Las Vegas, NV – June 29: Brazil’s Alex Pereira reacts ahead of his UFC light heavyweight bout. [+] Championship fight at the UFC 303 event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 29, 2024. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
UFC had hoped to break the live attendance record by more than $20 million with the main event of UFC 303, featuring Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler, but ticket sales took a hit when the fight was canceled after McGregor broke his toe during training camp. Despite the loss to McGregor vs. Chandler, UFC 303, which featured a last-minute matchup between UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira and former champion Jiri Prochazka, ranked in the promotion’s top five live attendance events.
“We’re well over $20 million already” for UFC 303, UFC CEO Dana White said in May at the post-fight press conference at UFC St. Louis.
After the dust settled, UFC 303’s live attendance was reported to be $15.9 million and attendance was 18,881, making UFC 303 the fourth-highest attendance event in UFC history.
The event ranks behind UFC 205 ($17.7 million), UFC 229 ($17,188,895) and UFC 300 ($16,508,823) in gross grosses, but ahead of UFC 264 ($15,759,800).
Conor McGregor’s bouts took place in the main events of UFC 205 (vs. Eddie Alvarez), UFC 229 (vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov) and UFC 264 (vs. Dustin Poirier 3), while Pereira fought in the main event of UFC 300 (vs. Jamahal Hill).
With the McGregor vs. Chandler fight off the UFC 303 card, UFC had to offer ticket refunds to fans in accordance with Nevada Athletic Commission regulations. It is unclear how many fans received refunds, but attendance for last night’s event was lower than UFC 229 (20,034), UFC 300 (20,067) and UFC 264 (20,062), which were all held at T-Mobile Arena. UFC 285 brought in $12,154,753.10 in live ticket sales and also drew a larger T-Mobile Arena crowd of 19,471, beating UFC 303. The event is the seventh-highest-attended in UFC history.
UFC 303 had three bouts hastily added to the top card. The main event, Pereira vs. Prochazka, was scheduled for June 13. The co-main event was supposed to be a featherweight bout between Brian Ortega and Diego Lopez, but it was canceled when Ortega withdrew from the bout due to injury on the day of the bout. Instead, Lopez faced Dan Igo in a 165-pound catchweight bout on the day of the bout. A light heavyweight bout between Anthony Smith and Roman Dolidze was also hastily added.
2024 has been a great year for UFC in terms of live attendance: In May, the promotion set a fight night record with a live attendance of $2.47 million for a card in St. Louis headlined by Derrick Lewis and Rodrigo Nascimento.
The record followed January’s UFC 297, held at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena. White said of the event, “First of all, I want to thank Toronto. First of all, the gates were $7.6 million. We sold out 18,100 tickets. It was the highest box office in the history of the arena and the highest attendance in the history of a Canadian arena. Thank you, Canada.”
In February, White announced that UFC 298, which took place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, was “the highest grossing live event in the arena’s history and the highest grossing MMA event in California history.”
“I never thought I’d say this,” White said in March about UFC 299, which took place at the Caseya Center in Miami, Florida. “We’re in Miami. The gates were $14.14 million. It was a sold-out event, with 19,165 people in attendance. (UFC 299) was the highest grossing event in the arena’s history, breaking our own record and becoming the fourth highest grossing UFC event of all time.”
UFC 299 dropped to fifth place after UFC 300 in April, and to sixth after UFC 303.
