking ground on this new campus.”
“We don’t really care what anybody else says,” White said. “We keep our heads down, keep running forward and doing what we do. If you ever wondered if the UFC could make it or not make it, that was a couple years ago when literally every fight fell out all year. When things like that happen, you have to fix what’s broken. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
