Why Nashville slowly emerged as destination for MMA, while boxing stays away

Nashville’s recent rise as a sporting destination has seen the city hold the 2019 NFL Draft, 2022 NHL Stadium Series and 2025 FIFA Club World Cup games while annually hosting events including the SEC men’s basketball tournament and IndyCar’s Music City Grand Prix.

Yet for all Nashville’s growing popularity on the national sporting scene, it’s not been known as a fight town.

While Memphis hosted a number of championship-level fight cards, including Mike Tyson vs. Lennox Lewis in the 2000s, Nashville has never been held in the same regard as a home for combat sports.

The last major boxing card in Nashville came more than five years ago, when Ashland City native Caleb Plant returned home to defend his super middleweight title against Vincent Feigenbutz, but the city has since been devoid of championship-level boxing.

“You spend a lot of time on (assessing fan bases) and a lot of analytics go into it with our staff. And that’s why it took us so long to go there with Caleb,” said Tom Brown, President of TBG Promotions — the promoter on record for Plant’s fights. “It’s a copycat business and unfortunately, no one’s jumped in and gone after us (in Nashville) … To tell you the truth, I was hoping (they) would because it was a successful event.”

The state of boxing has left Nashville in a difficult position in terms of attracting promoters.

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It’s become increasingly difficult for boxing promoters to justify bringing cards outside of established markets such as Las Vegas or New York, with support from local venues often outmatching that possible in cities like Nashville.

When Memphis was a regular host of major fight cards, it was local investment that drove the city over the edge, whereas today the dollar figures provided by casinos have made the market increasingly competitive for cities like Nashville.

“A lot of (the Memphis cards) came because there were some local investors that were willing to put up a site fee, basically buy the gate,” Brown said. “So it’s kind of similar to a casino where someone put up the money for us to come there, basically buying the gate and working with us on the hotels and everything.”

Of course not every fight takes place in Las Vegas or New York, and when promoters do bring events outside of typically successful fight towns, it is markets with a history of success or an established fanbase that receive the first looks.

“If there’s a casino that likes to host events, that’s a factor. And generally (we look at) places where the boxing fans are,” Top Rank Chief Operating Officer Brad Jacobs said. “Tennessee, right now, is not a hotbed for boxing. Doesn’t mean it can’t be. If there’s a local talent that comes up along the way, certainly (Nashville would) be a stop on the circuit.”

One of the primary factors that leads Top Rank outside of traditional fight hubs is the presence of a hometown fighter, of which Nashville has just one in Plant. And while Plant rose through the ranks in Tennessee, he’s now become a headlining draw in Las Vegas, which he’s called home since 2016.

“Caleb’s a pretty high-end quality guy now … he’s going to be fighting in the big, massive fight markets and more than likely you’re going to see him in Las Vegas the next few fights,” Brown said. “And he’s earned that right.”

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Nashville starting to attract combat sports events

But as Nashville continues to grow, combat sports organizations are increasingly taking notice. Mixed martial arts promoters have been the first to capitalize.

This summer Nashville hosted fight cards from both the UFC and PFL, the two foremost promotions in MMA, with the success of each event indicating returns to Nashville may come sooner rather than later.

“We wouldn’t be coming back if there wasn’t an opportunity for the sport, for the fighters, for the PFL. It’s a world class town. It’s synonymous with obviously music and entertainment, but it’s a sports town and it’s an MMA town,” PFL CEO Pete Murray said. “So it’s our commitment to keep coming back and growing the sport.”

The UFC has visited Nashville seven times, most recently ending a two-year hiatus when it hosted UFC Fight Night at Bridgestone Arena on July 12, drawing over 17,000 fans and a $2.2 million gate.

For Dana White and the UFC, the demand for events is so high that venue support is not an issue, rather trying to fit different cities into a packed global schedule.

“Nashville has always been a great market for us, but with the rise of Nashville in general, the market’s just gotten stronger,” UFC Chief Operating Officer and Vanderbilt graduate Lawrence Epstein said. “Frankly, the biggest issue for us is trying to find dates at Bridgestone, which is a busy arena. But other than that, this is a market that you’re going to continue to see UFC return to time and time again.”

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And the repeated return of combat sports organizations only figures to continue the growth of Nashville’s fight fanbase.

“The live event is sort of the essence of what the UFC is all about,” Epstein said. “Dana says that nobody goes to a UFC event and walks out of there and says, ‘That stunk, I don’t want to do that again.’ In fact, it’s the exact opposite.”

Nashville’s entertainment options are ever-expanding and while boxing is yet to find the same local success as MMA promotions in recent years, the city’s continued growth has left the doors open for a return.

“We would love to fight back in Nashville. That was a great experience and I can tell you that in other fights it’s been talked about,” Richie Plant, Caleb’s father and trainer, said. “And I think it’s something that the fans would support and I think it’s something that promoters would be interested in doing.”

Harrison Campbell covers combat sports for The Tennessean and high school sports for The Daily Herald. Email him at hcampbell@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @hccamp.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: UFC, PFL leading charge in Nashville’s emergence as combat sports destination

Why Nashville slowly emerged as destination for MMA, while boxing stays away

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