UFC Fight Night 88 drew 5,193 for a live gate of $359,000 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Headliner Cody Garbrandt led the list of bonus winners.
The attendance, gate and bonuses were announced at the post-fight press conference.
Cody Garbrandt, Jake Collier, Jeremy Stephens and Renan Barao earned the $50,000 fight night bonuses. Garbrandt and Collier won for their Performances of the Night. Stephens and Barao drew Fight of the Night.
The attendance and gate was one of the lowest for a Vegas UFC show.
Payout Perspective:
The annual Memorial Day show was held on a Sunday night instead of the usual Saturday PPV. On would have to go back to UFC Fight Night 47 for a live gate and attendance this low for a Fight Night. I left out UFC Fight Night 80 (PVZ-Rose 1,643 in attendance and $234,725 gate) since the venue was so small. Obviously, this event comes at a time in between big events and with no top names the low attendance and gate may have been expected.
Just to show, that it’s not the sport people care about, but the BS mysticism surrounding their fav fighters.
No hype=poor ratings. MMA is going downhill.
I was in vegas this past month at mandalay and they had a lot of promo stuff up for this event. The thing is that when you have it on a holiday weekend, and even worse on a sunday it is going to do horrible. Not impressed you do make a point, it seems ufc can only sell fights with their top mainstream fighters.
Seems that even the UFC is feeling the pressure of a lack of star power. There was virtually no hype for this one, no one i know was interested in seeing it, most didnt even know it was on, I think the news media at FOX gave it more attention than even the fans did. That gate is amazingly low.
I wouldnt say mma is going downhill, but I do think to a degree the UFC is and has been for a while. Ask the Japanese fans how Rizin is doing or One and Im sure it would be a different response.
Seems that even the UFC is feeling the pressure of a lack of star power. There was virtually no hype for this one, no one i know was interested in seeing it, most didnt even know it was on, I think the news media at FOX gave it more attention than even the fans did. That gate is amazingly low.
I wouldnt say mma is going downhill, but I do think to a degree the UFC is and has been for a while. Ask the Japanese fans how Rizin is doing or One and Im sure it would be a different response.
It was being advertised in Las Vegas for a long time. No buzz at all.
I doubt Rizin is making any money. Rizin and One FC are probably running off of investor money.
Bellator no longer makes the top-100 in tv ratings anymore on a regular basis like they did with Bjorn Rebney. Even with the low pay scales the gates don’t cover the purses and expensives of the events.
The only organization making a profit is the UFC. But they have a lot of debt and run an expensive operation.
The era of UFC branded events being the only requirement needed for success are over. They need more McGregors.
Not including promotions just in general which fighter has brought in the most revenue for UFC, McGregor or Rousey?
haha Im in the UK right now, you wouldn’t even know there was a sport called mma here unless you looked under a rock! those are disappointing numbers considering half were comps.
Sal long time no see, hope it’s going good across the pond. looking forward to a lot of big boxing fights out there.
A show on a Sunday and on Memorial Day, without popular fighters, did poorly? Shocker.
I’d start worrying if their broadcasts were time-buys doing poorly or couldn’t launch a reality show or weren’t doing well in average PPVs.
Combo they should have known though and either had it another weekend or scrapped it.
Sunday on a 3-day weekend is a bad time for an event? People usually are willing to spend more money during holiday weekends where they might have more time off. The event was heavily advertised in Las Vegas. There were people visiting for conventions as well as vacation/holidays. There were a lot of people in Las Vegas spending money doing other things. The card was not enticing, it had nothing to do with it being Memorial Day.
Random you make a good point, it was a pretty bad card. But also a lot of people travel out of town on the holiday, I know near me the lake and CA is very popular. We will see this weekend, this card doesn’t look any better. Also I should be back in vegas next month and will provide an update on 2OO’s promotions.