Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is primed and ready to stage UFC 297 this Saturday night (Jan. 20, 2024) inside Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, marking the promotion’s first event of the year.
Initially, a lot of fans (and fighters themselves) were left unsatisfied with the lineup because it didn’t exactly scream blockbuster despite having two title fights, as Sean Strickland defends his Middleweight belt against Dricus du Plessis, while Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva fight for the vacant women’s Bantamweight title.
While it remains to be seen just how many people will fork over the coin to watch it on pay-per-view (PPV), Canadian fans were eager to watch a live UFC event in person for the first time in a long time. And they came out in droves to buy tickets.
According to UFC CEO, Dana White, the ESPN+-streamed PPV event is already a sell out, and has broken the record for highest announced gate at the arena previously held by UFC 140, which featured Jon Jones defending his Light Heavyweight belt against Lyoto Machida.
Would be the highest announced gate for a UFC event at the arena. Previous high was UFC 140, $3.9M (when it was called Air Canada Centre).
Highest announced attendance for a UFC event at the arena was UFC 231: 19,039.#UFC297 https://t.co/0arBMT2HMc
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) January 18, 2024
UFC 140 also featured a co-main event that saw Frank Mir snap Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira’s arm, while Tito Ortiz and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira battled it out in main card action. Of course, ticket prices have been inflated over the past decade (just look at this), so it’s not exactly a fair comparison.
Strickland and du Plessis have done their part to hype up and sell the fight/event, and their brawl at UFC 296 definitely helped the cause. This, despite the fact that the two men have been nothing but cordial toward with one another during fight week.
Stab threats aside, of course.
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 297 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. ET (simulcast on ESPNEWS at 8 p.m. ET), before the pay-per-view (PPV) main card start time at 10 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+).
To check out the latest and greatest UFC 297: “Strickland vs. Du Plessis” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
