Over the summer I bought my brother and I tickets to UFC Fight Night in Long Island for his birthday. After watching countless fights online, I thought it would be amazing to actually see one in person. Since UFC events can be held all over the world, the chances of having one held in your city are slim. Since Long Island is 2.5 hours away from Philly, I decided to jump at the chance, and it was definitely worth it. If you’re planning on going to a UFC event, or are curious to know more about them, keep reading.
Fight Nights are a little lower key than the regular numbered events. The names on the card are not as popular, and the arenas usually don’t sell out. . For Long Island, there were 13 fights on the card and Chris Weidman and Kelvin Gastelum were the main even
Our seats were on the upper level and I thought it was a great view. The cage was below us just enough for the fence to not be in the way and we could clearly see all of the fighters walking out with their coaches.
One thing I was a little surprised at, was how time accurate they are. When it says the first fight starts at 4pm, they mean 4pm on the dot. If you’re just 5 minutes late, you could potentially miss the first fight. Each fight is supposed to be 3 5-minute rounds, but with knockouts and submissions it could end earlier. This doesn’t mean they will start the next fight any sooner. So if you want to get up to get something to eat, but are afraid to miss the start of the next fight, don’t worry.
That brings me to my next point: food. I would highly recommend eating before you go, or sneaking a snack in a bag. The event is just over 6 hours long, so you may not be able to go that long without eating, but the lines are ridiculous. At the venue in Long Island, it didn’t seem like they had that many options to choose from, so the lines were a mile long at every stand. I would suggest getting something during the prelims if you have to, because a lot of people don’t come until it gets closer to the main event. When we got there at 3:45pm, the stadium was only about a quarter of the way full.
The actual event was incredible. There were barely any moments that were boring, which is almost rare with there being 13 fights on a card. The energy level was always high and everyone in the crowd was completely focused on the cage. Seeing Bruce Buffer announce all of the fighters and watching them walk out draped in their home country’s flag was surreal. The highlight of the night was Weidman winning against Gastelum. After coming off of a loss, Weidman, being a Long Island native put a ton of pressure on himself by having his following fight in his hometown. I can imagine it was worth it when he won by submission in the third round.
Fight Nights are the ultimate experience for the UFC fan on a budget. I hope my experience helped you better understand what goes on at these events. So, if you are wondering if buying tickets will be worth it, the answer in my opinion is absolutely.
PC: Carly Brisach