UFC breaks ground on expansive, multipurpose headquarters

By Case Keefer (contact)

Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015 | 2 a.m.

Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta each chuckled Tuesday morning as they thought back to their workspace when they purchased the UFC 15 years ago.

Four original employees operated in a cramped corner of the Fertitta Enterprises offices.

“Anything that went wrong in the building got blamed on the UFC,” said White, UFC president. “I was in a broom closet over there.”

The humble setup has turned into more of a distant memory as the UFC moves forward with plans to relocate into a new spacious and opulent building. The mixed martial arts promotion broke ground on the site of a new global headquarters Tuesday at the intersection of Torrey Pines Drive and Raphael Rivera Way, just off the 215 Beltway in the southwest part of the valley.

The 180,000-square-foot campus will feature office space for nearly 400 corporate employees, a 24/7 athlete training/rehabilitation center, a media center and much more.

“Anybody who’s involved in the sport, this is going to be an epicenter for all things UFC,” White said.

Fertitta, UFC CEO, expects construction to conclude in 15 months, meaning the company aims to move from its current location near Palace Station in February or March 2017. He declined to release a cost on the project, in part because it’s undetermined.

The UFC purchased the land for nearly $8 million two years ago. It’s researched how to best utilize it ever since, particularly involving the training area.

“The key foundation of this development is going to be our investment into our athletes and what we’re doing in the new UFC health and performance center,” Ferttita said. “This truly will become an international center for excellence.”

After the UFC endured injury-plagued years in 2012 and 2013, a group headed by Fertitta and UFC Chief Operating Officer Lawrence Epstein began looking deeper into injury-prevention science and optimal training strategies. The UFC teamed with Exos and Fusionetics, two top athletic-performance companies, to assist in educating fighters in efficient preparation.

Epstein and Fertitta also traveled to professional athletic facilities in eight countries to help model the UFC’s impending training center.

“If you unfortunately get an injury or blow out your knee, now we’re going to invite you to come to Las Vegas where you can live here, stay here and we can actually take care of you,” Fertitta said. “It’s no different than if you play for a professional sports team and you get injured, you have to show up at the rehabilitation center until you get cleared.”

The hope is that the roster of around 500 fighters, which are based all across the world, will feel at home on the new campus. That might be easier for some of the most famous ones considering they’ll have their names on some of the areas.

“There’s going to be a Ronda Rousey restaurant, an Anderson Silva conference room; all the different rooms and places in there will be named after some of the great fighters,” White said.

White and Fertitta brought the UFC to Las Vegas when they acquired it in 2001 after the previous owners ran the promotion out of New York. Given the increased stature of the organization, they could have moved the headquarters back to New York by now.

But that was one option that was never considered.

“All of the other major sports leagues — the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball, the NHL and Major League Soccer — are all located in New York City,” Fertitta said. “The fact is, the UFC has now risen to that level in the sports landscape, and I’m proud that the UFC is located here in Las Vegas. It’s an incredible city and a great place for us to live and work.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.