THERE ARE STILL three days to go until UFC 189 takes place in Las Vegas, but the event has already broken an Ultimate Fighting Championship record.
That’s according to UFC president, who says that in spite of the withdrawal of Jose Aldo, Saturday’s show is the highest-grossing in UFC history on US soil when it comes to gate receipts.
UFC 189 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena will be headlined by the meeting of Chad Mendes and Ireland’s Conor McGregor for the interim UFC featherweight title.
White told The Jim Rome Show: “What’s crazy is, that fight [Aldo-McGregor] gets cancelled. We bring in Chad Mendes, the gate in Vegas at the MGM is $6.8 million, we put in Mendes, the gate went to $7.1 million. We actually had to add bleachers in there. The event is the biggest gate we’ve ever done in the US.”
The UFC’s previous record for US gate receipts was just over $6.9 million, which was set in July 2012 at the same venue for UFC 148, which was headlined by the rematch between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen.
Meanwhile, White also confirmed that Jose Aldo’s withdrawal from his highly-anticipated clash with Conor McGregor has cost the UFC featherweight champion a sizeable chunk of cash.
“Millions of dollars,” White said. “Yeah, he probably would’ve made close to four million.”
H/T: MMAFighting.com
