The ABCs of the UFC in SLC 

• Andre Ricardo Paes

In the much-loved teen comedy Say Anything, John Cusack's lead character of Lloyd Dobler is probably best-remembered for the iconic image captured in a million memes: Dobler standing in his ex-girlfriend's driveway, boombox extended to the sky, Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" emanating.

But among Dobler's other, lasting offerings to the world of pop culture is his prediction that his chosen career path—professional kickboxing—was going to be "the sport of the future." Director and screenwriter Cameron Crowe allllllmost got that right.

Kickboxing is one of the primary components of mixed martial arts, or MMA, a blended-discipline combat sport that's exploded in popularity over the time since Dobler's words were first spoken in 1989. And there's no bigger promotion in the world than the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), which is coming to the Delta Center on Saturday, July 29, for a fight card that stood at 12 bouts as of press time.

Typically a fight—or two—may be added, dropped or switched during fight week due to injuries and missed weight cuts. But 12 fights is the baseline, and SLC is getting just that many.

What's interesting and notable about this is the fact that Salt Lake City has gained the UFC's attention in a big way in recent years. UFC 278 was held at the Delta Center in August 2022, featuring a welterweight title fight between challenger (and knockout winner) Leon Edwards and longtime champ Kamaru Usman.

Like the upcoming card, it featured 12 bouts that moved between ESPN properties for the preliminary contests, then moved to a pay-per-view format for the five fights at the top of the card. As these things go, UFC 278 was a pretty big deal, with a title defense and several longtime, name fighters in non-title bouts.

At this point, cities often wait years for the UFC to come to town, and many will never see the promotion arrive, as a large percentage of the fights take place in the league's headquarter city of Las Vegas. That leaves a relatively small number of fights to spread out over the U.S., as the UFC also throws cards in cities, countries and continents around the world.

Salt Lake having two fight cards in less than a year shows that promoters anticipate an avid SLC fan base for July 29. In fact, at this point, the UFC doesn't have to do much beyond announce a fight card for the tickets to sell. This writer's many attempts to reach the UFC for comment on the Delta Center card were for naught. Alas!

But undeterred, City Weekly offers the following UFC explainer whether the promotion is on board or not, trading official comment for short bursts of pithy backgrounding and commentary. We'll let the alphabet be our guide:

A for Altitude: If you're reading this, you're probably well aware that Utah's elevation is a real thing and athletes that regularly compete or train at altitude may have a bit of an advantage over flatlanders. There's a healthy MMA scene in places like Colorado, precisely because of that edge in oxygen intake. Fighters for UFC 291 are almost certainly already here in town, acclimating to the elevation, while they cut pounds to make their divisional weight limits.

B is for Bellator (and One Championship, and ...): The UFC isn't the only promotion that's got a worldwide reach, though it may seem that way to even a casual fan of MMA, as the UFC chews up the lion's share of MMA media attention. Other promotions exist, though, much to the UFC's chagrin. Though it has the most star power, there are plenty of talented performers toiling in promotions such as: Bellator, birthed in 2008 and with direct ownership ties to Paramount; and the Singapore-based One Championship, which is well-represented with free content on YouTube. It features a number of fighters from Asia and the Pacific Rim, with worldwide broadcast partners. Fans of the various leagues have long wanted fighters from across the leagues to have a chance to face off, but super-fights haven't materialized to any great degree, at least yet. And with the UFC's insatiable desire to control the market, that's unlikely to happen soon. Other secondary promotions do have various degrees of tie-in with the UFC (see: Fight Pass, below).

C is for Championship Titles: Not every major fight card contains a championship fight, and UFC 291 suffers from a lack of titles on the line. The flip side is that the card's headlined by two, hugely popular lightweight rivals in Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje, with former light heavyweight champs Jan Blachowicz and Alex Pereira in the co-headline slot. Legit scraps dot the rest of the card.

D is for Delta Center: The UFC hosts a number of its Saturday night fights at a venue and production studio in Las Vegas called The Apex. With dozens of fights each year, that micro-venue allows for the promotion to keep ESPN fed with near-weekly cards, while having an in-house studio. That city's T-Mobile Arena also gobbles up some live events. So when the UFC goes on the road, it only does so at major venues, those with a 10,000- to 20,000-seat capacity, and the Delta (nee: Vivint) has clearly shown itself a capable host, with airline flights from Vegas a relative hop/skip away.

E is for ESPN: America's leading sports broadcaster is the flagship for the UFC's American TV audience, with most preliminary fights (and many full cards) appearing on ESPN live, either on cable or through espn.com. Its legacy network affiliate, ABC, frequently carries prime-time fights as well, with pay-per-view options saved for one or two fight cards per month, in which fans pay a premium to watch the fights live. (They can also head to local bars, which pay a good chunk of change for live broadcast rights.)

F is for Fight Pass: Never one to miss out on an opportunity to extend the value-add of fights that already exist, the UFC offers up Fight Pass, containing a massive catalog of the UFC's archival bouts and reality-based shows as well as current, live fights from a variety of worldwide, smaller promotions. The online video platform is relatively cheap, around $10 a month for a subscription and can cause even a casual fight fan to travel down deep rabbit holes of historic fights from the UFC's past and from the promotions that it snatched up along the way, like the mergers and deactivations of Pride FC and Strikeforce.

