There is no doubt that the UFC has helped evolve the sport of mixed martial arts.
With UFC President Dana White working under Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta after acquiring the promotion for $2 million in 2001, the Zuffa team helped to grow and get the sport of mixed martial arts legalized not just in the States, but around the world.
Now, with WME-IMG purchasing the UFC from Zuffa for the historic $4 billion price tag, the UFC is looking to continue to help evolve the sport with their new $14 million performance institute located in the UFC’s new campus in Las Vegas. The 30,000 square foot facility has new state-of-the-art equipment and is free for all UFC fighters.
Benefits and features of the facility include things such as a low-level laser light therapy machine, cryotherapy unit, an adjustable underwater treadmill, a dedicated physical therapy suite, nutritionist, and strength and conditioning gym along with a coach. The facility also has a full-size Octagon and boxing ring. One unique thing about the training facility is that technology is integrated into a lot of the equipment with sensors and cameras that provide data for the athletes that they likely never had the access to in their own gyms, giving the fighters something to monitor their progress as an additional benefit to their fight camps and training.
“We’re very lucky that every hockey, football, basketball, major league soccer team, they opened their doors to us because they don’t see us as competitors and said, ‘Hey, this is what works, this is what doesn’t,’” said former UFC fighter and current UFC exec Forrest Griffin to MMA Fighting’s Marc Raimondi. “I would’ve never thought, let’s get a low-level laser light therapy.’ But, we’ve had several trusted people from trusted world renown organizations that said, ‘Hey, this works. You should get it.’”
What are your thoughts on the state-of-the-art facility that has been made available free of charge to all the UFC fighters? Let’s get your thoughts in the comment section!
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 6/21/2017.