MMA Junkie reports the attendance, gate and bonuses from UFC Fight Night 74 from Saskatoon, Canada. The numbers were announced at the post-event press conference.
The bonuses were awarded to Patrick Cote, Josh Burkman, Felipe Arentes and Frankie Perez. Each earned $50,000 each. Arantes and Peres drew the Performance of the Night while Cote and Burkman won Fight of the Night.
The event drew 7,202 and a live gate of $717,000. The SaskTel Centre houses 15,100 for hockey and 14,370 for a center stage concert.
Despite having more in attendance (7,539), the night in Saskatoon did better in gate than Nashville ($454,551) at UFC Fight Night 73.
Payout Perspective:
Perhaps the most shocking event of the night was the sudden retirement of bonus winner Perez. If you are going to retire, you might as well end on top. The gate fared well for the UFC’s first event in Saskatoon. It will be interesting to see ratings for the event as it went up against WWE’s Summerslam and NFL Preseason football on Fox.
BrainSmasher says
I wouldn’t call beating a washed up older fighter as a rookie. Going out on top. I think this guys actions were pathetic. The fact so many support them show how pathetic this generation is. Im not a fan out going out on top even when you are on top. There is something to be said for passing the torch. It makes another fighters career while benefiting the sport. It took a decade or more for the NBA to recover from Jordan leaving on top. It killed TV ratings.
But this guy went into his UFC contract with no desire to even finish it or even be a professional fighter. He then quits which is not something to be proud of in the first place. But he isn’t even honest in why he is quitting. I have seen people like him in the gym. I don’t believe health was his reason. It was lack of toughness to deal with the contact of sparring during training or just pure fear of fighting. But no one goes into fighting if they are that worried about their health. There has been no signs of long term heath issues for mma fighters. This sport is actually safer than it has ever been and even safer than when he decided to start taking fights on a local level for no pay. So his excuse doesn’t make sense.
Combo says
Dominic Cruz wants a word with you, BrainSmasher.
Diego says
The guy went into his contract with no desire to finish it? How do you know what he wanted to do at the time?
A fighter can walk away from his contract any time, just like the UFC can cut a fighter any time. He’s 10-2 overall, 1-1 in the UFC. He’s fought plenty. I’m willing to bet he’s fought more than you BS. Perez decided to quit fighting – for most people that’s a smart thing to do. Most fighters will barely break even during their careers (or even lose out) when you factor in their opportunity cost. Maybe Perez saw enough in his two UFC fights to realize that he would probably not be a top earner and decided to seek greener pastures elsewhere before he suffered too much head trauma.
tops E says
B.S. Knows…..hahahaha
saldathief says
shit gate for a region that was once very strong for the UFC! And of course some mental midget will compare some boxing card, here is a dick to suck on. Boxing has shit gates all the time ,Boxing has decent fighters that don’t draw. The ufc once had great gates with almost every show and now they are down by more then half! You idiots!!
d says
Sal is brain dead. This was an excellent gate for a very low profile card. For a comparative boxing card the gate would have probably been around 100k.