We’re all used to sporting events taking place in sports arenas, stadiums and on race tracks. However, some MMA events have taken place in some rather unusual places. In fact, some of these places are unlikely to be somewhere you’d consider ideal for a fight. Let’s take a look at a few locations that have been used to host fights.
Bojangles Coliseum
One MMA event that has certainly been held in an unusual place is the fight between Roy Nelson and Stefan Struve. This fight took place at the Bojangles Coliseum, which was originally a cricket arena. Located in Charlotte, North Carolina, the Coliseum wasn’t the only unusual thing about this MMA event – the entire arena went completely dark, thanks to a lighting malfunction that took place at the wrong moment. 49 seconds into the first round, which started as soon as the lights were back on, Struve was knocked out.
Perhaps the Bojangles Coliseum wasn’t the best place to hold an MMA event. The lights didn’t work too well and it had previously been used as a cricket venue. It makes people wonder why this location was chosen in the first place.
MGM Grand Garden Arena
Hosting an MMA event at a casino is quite unusual, since casinos exist for the purposes of gambling. They are there to allow people to enjoy their time somewhere quite exciting. With range of table games and the constant stream of promos at Tropicana Casino, a casino is not somewhere you’d expect an MMA event to take place. However, the MGM Grand Garden Arena seems to be very popular, as more than 43 fighting events have been held there.
Fights such as Chuck Liddell versus Tito Ortiz, and Anderson Silva versus Chris Weidman have taken place here. Perhaps a casino is an ideal place for a fight to take place. Many bets will be involved, and in this respect, it’s perfect.
Pearl at the Palms
Here we have another casino that was used to host a fight. The location was the Palms Casino Resort and was one that wasn’t automatically chosen. After all, it’s a casino where bets are made and money is won and lost. However, this location was selected, perhaps for the benefit of the casino, but who knows? In any case, the Pearl at the Palms proved to be a good location for Roy Nelson and Matt Hamill, who both won matches there.
Maybe the casinos love having people turn up to watch fights. After all, staying close to the location of the fight is ideal and many casinos have hotels attached. Whatever the case may be, holding a fight at a casino seems a little unusual.
It certainly seems that promoters like to hold MMA events in some unusual places. Perhaps they add something special to the event, or the promoters love being somewhere new. Whatever the case may be, it’s likely that future MMA events will take place in more uncommon places.