G is for Grappling: If you want to create a fun drinking game and are watching the fights on ESPN, take a shot every time commentator Daniel Cormier mentions "grappling." Prepare to be a bit tipsy by Fight 3 and solidly blackout drunk by the end of the prelims.

• Welterweight/middleweight fighter Kevin Holland

H is for Holland, Kevin: Possibly the most brash and entertaining fighter on the card, Kevin Holland's matched up against Michael Chiesa in a welterweight bout on this card could be the Fight of the Night or a true dud. He's probably got a half-dozen, high-profile fights left on his physical clock, so here's hoping that a focused and fit Holland is the one who appears at 291. (Caveat: Bobby Green could make a compelling case for the same description and outcomes.)

• Bruce Buffer, the “veteran voice of the Octagon.”

I is for "Iiiiiiit's time": Bruce Buffer, the "veteran voice of the Octagon," is known for a set bit of patter before each bout and his "iiiiiiiiit's time" chant just prior to the headlining bout is a big part of his shtick. The crowd eats it up, the fighters seem jazzed and everyone appears happy about it. Unpopular opinion: Here's a vote for Joe Martinez, the UFC's alternative ring announcer, as the more listenable of the two.

J is for Just One: As in, "there's just one women's fight at UFC 291." Oh sure, there was that time period when Dana White predicted that women's MMA wouldn't work. But then the promotion subsumed Strikeforce and its roster of women's fighters and, soon enough, Ronda Rousey became one of the faces of the sport. Usually, at least a couple of women's fights appear on any random UFC card, but this time out there's but a single women's bout, the opener between Miranda Maverick and Priscila Cachoeira.

K is for Knockouts: While the knockout is always a crowd-pleaser, MMA is built on a foundation that also includes a healthy number of submission fighters, the kind of athletes that can end a fight with a heel hook, an arm bar or a rear naked choke. On this bill, the primary winner of fistic firefights is heavyweight Derrick Lewis, whose boom-or-bust style typically ends with a KO win (or loss). A knockout is the likely outcome of his upcoming SLC fight with Brazilian slugger Marcos Rogerio de Lima. It doesn't mean this will be the most-exciting fight of the night, but it does have the greatest chance for extreme violence and a first-round finish.

L is for Losses: You can lose a fair number of fights in the UFC and still be much-loved as a fighter. It's not just the W or the L, but the quality of competition you fight. Example—Kevin Holland has had an up/down record, with nine defeats against 24 wins. But the style he fights and his ability to mix it up with anyone on the roster keep him employed as a popular choice. Bobby Green? He's 29-14-1, but remains a must-watch fighter. Fighters that hover around the .500 mark are generally cut from the promotion before dipping into that statistical territory, but a few fighters serve as valuable, tested gatekeepers and even a few losses won't keep them from future bouts.

M is for McGee, Court: Arguably the fighter with the deepest ties binding him to Utah, Court "The Crusher" McGee has been fighting on the professional circuit since 2007, with his splash on the national scene coming through his win of The Ultimate Fighter in 2010. That UFC reality show kick-started his career on a high-profile stage, though personal demons would eventually take him out of the sport for a time; he beat a heroin addiction in 2015, rekindling a run to top-flight UFC competition. His last few fights, though, have been a challenge and, at age 38, McGee's dropped seven of his last 10 bouts in the promotion. If not for a brutal May 2023 knockout at the hands of another ageless veteran, Matt Brown, McGee would likely have been one of the star attractions of UFC 291. The 38-year-old's record stands at an accomplished 21-12 as of press time, with contests against many of the sport's best competitors. Multiple attempts to reach McGree to discuss his time in the sport (and his recovery advocacy efforts) went unanswered. That said, we wish him luck going forward; he's been a valiant competitor.

N is for Nationalism: You could argue that people from a country's diaspora enjoying themselves in celebration of their home nation is a positive thing, and there's no argument here that there's a place in life for national pride. But ... the UFC is canny about placing fighters in situations where they'll draw an enthusiastic, even heated fan base. (Fights in Europe, for example, are skewed with European talent, Australian fights with Aussies and Pacific Islanders, etc.) It appears that the promotion's playing it a bit differently with UFC 291, not relying on nationalistic tricks, with most fighters coming from the U.S., Brazil and Russia, with a smattering of other nations represented. Do random skirmishes in the crowd ever occur? You won't see that on the broadcasts, but a quick scan of YouTubes indicates that, yes, folks can (and do) take their fight fandom to the next level.

O is for OnlyFans: At this point, the risque OnlyFans website is lightly populated with active fighters, who're among the many athletes that appear as content creators on the platform. But that number is growing. And while female fighters are more-represented, male fighters (from the UFC and other promotions) are also getting in on the crowd-funded platform. Also found there are ring girls, several of whom have been with the promotion for a time and have large fan bases of their own, developed by their one-minute walks around the Octagon.

