That didn’t take long at all.
When is a sell-out really a sell-out? In years to come, we will probably look back and marvel at McGregor vs. Nurmagomedov selling out in just three minutes.
That, after all, is the official line from the UFC after tickets for UFC 229 went on sale at 6pm (GMT) to the general public.
The promotions newsletter subscribers got their shot yesterday while UFC Fight Club members had a chance to buy them from Wednesday.
John and Joan Q. Public were ready and waiting at 6pm for the October 6 event, taking place at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena. No sooner had the promotion announced it was Go-time than the ticket lines and website vendors get inundated.
— Kyle (@kylec_4) August 17, 2018
Yes, within three earth minutes some of the hottest tickets in sports this year had vanished.
The main event, between UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor (the division’s former kingpin), is set to be the most successful pay-per-view in the promotion’s history. Both men are commonly acknowledged as the top two in their division and McGregor’s hand-trolley attack on a bus carrying Nurmagomedov, back in April, has added some heat to this dish.
The general sale was always expected to be lively but three minutes is damn impressive.
Three minutes was all it took… 😳 #UFC229 pic.twitter.com/iUdePPDZUa
— UFC on TNT Sports (@ufcontnt) August 17, 2018
If you had your heart set on getting a ticket to the biggest MMA fight of the year, however, all is not lost.
Despite the sell-out claim, MMA reporter Dave Doyle tried his luck and found there were still tickets, albeit pricey, still up for grabs:
https://twitter.com/davedoylemma/status/1030552765171261440
SportsJOE had a try too and found that there were tickets going for $2,500 a pop (just under €2,200). These, as Doyle notes, are on the primary market so the sell-out claims don’t exactly hold water.
When we checked, some four hours after the three-minute sell-out post, some 12 sections of the T-Mobile Arena still had tickets on sale.
Tickets were still selling briskly and, on a number of occasions, we were notified that a seat we were perusing had been purchased but the fact that they were still available suggests the three minute claims could well be the show’s hype train gathering pace.
