Dana White has revealed that UFC 189 is set to break the promotions record for the highest gate they’ve ever raked in for an event in the United States.
According to the UFC President, the gate for Conor McGregor Vs Chad Mendes has just reached $7.1 million ahead of the event at the MGM in Las Vegas this Saturday night.
“What’s crazy is, that fight [Aldo-McGregor] gets canceled, We bring in Chad Mendes, the gate in Vegas at the MGM $6.8 million, we put in Mendes, the gate went to $7.1 M,” White stated on the Jim Rome Show. “We actually had to add bleachers in there. The event is the biggest gate we’ve ever done in the U.S.”
Their previous record stood at $6.9 million for the UFC 148 rematch between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen at the MGM in Las Vegas back in July of 2012.
White had previously admitted that they’d spent more money promoting UFC 189 than any other event in the history of the promotion, so they had always anticipated that this was going to be a blockbuster event.
Aldo pulling out injured was definitely a big blow for them and could yet hurt their overall pay-per-view numbers which they’d previously anticipated could breach the 1 million barrier, but the continued clamour for tickets in Las Vegas suggests that regardless of who he’s fighting, people just want to see McGregor compete and find out whether he can once again back up his talk with action in the Octagon.
