UFC 129 To Set Attendance Records

It seems like watershed moments in MMA’s continuing history are a dime a dozen these days: from the first live MMA fight on cable television to the first event on a network channel or the first event in a new state or country. However, nothing says, “This sport has really arrived” quite like packing a stadium with 55,000 MMA fans, 42,000 of whom bought their tickets on the first day they were available, necessitating a new layout to make 13,000 more seats available.

All of the hullabaloo is around UFC 129, which brings UFC Welterweight Champion (and now, confirmed box office superstar) Georges St. Pierre to Toronto, Canada’s Rogers Centre. In mere hours, UFC 129 tickets had been devoured by avid fans who want to catch a glimpse of GSP’s next title defense against Jake Shields. This, of course, led to the unprecedented (for the UFC, anyway) reconfiguration of the Rogers Centre to allow additional seats for fans.

Now, UFC tickets always sell out very quickly, but this is clearly uncharted territory. In all fairness, Dana White has avoided doing shows in front of huge crowds so far to try to preserve the quality of the experience for the fans who do attend. However, nothing garners mainstream media attention quite like packing a ton of people into one space to see a sporting event, right? The benefits of packing 55,000 or more fans into the Rogers Centre for UFC 129 extend beyond the immediate financial rewards, as you can’t buy publicity like this event will get due to the attendance alone.

“Or more”? That’s right- the Rogers Centre can reportedly accommodate nearly 70,000 fans for the type of setup the UFC requires, and one would assume that Dana and company just have to pull the trigger to make that happen. Again, White is hesitant to do so because he wants to give every fan in attendance the best possible experience, but additional big screens are already being utilized to do just that. Plus, who wouldn’t want to get UFC tickets to an event with 70,000 screaming fans? That’s definitely the type of thing you can’t equalize by watching at home with a few friends and a little surround sound.

Even though it appears unlikely at this point that the event will grow further from the 55,000 mark, it’s a pretty impressive feat. The gate has been announced by the UFC as surpassing $11 million, which is a record for both the UFC and the Rogers Centre itself. Also, it shows that the UFC could certainly put up even bigger numbers at a venue like

In case you were curious, the previous attendance record for a North American MMA event was set last December at UFC 124, which sold 23,152 tickets. Who headlined that event? Georges St. Pierre, of course. This may also speak volumes about whether fans are really turned off by GSP’s strategy-heavy style, too. Clearly, the man can’t be that boring if he’s selling 55,000 tickets.

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Tags: Dana White, Georges St. Pierre, Jake Shields, UFC, UFC 129