LAS VEGAS

As an Englishman, Las Vegas has always been the destination I thought I’d end up on stag do (bachelor party for my American friends), lapping up everything Sin City if famous for. Never once would it have crossed my mind that the bright light city would become integral to my career.

Las Vegas is not only known for being a party destination and backdrop to film plots. It’s, the fight capital of the world. After New York lost its way with Boxing in the early 1960’s, Boxing found a new home in the Nevada desert and was part of the overall entertainment spectacle that Las Vegas creates. It’s no surprise that a cousin of the sport of boxing in the form of Mixed Martial Arts and via the promotion UFC, has also over the last 30 years cemented Las Vegas as the fight destination of choice.

From personal experience, there isn’t anywhere else on the planet that creates an electric buzz amongst a community than when the biggest fight stars enter town. You just can’t explain Vegas to anyone that’s never been there, regardless of the reason for being in Vegas.

The first thing you see when entering the airport after customs clearance. Goose bumps!

My first experience of Las Vegas was back in 2015. The International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) had previously staged their first World Championships in the City, alongside the UFC’s International Fight Week during July of 2014. After this event I was asked to join IMMAF to oversee the planning for and implementation of the organisations calendar of events which would include the 2015 IMMAF World Championships, which again was to be held alongside the UFC’s International Fight week.

Promo Media for the UFC International Fight Week 2015

The timing of this event also coincided with a period of huge growth and public awareness of the UFC which dovetailed into the rise of a once in a generation X – Factor personality in the form of Conner McGregor. McGregor was due to battle it out against one of the sports best in the shape of Brazilian Jose Aldo for the UFC’s featherweight title. However, that fight fell through, and an interim featherweight title bout was pencilled in with USA’s Chad Mendez to take place at the iconic MGM Grand. It’s fair to say, Las Vegas had arguably not seen anything as huge in a combat sport context for a very long time and to this date, when Conner is in town, the city goes up another level (if that’s even possible).

10,000 Irish fans take over the MGM Grand at the ceremonial weigh-ins for McGregor vs Mendes in July 2015. I captured this picture from my Iphone as the fans were leaving the arena to go and continue partying in the corridors of the MGM.

MMA was on a global rise. Mixing sport and entertainment and I was about to become in the thick of it!

Marketing tip #1 - always make your guests feel important :)

The months building up to July 2015 meant I was building relationships with multiple layers of stakeholders. The USA is unique to most countries where I deliver events. There are various laws, regulations, and a landmine of red tape to go through at every planning stage. It was a fun journey and a deep dive of learning for me. Maybe one day, I’ll write a book on this, but that will wait for now.

Back to relationships. This is where I truly got underneath the skin of Las Vegas and understood that there is more to it that what I was led to believe. The city revolves around tourism. Its sole purpose is to fill those hotel rooms with people armed to splash their cash. It’s no wonder that I quickly found out that the people living in Vegas are employed by either one of 2 things: Hospitality / Entertainment and the Fight game. These two industries support the economy and go together like a glove to a hand. As I became familiar with the personal within the fight world. It became apparent that the who’s of the game is based or has a base in the city. The fight community and MMA specifically is extremely small when you tap into Las Vegas. I use the analogy of how California has Silicon Valley for high technology and innovation. Nevada via Las Vegas has combat sports. The who’s who of the industry are here and you are not relevant unless you are embedded here, backing up the claim that Las Vegas is the fight capital of the world.

The 2015 IMMAF World Championships was my first deep dive into staging an event internationally and I’m thankful it was. For the sport of MMA, the USA is the world leader in promoting events, so I wasn’t going in blind. The people on the ground in Vegas in the context of organising MMA as a sport were experienced and knowledgeable. This allowed the project to have solid foundations and we only had to overcome issues regarding IMMAF’s 5-day competition format which is alien to an industry used to staging 1 night fight events. Subsequently when we returned  a year later for the 2016 version of the IMMAF World Championships it was no surprise that operationally we executed that week even more seamlessly and delivered record growth at the time for athletes and countries competing.

Fast forward to today and my affiliation with Las Vegas is stronger than ever. During July 2022 myself and my colleague Tatiana Klimenko headed to Vegas after delivering our Pan American Championships in Mexico. The mission was to discuss development with our partners at the UFC for grass roots development of MMA competitions in the USA and meet with the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) to explore the possibility of IMMAF becoming a licensed sanctioning body in the state of Nevada for amateur MMA.

Tatiana Klimenko and I about to meet with the Executive Director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission

For this trip, I stayed away from the strip and took shelter with friends staying in the Henderson and North Vegas areas during the week. What this enabled me to do is see Vegas from a perspective of being a resident, away from the craziness of the casinos.

Whilst staying in Henderson, I really understood the sheer size of the buildings on the strip. As far as the crow flies. The distance according to google maps between Henderson and the MGM Grand is 12 miles. From my view in Henderson, the bright silhouetted lights of the Vegas skyline could clearly be seen.

Moving to North Las Vegas, it was a similar sight. For the 4th of July celebrations. We drove to a spot with a great vantage point to watch the fireworks erupt of the night sky. In all my life I have never seen a continuous amount of pyrotechnics which went on for hours. The USA arguably put the world to shame with fireworks displays. It was fantastic experience, even if I was the only British person around taking banter from my American friends all night.

North Las Vegas, watching the 4th July celebrations over the Las Vegas skyline.

Las Vegas has become almost a second home for me. This statement may seem absurd as I’ve only physically been there on 3 separate occasions (all for work and not leisure). Metaphorically I feel as though a live there due to the daily contact with people within my network. Some of my now closest friends reside in and around the City and I feel at times, part of the community.

Hopefully it won’t be too long before I’m back!