Justin Gaethje’s victorious right arm had just been raised when Ryan Smith took a victory lap of his own.
“We’re already talking about next year,” the Utah Jazz owner told reporters in the aftermath of UFC’s pay-per-view event at the Delta Center last weekend.
Salt Lake City has now hosted — and sold out — two UFC PPVs (UFC 278 and UFC 291) in less than a year. Both cards provided memorable moments, title fights and knockouts. And Smith believes there could be more to come.
“We’re both all in on trying to improve,” Smith said. “I think you look from the card standpoint the last two years, it’s not going through the motions. We’re literally working to have an amazing event here and be something that’s hopefully the staple of the summer.”
UFC chief operating officer Lawrence Epstein told The Salt Lake Tribune that putting a PPV in Salt Lake for a third straight year might be difficult. Smith, however, seems undeterred.
“We’re taking it year by year,” he said. “But I was just talking to folks about next year, what we can improve on, how we can go bigger.
“I think if you look at the numbers that will come out, they’re significantly better than last year. And as you’re coming into a market, people can start putting it on the calendar. They know everyone who was here is going to go tell their friends, right? And you start to see that. We have a lot of people who came in from out of town as well. I mean, if you look at the proximity to the airport, how we’re here, it’s just easy. Utah is easy. And it just works.”
