UFC Fight Night 28 draws reported 5,126 attendance – but UFC not concerned

BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil – Wednesday night’s UFC Fight Night 28 event drew an announced attendance of 5,126 fans.

UFC Director of International Development Marshall Zelaznik announced the total at the night’s post-event news conference, which MMAjunkie.com attended.

UFC Fight Night 28 took place at Mineirinho Arena in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The main card aired on FOX Sports 1 following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and Facebook.

UFC 147, the promotion’s debut in Belo Horizonte, took place in June 2012 and drew an announced attendance of 16,643 for the pay-per-view. The UFC’s previous “Fight Night”-type events in Brazil all drew bigger crowds than Wednesday’s show.

UFC on FX 7 in January drew 9,116 fans in Sao Paulo. UFC on FX 8 in May had 7,642 fans in Jaragua do Sul. And UFC on FUEL TV 10 in June drew 6,286 in Fortaleza.

But Zelaznik told MMAjunkie.com there are no concerns with Wednesday’s attendance.

“There’s no issues with the health of the market,” Zelaznik said. “Obviously, this is a big arena. We put this event on sale before we had made our strategic goal to try and create more intimate events. Obviously (UFC Fight Night 27 in) Indianapolis was a smaller show, as well, so we set out after tickets were on sale to get it aligned with our whole global business of Wednesday nights.”

Zelaznik reiterated what UFC President Dana White said this past week in Indianapolis after the promotion’s first Wednesday night “Fight Night” show in its new broadcast partnership with FOX Sports 1.

“There’s no denying that Wednesday nights will be a challenge,” Zelaznik said. “It’s not Saturday night fights, but they’re perfect for television. They’re great for fans that can’t commit every weekend that the UFC has an event, so we’re excited to have them in Wednesdays. The fans showed up. There weren’t really many empty seats in the house. I think we were left with about 200 tickets that didn’t dell for tonight, so we’re ecstatic with the event. I think we delivered for the fans. We promised an intimate night. The fighters did a great job, so no – there’s no problem with the market here, trust me.

In Wednesday’s main event, Brazil native Glover Teixeira (22-2 MMA, 5-0 UFC) stopped Ryan Bader (15-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) with a first-round TKO. After the fight, Zelaznik confirmed Teixeira put himself next in line to fight the Jon Jones-Alexander Gustafsson winner for the light heavyweight title.

In the co-feature, Ronaldo Souza (19-3 MMA, 2-0 UFC) stopped Yushin Okami (29-8 MMA, 13-5 UFC) in the first round and inched closer to a middleweight title shot. And in a key flyweight bout, Joseph Benavidez (19-3 MMA, 6-1 UFC) stopped Jussier Formiga (15-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC) with a first-round TKO and may have earned the next crack at the flyweight title, which eluded him nearly a year ago against Demetrious Johnson.

After four decisions in five fights on the preliminary card, the main card featured five stoppages in six fights, and the lone decision, Rafael Natal‘s win over Tor Troeng, was the “Fight of the Night” winner.

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 28, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.