LAS VEGAS – Saturday’s “UFC 126: Silva vs. Belfort” event drew a reported 10,893 attendees and generated a live gate of $3.6 million.
UFC president Dana White revealed the figures at the evening’s post-event press conference.
Featuring a middleweight title fight between top pound-for-pound fighter Anderson Silva and hard-hitting challenger Vitor Belfort, UFC 126 marked the company’s first event at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas since February 2010.
The reported figure, which will be verified next week by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, did not include and additional $45,100 in revenue generated by the 1,046 attendees who viewed the fight via closed-circuit broadcast at the Sin City property.
The number of complimentary tickets issued for the sold-out show was not revealed, but the reported figured indicate the UFC generated an average revenue of $330.49 per ticket issued.
UFC 126’s main card aired on pay-per-view, while Spike TV aired a pair of preliminary bouts. A third preliminary card fight also streamed live on Facebook.com.
Should the numbers hold true, UFC 126 would mark the third-largest live gate ever generated by the UFC at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. The venue’s all-time top UFC gates as compiled by MMAjunkie.com include:
UFC 100 (Lesnar vs. Mir II): $5,128,490 gate (10,871 attendance)
UFC 79 (St-Pierre vs. Hughes III): $4,994,000 (11,075)
UFC 126 (Silva vs. Belfort): $3,600,000 (10,893)
UFC 57 (Liddell vs. Couture III): $3,382,400 (11,000)
UFC 61 (Sylvia vs. Arlovski II): $3,350,775 (11,167)
