The numbers would surely dwarf that of a highly successful, and lucrative, UFC 193.
UFC 193 will forever be known as the night Holly Holm dethroned Ronda Rousey to claim the women’s bantamweight belt.
The event took place at the Etihad Stadium, in Melbourne, and had a crowd of 56,214 in attendance. About 14 of those would have called Holm’s win and half of them were in her coaching team.
The gate returns were $6.8 million [€6.1m] while a reported 1.1 million pay-per-views were sold.
However, the true benefit of the UFC coming to town has been revealed in an economic impact study carried out on behalf of the city. The study revealed UFC 193 generated $102 million [€91m], supported 894 jobs and contributed $40.8 million [€36.5m] in salaries in wages.
This suggests that Conor McGregor’s homecoming fight at Croke Park, which ‘The Notorious’ has stated is high on his list of goals, would be a huge success.
The appetite for MMA is at an all-time high in Ireland and any Croke Park event headlined by McGregor would be expected to sell-out the 82,000-capacity stadium.
White says UFC Dublin on 10/24 sold out in 60 seconds.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) September 4, 2015
Speaking about fighting in Ireland again, earlier this year, McGregor said:
“I’d fight in the 3 Arena or wherever. I haven’t outgrown my home-f*cking-town. I’m still f*cking here. I still show up here every day and do the same thing. I’m still me. Vegas the next one [UFC 200, which he was pulled from] then East Coast [America] or Dublin for the next one…
“One or two more in Vegas then East Coast and then it’s Dublin all the way.”
A Dublin sell-out at Croke Park could be one of the biggest events in Ireland’s sporting history.
