The star power…
UFC 205 on November 12 will take place in Madison Square Garden and will be the first UFC event to take place in New York since the ban on MMA was lifted earlier this year.
As it’s such a historic card, the demand and price for tickets has been sky high to watch the action unfold.
But as the card contains a certain notorious fighter going by the name of Conor McGregor, you can multiply the hype and demand for the fight times ten.
Speaking on Fox Sports, UFC President Dana White has said that the super fight in MSG in November has already broken the gate records for MSG.
“I wanted to make sure when we went to New York, we delivered,” White said, “it’s the biggest, baddest card we’ve ever done in the history of the company.”
.@ufc President @danawhite joined the Game 3 pregame show to discuss #UFC205, #CLEvsCHC & of course @PeteRose_14. https://t.co/otCsHJWIqx
— FS1 (@FS1) October 29, 2016
The current gate record for a combat sport event at MSG was set by a boxing match between Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield back in the ’90s which brought in a gate of $13.5 million.
If UFC 205 does in fact surpass this number, then it will also beat the current UFC gate record of $12,075,000 from UFC 129 in Toronto which was held at the Rogers Centre in front of 55,724 people.
It’s clear that McGregor is a significant factor in selling this event and this among other things, makes him worth the occasional headache to the UFC top brass.
“He’s a little tough to deal with, but he’s worth it,” White said. “All the other antics and everything aside, Conor McGregor will step up and fight anybody, anywhere, any time. I’ve never been in a situation where somebody pulls out the week before a fight and he literally does not care who he fights.”