Inside the Octagon, UFC 217 turned out to be one of the most successful nights in company history. There was a major upset as Rose Namajunas stunned Joanna Jedrzejczyk with a first-round TKO to capture the women’s strawweight title, T.J. Dillashaw regained the bantamweight title from Cody Garbrandt, and Georges St-Pierre returned from a four year absence to win the middleweight strap from Michael Bisping. Dana White called it “one of the best cards ever.”
Things weren’t so bad outside the Octagon either.
UFC 217, the company’s second trip to Madison Square Garden had a total attendance of 18,201 for a gate of $6.2 million. Those numbers are below last year’s MSG debut (20,427 attendance for a $17.7 million gate), but are by far the best numbers the company has pulled this year. The $6.2 million gate ranks as the third highest in MSG history and 10th highest in UFC history.
The new champions had even more reason to celebrate once they got to the back. St-Pierre, Namajunas, and Dillashaw all took home an extra $50,000 for as part of the Performance of the Night bonus. Garbrandt was also given $50,000 for his efforts against Dillashaw.
With so many great finishes, the UFC went the extra mile for the fighters. Ovince Saint Preux and Ricardo Ramos were each given $25,000. Saint Preux finished Corey Anderson with a highlight reel head kick while Ramos connected with not one, but two spinning back elbows to end the night of Aiemann Zahabi.
Here are the full details:
*Attendance: 18,201
*Gate: $6.2 million
* Performance Bonus ($25,000): Ricardo Ramos
* Performance Bonus ($25,000): Ovince Saint Preux
* Performance Bonus ($50,000): Rose Namajunas
* Performance Bonus ($50,000): T.J. Dillashaw
Performance Bonus ($50,000): Georges St-Pierre
Things could get better for the company in the coming weeks as White stated that pay-per-view buys are trending over a million.
If you missed any of the action at UFC 217, click here for full coverage.
