Ryan and Ashley Smith's vision brings UFC 332 back to renovated Delta Center

SALT LAKE CITY — Utahns have developed a reputation for showing up.

That's especially true when it comes to the major sports team or any big sporting event in town.

The UFC 332 gave Salt Lake Valley residents another chance to prove it when the TKO Group-owned promotion came to the Delta Center on Saturday for its latest big fight card, headlined by a vacant women's flyweight championship bout between Natalia Silva and Wang Cong.

The event was the promotion's fifth overall visit to Salt Lake City and its fourth numbered event here. All the other numbered events — UFC 278 in 2022, UFC 291 in 2023 and UFC 307 in 2024 — all sold out.

Now UFC 332 came back to a building that looks different from the last time the promotion was here.

A growing partnership with TKO

For the Smith Entertainment Group, the UFC's return to the Delta Center is part of a larger push to make the Salt Lake area a regular stop for the biggest events in sports and entertainment.

"The stated public vision of Ryan and Ashley to bring awesome events and cool things to Utah, I think is really kind of the banner that this is all flying under," Smith Entertainment Group President of Business Operations Chris Barney said, referring to Smith Entertainment Group owners Ryan and Ashley Smith.

UFC's premium live event was another example of that vision.

SEG has spent the past several years building its relationship with UFC and its parent company. Smith Entertainment Group also has a relationship with TKO through WWE, which hosted two events at the Delta Center last fall, and Professional Bull Riders, which has held an annual event in Utah since 1999.

The goal is to keep bringing those types of sports properties to the valley.

"The awesome thing about UFC or WWE also under TKO's brand is they end up being regional events," Barney said. "It's like people in Utah and the surrounding states come for the epicenter of the Rocky Mountains of this being the place that they can come see these cool things happen. ...

"It's really Ryan and Ashley's vision and then us on the business side chasing those relationships down and establishing them. UFC has awesome people there that have connections to Utah, and so this became a really natural, easy place for them to come have an event."

That relationship has helped make Salt Lake City a familiar stop for UFC.

Barney mentioned that the Smith Entertainment Group and the Utah Sports Commission have maintained an ongoing line of communication with the UFC and its president and CEO Dana White after each event that comes to town about when it makes sense to bring another one.

UFC has a limited number of U.S. cities that regularly host its biggest events, with Las Vegas serving as a consistent destination, and other events rotating through international and American markets. Barney noted SEG wants to make sure enough time passes between Salt Lake City events for demand to build again.

"You want to make sure there's ... enough time between the events for the market to kind of get its feet under itself again," he said. "We're really honored to be one of those cities that over the last, you know, number of years, they're selecting to come back."

More exposure for the new-look arena

This latest premium live event also brought something new for both SEG and the fans.

The main card aired live on CBS, making it the first numbered UFC event to do so nationally on the network. The event was also streamed on Paramount+. For SEG, that gave the event way more eyes, and subsequently way more eyes on what the arena can provide for other major sporting events or properties.

That's why the arena itself is an important part of the story here.

The Delta Center recently finished another phase of renovations ahead of the upcoming hockey and basketball seasons. SEG's main goal was to fix the obstructed views during hockey games. The Delta Center was originally built for basketball, which uses a way smaller area than a full ice rink. Before the upgrades, thousands of fans could only see one of the nets.

After two summers of construction, the number of bad seats has gone way down.

The public got its first look at the new renovations when the Utah Mammoth played their first preseason game at home Saturday afternoon.

One of SEG's priorities has been making sure those changes don't come at the expense of sightlines. That matters for UFC, where the action is concentrated in the small octagon ring in the middle of the arena.

"The biggest thing I would say, the impact on the UFC front … was Ryan's desire to ensure that the incredible sightlines that we've had in the arena for basketball forever didn't change based on an expanded footprint for hockey," Barney said.

In some arenas that play host to both basketball and hockey, seats behind a hockey goal can leave fans farther away from the action. SEG has tried to avoid that at the Delta Center.

"What we've done, and what our fans are going to be able to experience, is we've done our very best to protect all of those sightlines," Barney said. "And so fans that are traditionally sitting behind where a hockey goal or basketball hoop would exist are still in an incredible space that feels like they're on top of the action."

Fans who attended UFC 307 in 2024 should have noticed the difference.

Among the most noticeable updates to the venue is the renovated upper-north area. Additionally, the arena now features an all-time high of 18 food options, thanks to the addition of several local dining spots like R&R BBQ, Cafe Rio and Apollo Burger. UFC also brought in select co-branded merch and apparel to sell on Saturday only.

The crew behind the scenes

Some of the biggest changes won't be visible to fans at all as hosting the UFC requires the Delta Center to transform itself once again.

The arena staff had to work around the UFC's production and broadcast operation while getting the building ready for thousands of fans. And UFC is just one part of a packed schedule. The Delta Center can go from hockey to basketball to a concert to a combat sports event, sometimes with very little time in between.

Barney noted the arena staff deserves much of the credit for making those transitions look easy.

"Our Delta Center staff is just, they're so dedicated, and they work so hard to make sure that these events are up and running," he said. "Those are thankless jobs, and unfortunately those folks are unheralded, and they are like real heroes in these events actually happening."

The arena staff has also developed plenty of experience with different types of events. That flexibility is becoming increasingly important to SEG.

The company has hosted UFC, WWE and NCAA basketball at the Delta Center, along with concerts and the arena's regular Utah Jazz and Mammoth schedules.

And SEG wants more.

"We're going to turn over every stone to bring cool things to Utah," Barney said.

That includes continuing to pursue events through TKO, while also looking for other major sporting and entertainment events. The company has also pointed to future events such as the 2027 NHL Winter Classic and Utah's 2034 Winter Games as part of the region's growing sports profile.

Utahns show up

For SEG, the appeal of Salt Lake City comes down to more than having a renovated arena.

It comes down to whether people will actually show up. And so far, UFC has gotten that answer.

Barney mentioned that the UFC's track record of performing well at the gate is something SEG can use when it pitches Utah to other event organizers.

The previous three numbered UFC events in Salt Lake City all sold out, with UFC 291 setting the Delta Center's gate record and UFC 307 becoming the second-highest-grossing event in arena history.

"The phrase that we often use here is 'Utah shows up,'" Barney said.

He pointed to the Jazz's long run of 374 sellouts and the Mammoth's sellout streak as well as other examples of Utahns supporting their teams.

"People know that this is a sports-crazed city and state," Barney said. "We have incredible fans here. I can't say that enough; we just really have the best fans."

Over the next five to 10 years, Barney noted SEG aims to solidify the Delta Center and Utah as a premier hub for top-tier sports and entertainment programming.

"We want people to know that Utah shows up," he said. "That this is a city that sports have very, very deep meaning to the residents, to this city, in this state."

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