MMA Junkie reports the attendance, gate and bonuses for this Saturday’s UFC on Fuel TV 9. Bonuses were $60,000 instead of the UFC standard $50,000.
Attendance at the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden were 14,506 for a live gate of $2,710,530. The first show in Sweden which featured Alexander Gustafsson was higher attended at 15,428. Unfortunately, Gustafsson had to pull out with a cut.
Bonuses were as follows:
FOTN: Brad Pickett vs. Mike Easton
KO: Conor McGregor
Submission of the Night: Reza Madadi
Payout Perspective:
Conor McGregor stole the show with his knockout of Marcus Brimage. Also, Diego Brandau could have won for Sub of the Night with a slick arm triangle of Pablo Garza. Fortunately, Gegard Mousasi was willing to fight Ilir Latifi on very short notice or the show would have been in dire straits. Its interesting that the bonuses were raised for this event. Maybe it was a way to motivate the fighters to give a good performance.
Goes to show the UFC wasn’t trying to save money when they choose 50k.
For boxing fans out there: Early word is that the Mayweather – Guerrero live gate on May 4th should top $12 million. Mayweather remains an enormous attraction.
As far as this show goes, good to see the Swedish market getting real attention from Zuffa. Personally, I enjoyed the show a lot.
With a gate of 2.7 million for a fuel event this must be good for a future of UFC cards in Sweden. I’m hoping that they will come here on a yearly basis from now on.
Plus this card was really lacking in the name recognition department so they must have gotten away with a really “cheap” card if you look at the wages compared to earnings.
The main event was a disappointment but I understand why it went the way it went.
Quote of the night: “Some people lay and pray and I guess I kind of did that with stand up.” – Gegard Mousasi