An excuse for what? They didnt fire people or adjust salaries or fighter pay. Lower gate revenue is lower gate revenue and it more than offsets (by a lot) the cost of the arena.Lower gate revenue, doesn't hurt them as much because espn still pays them a guaranteed flat rate. Also if they're hosting everything at the apex, it means they're not renting arenas, so that's another expense minimized. Also they haven't had any expensive fighters on there (except overeem) . So even though they're not operating at optimal conditions, they're overstating their plight. So yes "costs" were an excuse.
Again, there’s nothing to see here. They are putting on events, and fighters are able to make money (and so is the ufc).