UFC 189, when Ireland’s Conor McGregor takes on Chad Mendes in an interim title fight, has broken all previous US gate receipts for a mixed martial arts event.
UFC boss Dana White was interviewed on The Jim Rome Show yesterday, and admitted he had initially feared for the event when McGregor’s original opponent, featherweight champion Jose Aldo, .
“It was a huge blow obviously,” White said, before explaining that, rather than hurt ticket sales, the change of fighter actually led to an increase.
“But what’s crazy is, that fight gets cancelled and we bring in Chad Mendes. The gate in Las Vegas, at the MGM Grand, was $6.8m. We put in Mendes and the gate went to $7.1m.
“We actually had to add in bleachers in there. It is the biggest event we have ever done in the United States.”
Let’s hope Mendes is ready – McGregor certainly is.
Timeline by Robbie Byrne.