MMA Junkie reports the TUF 21 Finale attendance, gate and bonuses announced at the post-fight press conference. Stephen Thompson and Kamara Usman topped the Performance of the Night bonuses.
Thompson executed a perfect spinning head kick to end the night for Jake Ellenberger. Usman earned a second-round submission of Hayder Hassan with a head an arm choke. The win meant that the Blackzilians team earned $300,000 with its win over rival American Top Team.
Jorge Masvidal KO’d Cezar Ferreira and Josh Samman submitted Caio Magalhaes to earn the other $50,000 Performance of the Night bonuses. There was no Fight of the Night.
The event drew 4,844 for a live gate of $291,000 according to the UFC at the post-fight press conference. The event took place once again at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. In comparison, last year’s TUF 19 Finale held the day after UFC 175 last year drew 6,500 for a gate of $835,000. Of course, that event featured BJ Penn and Frankie Edgar in the main event. Also, last year included a ticket discount for those that bought UFC Fan Expo passes. Not sure if they offered the same this year.
Payout Perspective:
Wonderboy had the KO of the weekend with his spinning kick on Ellenberger. As for the gate, the main event was rumored to feature Benson Henderson taking on Michael Johnson. However, an undisclosed injury by Henderson forced him out of the potential matchup. Ellenberger-Thompson and the TUF participants probably did not excite enough people to stay another night to go to the event.
UFC used to hold the Finale events at smaller venues like The Pearl and The Joint. I don’t know why they stopped doing that.
they do it at the MGM because they save on production costs from doing 2 events. One load in one load out 2 shows.