UFC
Dana White says UFC 189 live gate already at $7 million, will set organization's record in Las Vegas
Mar 27, 2015 - 3:35:53 PM Dana White says UFC 189 live gate already at $7 million, will set organization's record in Las Vegas

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The UFC is expecting a huge pay-per-view boon this July with the UFC 189 bout between Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor, and there's reason to be optimistic on their end given how quickly tickets are selling.

UFC President Dana White said on Friday during the latest stop on their media tour for the bout that pre-sale tickets for the July 11 event in Las Vegas are 55% higher than 2009's UFC 100 event, and the gate is already at $7 million.

That would make it a record for the UFC in Las Vegas and the U.S., as it would beat out the UFC 148 event from July of 2012, where the rematch between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen brought in a live gate of just over $6.9 million. The UFC's overall record gate came at UFC 129 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, where 55,000 attendees brought in just over $12 million to the organization.

Penick's Analysis: The live gate doesn't necessarily equate to pay-per-view buys, but it's clearly a sign of what people are willing to pay for this particular fight. It bodes well for its pay-per-view prospects that the gate is where it's at, as the last two to post higher-than-$6-million marks (UFC 148 and UFC 168) each drew over 900,000 buys on pay-per-view. UFC 168 was the last event to draw over a million buys, and it brought in a gate of $6.2 million. Of course, these numbers pale in comparison to the ridiculous amount of money coming to Las Vegas for boxing's Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao bout in May, but they're still a really fantastic sign for this particular matchup and event.

[Dana White art by Travis Beaven (c) MMATorch.com]