UFC 307 in Salt Lake City: How will Utah’s altitude affect the fighters during the fight?

The Delta Centre in Salt Lake City will hold the attention of the MMA world this Saturday as UFC 307 is set to be hosted in the Utah city.

Saturday’s fight card will be jointly headlined by the two main events: Pereira vs Rountree Jr and Pennington vs Peña - two of the most explosive fights in both categories.

A featherweight bout between former UFC Bantamweight Champion Aljamain Sterling and Movsar Evloev was scheduled for this event, however Sterling was forced to withdraw from the fight due to an injury sustained in sparring and the bout was scrapped with the bout now rescheduled for UFC 310 in Vegas next December.

Mauricio Ruffy was also expected to participate in a lightweight bout at the event, but the organisers were not able to find an opponent and he was pulled from the card.

The impact of Salt Lake altitude

The city of Salt Lake has an average elevation of 4,327 feet (1,319 m) above sea level and it’s widely known that carrying out sporting activity at altitude can be a challenge.

Scientists concur with it generally accepted that the effects of air pressure and elevation begin to measurably impact the ability of humans to output energy, or perform work, at around 500 meters of elevation and grows in the intensity of its consequences as altitude climbs. With this climb, air becomes thinner and the partial pressure of oxygen is decreased. With the pressure of oxygen decreased, oxygen intake reduces and limits the maximum aerobic power of the athlete.

In other words, the reduced oxygen intake limits the efficiency of the “work” the body is performing, thus increasing the intensity/effort required to achieve results.

Work becomes harder for the athletes at elevation because their body is being fueled less efficiently than it would be in normal conditions.

An added factor for the UFC fighters at the Delta Centre to contend with at UFC 307 on Saturday night.