As well as bringing to the end the undefeated run of the sport’s poster girl, Ronda Rousey, the event set an all-time attendance record and smashed Etihad Stadium’s gate record.
56,214 people attended the event under Etihad Stadium’s roof on November 15 to see 13 bouts, including two title fights. Bringing the event to sporting-mad Melbourne was a master stroke with the UFC breaking its own record for attendance at one of its events. The previous record of 55,724 was set in Toronto at UFC 129.
But the records didn’t stop toppling there. The event also set a new record for the highest gate takings at Etihad Stadium with more than $9.5 million in ticket sales.
It is a tremendous result for UFC, Etihad Stadium and Ticketmaster.
And the 56,214 people certainly got value for money. The highlight of the event was the match-up between UFC’s biggest star, Ronda Rousey, and boxing champion Holly Holm. Both women were undefeated in MMA leading into the contest and Rousey was heavily favoured.
Judoka ‘Rowdy’ Ronda Rousey had a reputation for dominating all challengers and the longest any of her three previous fights lasted, prior to facing Holm, was 34 seconds. But if Holly Holm was scared to take on the bantamweight champion, she wasn’t showing it.
With a background in boxing and kickboxing, Holm is regarded as the best striker in her division. Her credentials were more than proven against Rousey when she knocked the champ to the floor almost one minute into the second round.
UFC 193 at Etihad Stadium was officially announced in August this year. UFC, Etihad Stadium and Ticketmaster worked very closely to get the event onsale and promote it to become a record-breaking event.
Ticketmaster and Etihad Stadium have had a fantastic working relationship since the venue opened in 2000. And globally, UFC and Ticketmaster have enjoyed a strong partnership with the two parties regularly combining to promote and sell events throughout the world.
The partnership created between the three parties was exceptional with UFC and Etihad Stadium taking advantage of many of Ticketmaster’s advanced products and platforms, most notably Platinum tickets.
Given the immense popularity of the event, Ticketmaster Platinum was utilised to give the biggest UFC fans access to a small selection of tickets at dynamic prices. Platinum allows event promoters to price some of the best seats in the house at market-driven prices. As expected, the biggest UFC fans were happy to pay the price to sit in the best seats, close to the octagon.
The recent UFC 193 event is a prime example of what can be achieved when event organisers and venues work closely with Ticketmaster to ensure maximum promotion, exposure and the highest possible ticket sales. Congratulations to UFC and Etihad Stadium on a fantastic event.
