UFC 264 live gate expected to be third highest in promotion's history
UFC 264 looks set to be one of the highest selling live gates in the history of the promotion. It is currently expected to come in around the $15 million mark, which would make it the third highest live gate of all time.
This report comes via MMA journalist Aaron Bronsteter, who revealed that UFC president Dana White stated that only UFC 205 and UFC 229 came in with a higher gate figure than UFC 264 is expected to. Bronsteter's report went as follows:
"The expected gate for #UFC264 will be in the $15 million range per Dana White, which would make it the 3rd largest gate figure in UFC history behind UFC 205 ($17.7 mil.) and UFC 229 (17.2 mil.)"
UFC 264 going into the history books
Considering the UFC has only just begun allowing fans back into stadiums, it is especially impressive that they ar eexpected to to hit such a high live gate figure at UFC 264. It is testimony to the draw power of Conor McGregor that the top three live gate selling events have all featured the Irishman in the main event slot.
At UFC 205 he fought Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight title, knocking out 'The Underground King' in impressive fashion. However, after McGregor was stripped of his belt due to inactivity, he took a short hiatus away from MMA, before returning to face the new lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomdov. That fight was the main event of UFC 229, the second highest selling live gate.
McGregor ultimately came up short against Nurmagomedov, as did 28 other fighters. However, Khabib has now retired and McGregor is now looking to compete for the 155-pound title once again. In a recent interview with The MacLife, White was asked if the winner of UFC 264's main event would be next for a title shot. The UFC president stated that:
"I think so [Winner of Poirier vs McGregor should fight for the title]. I mean it's not set in stone and anything can happen after the fight, who knows but yeah, it makes sense."
So should McGregor come out on top in his rubber match with Poirier, at UFC 264 he will likely be fighting for a UFC title once again.