Dana White: UFC 205 Has Already Broken MSG Gate Record
This is big money, really big money…
UFC 205 is set to pop off on November 12 from the Madison Square Garden in New York City. Following a near-20 year battle to get MMA legalized in NYC, the promotion will sink its teeth in to the Big Apple with a stellar card. Leading the UFC in to New York will be a lightweight title tilt between champion Eddie Alvarez and 145-pound boss Conor McGregor. ‘The Notorious’ got an immediate shot at lightweight gold, stirring up outrage among the top contenders of the division. Potentially retiring or taking an extended period off after UFC 205, McGregor once again has the MMA world captivated.
Aside from the record-breaking first show in NYC, and the fact McGregor could become the first champion with two belts at once, there are tons of great fights throughout the UFC 205 card. Putting the strawweight title on the line is striking queen Joanna Jedrzejczyk, as she battles fellow Polish national Karolina Kowalkiewicz. Tyron Woodley will defend his welterweight strap against arguably the best striker in the division, Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson.
Welcome To New York City
The event also features Chris Weidman vs. Yoel Romero, Frankie Edgar vs. Jeremy Stephens, Nurmagomedov vs. Michael Johnson, Gastelum vs. Cerrone and plenty more. Aiming to break the current gate record set by Evander Holyfield vs. Lennox Lewis in 1999 is no easy task, but UFC president Dana White says the card on November 12 has already surpassed that .5 million milestone.
Speaking during Friday night’s FOX Sports pregame show for game three of the world series, White confirmed UFC 205 has already broken the MSG gate record. Previous t this event, the all-time UFC gate record was set at UFC 129 in Toronto, with some 56K in attendance for a $13.5 million USD gate.
.@ufc President @danawhite joined the Game 3 pregame show to discuss #UFC205, #CLEvsCHC & of course @PeteRose_14. https://t.co/otCsHJWIqx
— FS1 (@FS1) October 29, 2016
“I wanted to make sure when (the UFC) went to New York we delivered. It’s the biggest baddest card we’ve ever done in the history of the company.”
UFC 205 Fight Card
MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)
- Lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez vs. featherweight champ Conor McGregor – for lightweight title
- Champ Tyron Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson – for welterweight title
- Champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz – for strawweight title
- Yoel Romero vs. Chris Weidman
- Donald Cerrone vs. Kelvin Gastelum
- Raquel Pennington vs. Miesha Tate
PRELIMINARY CARD (FS1, 8 p.m. ET)
- Frankie Edgar vs. Jeremy Stephens
- Michael Johnson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov
- Rashad Evans vs. Tim Kennedy
- Vicente Luque vs. Belal Muhammad
PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 6:30 p.m. ET)
- Thiago Alves vs. Jim Miller
- Tim Boetsch vs. Rafael Natal
- Liz Carmouche vs. Katlyn Chookagian
