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Dana White says UFC 205 broke every record in company history
Dana White promised when the UFC finally arrived in New York it would be a huge card and a monumental occasion for the sport.
Both of those predictions came to fruition after UFC 205 delivered in every way, shape and form on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.
Conor McGregor headlined the card against Eddie Alvarez as he became the first ever simultaneous two division champion in UFC history taking home the lightweight title to add to the featherweight title he already possessed.
According to the UFC president, the massive show from New York City shattered every record the promotion has ever had over the past 23 years.
"Sitting here tonight, we broke every record in UFC history tonight. Every record," White said at the post fight press conference. "The only one I'm waiting on now is the FOX number, how did FOX Sports 1 do and it would be really, really weird and make no sense if we didn't break that record, too."
Madison Square Garden packed in 20,427 fans with a gate of $17.7 million. The gate number is by far the largest in UFC history while also breaking a Madison Square Garden record as well, which was previously held by a boxing match between Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis with $13.5 million in 1999.
"We broke the Madison Square Garden record, which I don't think will ever be broken again," White said. "Jesus is going to have to fight the Devil to break that record. I just don’t see what does it."
According to White, UFC 205 will also be the biggest show in the history of the promotion when it comes to pay-per-view numbers.
As a private company, the UFC doesn’t release pay-per-view numbers but insiders have stated that the largest card prior to the show on Saturday night was UFC 202, which featured McGregor in a rematch against Nate Diaz from this past August.
That card reportedly sold 1.65 million pay-per-view buys, but White says UFC 205 has already broken that number.
"Very good. We did. We broke the record," White confirmed.
UFC 205 was also No. 1 on social media on Saturday night according to the Nielsen ratings system with over 2.9 million interactions and more than 1.5 million unique messages about the fight from New York.
Considering the success the UFC had with the first card in Madison Square Garden, the promotion is likely to turn the arena into a destination spot for future shows as well. The organization is already set to return to New York in February with UFC 209 taking place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
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