So far this year (January 1 to October 26, 2024), the UFC has staged 238 fights in front of live crowds at arena venues and 190 fights at its UFC APEX facility in Las Vegas.
These events have collectively produced 238 decisions, 115 KO/TKOs, 69 submissions, four no-contests, and two disqualifications. Despite live crowd events having
Disregarding no-contests and disqualifications, live crowd events have produced three more submissions and thirteen more knockouts so far this year. This is a nine percent difference in submissions and a 25 percent difference in knockouts.48 more fights, they only performed slightly better in producing finishes.
This knockout differential is proportional to packed-crowd events having 25 percent more fights. However, crowd events have produced 36 percent more decisions.
Makes sense. Another reason to permanently leave the Apex.
Interesting chart.
Knockouts: equal (26%)
Submissions: 17% (Apex) vs. 15% (arenas)
Decisions: 53% (Apex) vs. 57% arenas
Though it’s pretty close, the Apex has a higher finish rate per capita.
That’s probably due to a combination of A) smaller cage and B) younger, hungrier fighters being more willing to go for it.