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UFC 129 Shocker: The Comments of Dana White

By Sean Farrell

UFC 129 is already set to destroy any North American box office and attendance records for MMA when the event takes place on April 30, 2011 at Rogers Centre in Toronto.

But that’s not the big news, the big news is the event is also expected to leave a significant mark on the local economy. UFC President Dana White said today that UFC 129 could generate $40 million in economic activity for Toronto and bring $1.5 million in revenue to the city from ticket taxes alone, that is an estimate but impressive numbers none the less. This is set to go on top of the $11 million in receipts already tallied from UFC 129’s ticket sales. The UFC had to make available an additional 13,000 seats after 42,000 were snatched up this past Thursday during an event ticket pre-sale. The tickets were sold out in a mere span of minutes when placed on sale.

The demand for this event even perplexed White who had seen the promotion do big business in all five of its trips to Canada but nothing to this magnatude. Dana White spoke on the event saying “The question was how many people are really looking for tickets? Is it 25,000? Maybe it’s 29? 30? When we put 42,000 on sale, I’ll admit that I was a little nervous about it because I didn’t know, and I’m absolutely blown away by the response.”

The fastest growing sport in the world is clearly starting to assert its dominance, as the event which is headlined by current UFC welterweight champion and fan favorite Canada’s own Georges “Rush” St-Pierre as he faces off with Jake Shields.

Dana White went on to add that UFC 129 also broke a box office record previously held by the NFL in the Rogers Centre. The arena previously has been host to a slew of events with up to 69,000 spectators. However, given what the UFC’s event-night layout is with massive video screens, and UFC President Dana White’s commitment to maintain as much of the “intimate atmosphere” of a live UFC-show experience, arena officials initially expected 50,000 to be the maximum capacity for UFC 129 not a seat more.

Montreal, Canada held UFC 124 which currently holds the organization’s attendance record with 23,152 spectators. UFC 66 in 2006 set the UFC and North American all-time gate records with $5.4 million both of these records will fall and fall hard at UFC 129, Leaving the fastest growing sport in the world a new bar to set its standards upon.

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