MMA Junkie reports the attendance, gate and bonuses for UFC Fight Night 82 on Saturday night. Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson led the night’s bonus winners with his impressive first round stoppage of Johny Hendricks.
In addition to Thompson Diego Rivas, Mike Pyle and Sean Spencer earned the other $50,000 bonuses. Rivas earned a Performance Bonus with his flying knee which KO’d Noad Lahat. Pyle and Spencer won for Fight of the Night. The 40-year-old Pyle earned the victory in the last seconds of the 3rd round with a vicious knee to Spencer.
UFC Fight Night drew 7,442 fans for a gate of $1.435 million according to the UFC. The event was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Last month’s UFC Fight Night 81 drew 12,022 for a gate of $1.3 million. Mike Bohn notes that its the lowest attended UFC event at the MGM since Thompson’s last appearance at the MGM during the Sunday TUF Finale in July. Of course, those circumstances are slightly different than Saturday’s event. Still, the attendance was quite low for any UFC event at this venue.
Payout Perspective:
Attendance was down from last month’s UFC 195 which drew 10,300 and a gate of over $2 million. Comparing to last year’s Super Bowl weekend event, UFC 183 drew 13,114 fans for a gate of $4.5 million. Clearly, the event attendance was down due to the lack of a title fight or attractive main event. Hendricks-Thompson was a solid Fight Night card but not a PPV attraction
I disagree that this was a solid UFC FN. Even as such it was very average, bordering on mediocre. Can’t believe that would have been UFC 196.
Wonderboy could be the next welterweight star.