Reports of UFC Apex being turned into 10,000 seat arena are not true

Yahoo

4 hours ago

Sorry folks. All the stories you're seeing online claiming the UFC Apex will be scaling up into a proper mid-sized arena are not true.
Ariel Helwani shared news on Monday (Aug 11, 2025) that was sourced from Las Vegas Sports Biz which claimed UFC COO Hunter Campbell 'confirmed plans [for the Apex] to accommodate an additional 5,000 to 10,000 fans, a move that could transform the venue from a made-for-TV fight hub into a boutique arena capable of hosting select WWE PLEs, NXT specials, or cross-promotional events.'
Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? The main issue with the Apex is it's an empty warehouse that's so small the promotion kicks out fighters' families to make more room for expensive VIP ticket holders. There's no roar of a crowd, just a dead vibe and the sound of TKO executives counting all the money they saved from staying home rather than going on the road.
A move from the current configuration to what would basically be a small arena setup would change all that.
Unfortunately the story was a misunderstanding. Las Vegas Sports Biz printed a correction stating that the capacity number wasn't 10,000 but 1,000.
That's not much of an increase. The Apex just went through several months of renovations that included two blissful summer months where the venue was completely closed with no UFC events. The changes to the venue included a new ticket booth out front, a full set of concession booths, and an increase in capacity from 500 seats to … 1,000.
That means we've already experienced the new Apex over the past two weeks for UFC Vegas 108 and 109. The people who shelled out $1000+ to attend may have noticed a difference, but the product looked the same on television because they didn't raise the capacity of the venue by any noticeable amount.
The crazy thing about Apex is it doesn't have to be soulless and dead. When NXT used the venue for a wrestling show they reconfigured the venue and packed it with avid fans. The energy was there. But UFC would rather keep the capacity low to drive up the cost of tickets, billing Apex events as VIP experiences.
The way they're running it clearly makes the company money, so don't expect things to change. And definitely don't expect the venue to transform into a 10,000 seat arena any time soon.