UFC unloads central Las Vegas building, prepares to move to suburbs

UFC has sold an office building at its central Las Vegas headquarters as it prepares to move to the suburbs.

The cage-fighting league sold its one-story, 5,136-square-foot building at 2970 W. Sahara Ave. for $1.45 million, property records show. The sale to Las Vegas Defense Group, a criminal-defense law firm, closed Dec. 29.

A powerhouse in the sports world, Ultimate Fighting Championship is trying to sell other buildings at its corporate home a half-mile west of Interstate 15 as it develops a new headquarters in southwest Las Vegas, perhaps the fastest-growing area of the valley.

Las Vegas Defense Group co-founder Michael Becker said his firm is currently renting 3,000 to 3,500 square feet on the fourth floor of 2300 W. Sahara Ave., the nearby office tower with U.S. Bank’s logo on top.

The firm, which launched in 2009, needed more space and wanted its own building, Becker said.

His group is leasing its new purchase back to UFC and will move in after the league moves out, he said.

The exterior of the nondescript building, he noted, is “rather mundane.” But he said its condition is “immaculate” and that it’s “good karma” to move to a building that was used by a mixed martial arts organization with a history of “such great success.”

UFC’s corporate campus does not have any signs outside showing who is based there. But Becker said the building he bought has door handles with UFC’s logo, and “we’re not removing that.”

UFC did not respond to a request for comment.

Brothers Frank Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta, majority owners of locals-focused Station Casinos, and partner Dana White bought UFC in 2001 for $2 million. They sold it last year for a reported $4 billion to a consortium led by talent agency WME-IMG, following reports and denials about a possible deal.

“The UFC is not for sale,” White, UFC’s president, told the Review-Journal in May after ESPN reported the league’s owners were in “advanced talks” to sell.

According to the new ownership, UFC “is one of the largest and fastest growing sports brands in the world.” It’s the largest Pay-Per-View event provider globally, with fights broadcast in more than 156 countries and territories, the buyers said when announcing the purchase.

Several months earlier, in December 2015, UFC held a ceremonial groundbreaking for its new 180,000-square-foot headquarters along the 215 Beltway between Jones and Rainbow boulevards. At the time, Lorenzo Fertitta, then-chairman and chief executive of UFC, expected the facility to open in March 2017, the Review-Journal reported.

Jim Hill, listing broker for UFC’s buildings on West Sahara, said this week that the project should be finished around June.

He also said UFC’s one-story, 4,002-square-foot building at 2880 W. Sahara is listed for $1.7 million and that its main building – a 22,897-square-foot property at 2960 W. Sahara with underground parking, a gym and a professional kitchen – is listed for $11 million.

Hill, of ROI Commercial Real Estate, said he is “currently in active discussions” with prospective buyers, but neither building is under contract to sell.

Contact Review-Journal writer Eli Segall at 702-383-0342 or esegall@reviewjournal.com. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.