Zach Arnold of FightOpinion.com spotted what should be the first of several United Arab Emirate press clips leading into UFC’s Abu Dhabi debut on Saturday: a piece by Leah Oatway on the monumental effort undertaken to construct a suitable outdoor arena configuration where none had existed.
“I thought we had pushed the boat out” with concert venues for Beyonce, said Lee Chartertis, Director of Operations for Flash, the UAE company that invested in the UFC. “But we have gone one [step further] this time. This is the biggest thing I have ever built.” Work began in December, with 300 laborers erecting four large grandstands as additions to the Ferrari World Amusement Park.
The UFC has been long, long overdue for a custom construct that can address some of the issues surrounding a cage attraction as a spectator sport. (That thing works well as a trademark, not so much as a practical, viewer-friendly experience.) They should pay attention to the result while they can: according to Oatway, it’ll be torn down after the show.