P is for PPV: Pay-per-view is a system in which fans buy the last five fights on a fight card, usually through cable suppliers or ESPN+, with costs around $80. Fans also head out to bars and restaurants, which buy the night's fight rights, too. Those that show bootlegged feeds are subject to strict fines, and the UFC's broadcast enforcement division is well-known for its seriousness in tracking down scofflaws.

Q is for Quickness: The UFC (and MMA generally) is a sport in which weight classes are the rule. For men, the lightest weight class is the 126-pound flyweight division. The women's strawweight division caps out at 116 pounds. Almost needless to say, the lighter the weight class, the more intense the fighting, at least in terms of sheer quickness. For UFC 291, the fight card is somewhat-tilted toward fights at mid-to-heavier weight classes.

• Stand-up comedian, podcaster and UFC announcer Joe Rogan

R is for Rogan, Joe: The extremely popular stand-up comedian, podcaster and all-around scarecrow of the zeitgeist, Joe Rogan is an announcer for the UFC and has been for quite some time. These days, he doesn't appear as a color analyst in every UFC fight; that time has long passed. With his ever-growing portfolio of businesses, Rogan's apt to appear on the most-popular PPV cards, usually appearing alongside former two-weight-class champion Daniel Cormier and primary commentator/ad pitchman Jon Anik. It's impossible to say how much of UFC's growth might mirror Rogan's spike in popularity, though the argument can easily be flipped, with the sport's continued rise adding to Rogan's decades-long rise in pop-culture momentum.

S is for Sponsorships: These days, UFC fighters aren't allowed to sell advertising on their trunks, instead only being allowed colorful fight gear from the current equipment supplier, Venum. Back in the day, combatants were able to sell space along the lines of NASCAR drivers, with multiple patches competing for the small amount of material on their minimal gear. The most-inventive fighters even sold space on their (literal) backs, with temporary tattoos, frequently advertising casinos and other gaming interests. While the promotion may argue that the current look is more classy, it does mean that fighters, with limited athletic shelf lives, have to find other ways to augment their incomes. (See above, re: OnlyFans.)

• Dana White, president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship

T is for Trump, Donald: America's 45th president has been an avid supporter of the UFC, largely due to his ties to the UFC's boss, Dana White. That said, massive, arena-size audiences of 10,000 to 20,000 also speak to Trump's wants and needs, and he's been seen ringside, alongside White, at multiple cards over the years, including in his home state of Florida for UFC 287 earlier this year. High-profile fighters in the promotion, like Sean Strickland, Jorge Masvidal, Colby Covington, Derrick Lewis and 291's headliner Gaethje have been linked as advocates during Trump's multiple runs for president. And while it's an anecdotal guess, at best, it's quite likely that large swaths of UFC crowds would tend to line up politically with the former president.

U for the UFC public relations staff: Folks, I tried. Check deep in your DMs and, I guess, feel free to get back to us before the UFC's next trip to Utah?

V is for Vivint: As noted, the Delta Center, then Vivint Arena, played host to a fab card in 2022, with Leon Edwards' victory over Kamaru Usman considered among the top fights of the year. The rest of the card had some real highlights, too. The UFC has not cheated SLC with off-brand pairings of late, that's for sure.

W is for White, Dana: The face of the UFC for years, White is a polarizing figure. He's clearly guided the promotion—and thus the sport—into the major leagues of U.S. sporting entertainment, the UFC (in which he has a stake) drawing a $4 billion sale price in 2016. His ability to mix and match pop culture influences has worked, with the UFC drawing on reality show elements for several different shows over the years, often featuring White at the center of the action. He's had personal dust-ups that haven't impacted his business, but White's appearance at the 2016 Republican National Convention—where he gave full-throated support to Donald Trump's candidacy—ruffled some feathers. Within the world of the UFC, though, this wasn't necessarily the kind of thing to bring on a wide-spread "cancellation" of White or the promotion; Trump has appeared cageside since, with White still a supporter. Perhaps the larger complaint should be his handling of fighter salaries, which has led to some high-profile departures from the promotion, though it still maintains a hold as the juggernaut of the sport. It's fair to say that you can enjoy the sport on a level or two, or 10, but still see the promotion's boss as a thorny figure, one who fans will find either winningly outspoken and brash or abrasive and abusive, with not a lot of opinions falling between. Inarguable is his run of success with the promotion.

Y is for Yellow: Brazilian fighters, of which there are a whopping seven on this card, tend to wear yellow gear. Champs wear black-and-gold, colors "befitting a champion" as Anik intones. Polish fighters are usually clad in red. And it's often green for Mexican nationals.

Z is for Zero: This is the amount of f—ks given by the UFC about our opinion on any of this. The fight card's going to sell out, is going to have millions of viewers worldwide, is going to energize the bars and clubs near the host venue on Saturday night. It's gonna be a time, you know? If you're not tuned into the whole UFC phenomena, that's cool, too. Just know that a decent chunk of the world's sports fans are going to be watching UFC action from SLC with rapt attention. It's a big damned deal, the UFC, and nothing suggests that it won't be growing going forward.