MMA Junkie reports the attendance, gate and bonuses from Wednesday night’s UFC Fight Night 71. Frank Mir led the bonus winner’s after his first round KO of Todd Duffee.
Joining Mir was Tony Ferguson with a Performance of the Night for his dominating victory over Josh Thomson. Fight of the Night was awarded to Alan Jouban and Matt Dwyer. All received $50,000 each.
Attendance at the Valley View Casino in San Diego was 5,471 for a gate of $412,000. The numbers were announced post-event by the UFC.
Payout Perspective:
Notably, Bellator 131 drew 8,243 for a gate of $407,259 at the same venue last November. It was a respectable fight night attendance considering it was mid-week as it is the annual event in which the UFC takes advantage of the lull in other sports in July. Mir and Ferguson were especially impressive with Mir’s KO ensuring that the UFC event ended on time on FS1.
Three events in five days (including something as big as UFC 189) is too much. I mean look at the cards, a couple of good fights each and the rest a bunch of no names. The UFC would benefit from spreading out their events a little more.
Bellator 131 was a solid show. That was Ortiz-Bonnar. This fight drawing the same gate as that is pretty good.
A great night of fights – Jouban-Dwyer, Ferguson-Thomson, Mir-Duffy
Good stuff.