Canadian fans went into the Ultimate Fighting Championship record books last April, selling out 55,000 seats in the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada shortly after tickets went on sale earlier this year.
Now, less than eight months later, the UFC is set to return to the same city with UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida.
Many would have thought the event an immediate sellout, but according to the TorontoSun.com, not so.
With just days left before the big show, tickets are still available despite a lineup that includes UFC champ Jon Jones, Lyoto Machida, Frank Mir, the Nogueira brothers (Big & Little Nog), Tito Ortiz, and a whole penalty box of Canadian fighters.
UFC director of Canadian operations tells the Toronto Sun that it was to be expected, saying the promotion would be hard pressed to match the success of their first Ontario event.
“It’s going to be a great night,” promised Tom Wright, the UFC’s director of Canadian operations.
By the time the government lifted its ban, people were itching to buy tickets and 55,000 or so were sold in minutes.
The fact it was the UFC’s first ever stadium show, it had a fan expo and two main events, made UFC 129 a “global event.”
“All of those things came together to form the perfect storm,” Wright said.
Fans from across Canada and every continent except Antarctica bought tickets to the first show and only about 35 per cent were from the Toronto area.
“That works out to about 15,000 people and I’m sure we’ll have more than that at UFC 140,” Wright said. “This is a great card, the ACC is a world-class venue and it’s going to be a fantastic week.”
I know that it would have been a short trip for myself to make it to my second Toronto event, but this close to the holidays many are probably like myself, and have other priorities for their hard earned cash.