Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno fought to a "thrilling majority draw" at UFC 256 on Saturday, coming at the end of a "tumultuous year" for the UFC, according to Greg Beacham of the AP. The fight took place in Las Vegas at the Apex gym on the UFC’s corporate campus. UFC was the first major North American sports organization to return to competition amid the coronavirus pandemic, and the promotion has put on 32 events in 32 weeks since early May despite "innumerable fight cancellations and alterations due to positive COVID-19 tests." After one more event in Las Vegas next Saturday, the UFC "will take a three-week holiday break before resuming weekly shows, likely inside its coronavirus-secure bubble in Abu Dhabi." UFC President Dana White said, "I don’t know what I expected for 2021, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to be a lot different. But this was a great year for us. We had great fights. Business has never been better. Basically our business broke records last year in almost every category except live gate. 2020 was a horrible year in a lot of ways for all of us personally and professionally, but it was a great year for the UFC” (AP, 12/13).
