UFC president Dana White may have been bummed out about the scoring controversy at UFC on FX 2 in Sydney on Friday night (Saturday in Aussie time), but he was nothing less than ecstatic about the numbers that the show produced.
“Biggest gate in the history of Fight Night,” White said at the post-fight press conference.
UFC Fight Night events, such as this one on FX, aren’t typically on par financially with a pay-per-view event. UFC on FX 2, however, bucked that trend, pulling in a live gate of $2.3 million and drawing attendance of 14,537.
In comparison, the recent UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit pay-per-view event at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas garnered the same $2.3 million gate, but just 10,040 in attendance.
With numbers like those, the UFC is sure to keep returning to the Australian market. In fact, White – who has said that Australia is one of the top contenders for the next international version of The Ultimate Fighter – event hinted that the UFC is probably not too far off from opening a permanent office Down Under.
(Photo courtesy of FightBulletin.net)
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