UFC 244 at MSG will mark an important milestone for the MMA outfit and UFC Exec VP/Operations & Production CRAIG BORSARI, as it will be the 500th live event in UFC history. The company has been doing a countdown in their broadcasts leading up to Saturday and will be celebrating that night with some new TV elements. Borsari, who has been with the UFC since '05, took some time before heading off to N.Y. to walk THE DAILY through what goes into getting ready for fight night.
GETTING PREPPED: I'm taking a red-eye out of Las Vegas on Thursday night and arriving in N.Y. on Friday morning in time for a meeting with ESPN. Friday will be kind of a packed day. Following the ESPN meeting, we'll start planning for our events at the Hulu Theater later that afternoon. I'll talk to my Coordinating Producer ZACH CANDITO and we'll go over all the elements that are planned for those events, the first of which will be the press conference for UFC 245 in December. We'll also have a presser for DWAYNE JOHNSON, who will be an integral part of UFC 244 as the presenter of the BMF (Baddest Mother F*****) belt to the main event winner, which is unique for us. Once he's off the stage, it will very quickly turn into the weigh-ins for the fights. That will be our last event of the night.
Borsari on fight nights usually heads over to the venue prior to the doors opening to walk the arenaUFC
DAY OF THE FIGHT: The first thing I typically do on fight nights is get up early and get a workout in. It's a tradition for me to clear my head and break a sweat in the morning. Before heading over to MSG, I'll check in with UFC President DANA WHITE and talk about anything that transpired over the last 24 hours that might be tied into the narrative of the broadcast that night. That'll be just a last-minute check before I connect with my team on the ground at MSG. If things have changed overnight -- and in our sport there's inevitably changes that come out of left field that we have to react to, so we're used to that -- I'll meet with Zach and talk about how we want to potentially communicate that to our talent to make sure we're all on the same page. I'll grab a quick lunch after that and then head over to MSG prior to the doors opening to walk the arena and check in with our group in the mobile unit in case they have any questions prior to the first fight. Then I'll go up to our front of house position, which is where our production team is executing and producing the in-arena show. I'll make sure that everything with that group is dialed in and that our lighting and audio is sufficient for the event.
THE SHOW GOES ON: Once the doors open, we're really into show mode. We're working with the social media team on our pre-event elements. We're also talking on a regular basis with our marketing team to get data and feedback on awareness. Once the first fight is on, you buckle up and get ready to produce six straight hours of TV. There's just so many twists and turns that can happen within a fight night, so inevitably there's something that we need to debrief on. I'll connect with the production team on anything that we need to discuss and act on quickly. That could be specific highlights we need to get to ESPN, making certain fighters available for our communications team or preparing for our post-show on ESPN+ and how we want to approach something that might have transpired during the event that is either controversial or breaking news that we want to address.
KICK BACK AND RELAX: Sunday is when you can finally take a deep breath. We'll review our execution with our producers and directors from the previous night and talk about what we did well, what we didn't and how we can improve going forward. Once I get back to Las Vegas, I'll spend some time with my two kids, PAYTON and HUDSON, and my wife, TAYLOR. I'm sure my kids will be hopped up on plenty of Halloween candy, so I'll have to figure out how to match their energy. The day will be jam-packed with two soccer games, a birthday party for Payton and then a family dinner that night.
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