Atlanta has now hosted the second highest-grossing Fight Night event in UFC history, signaling a strong appetite here for more events from the martial arts promotion company.
More than 17,000 attendees flocked to State Farm Arena for the UFC event last Saturday, which featured six fights on the main card and was headlined by former champion Kamaru Usman and Joaquin Buckley. It was UFC’s fifth visit to Atlanta since first entering in 2009, as well as its first after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The sold-out event generated $3.2 million at the gate, according to TKO Holdings, UFC’s parent company. It came in right behind Seattle, which set the record for the highest-grossing Fight Night event earlier this year with $3.8 million. For context, the company has held more than 400 Fight Night events since 2005.
Trey Feazell, the executive vice president of arena programming for State Farm Arena, said UFC is strategic when it comes to how often it comes to a specific city. State Farm Arena is in conversations with them every year to see if it makes sense for them to return.
“The last time they came was in 2019, so we were definitely ready,” Feazell. “The market was ready, and (that was) obviously proved by the sellout.”
Credit: Zuffa LLC
Credit: Zuffa LLC
Fight Night is different from other major sporting events in Atlanta. One-on-one contact fighting has a very different dynamic from ball-based sports, and a single ticket gives attendees entry to more than a handful of different bouts. Plus, it’s rare for the event to revisit a city more than once every few years, so there’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it mentality.
Fight Night is a touring spectacle with no “home team” to root for, which could draw in spectators from around the Southeast region. And unlike Monday’s 3 p.m. FIFA Club World Cup tournament game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which also didn’t feature local teams, the event unfolded in a desirable time slot for many attendees: Saturday night.
State Farm Arena spent about six months preparing for Fight Night. It’s quite the time-consuming event, with six fights on the main card and seven preliminary bouts. The doors opened at 6 p.m. and the final fight concluded around 1:30 a.m. By the third or fourth fight, about 75% of the ticket holders were in the house, Feazell said.
This isn’t the first time TKO has hosted an event in Atlanta this year. In January, WWE, the American wrestling promotion company TKO also oversees, brought its flagship “Monday Night Raw” event to State Farm Arena. That event also sold out.
It also will not be the last. In July, WWE is hosting another set of events in the city, including “Saturday Night’s Main Event” and women’s live event “Evolution” at State Farm Arena.
“We’re expecting both those events to be another major weekend for combat sports,” Feazell said.
At the Atlanta event, the fighters themselves brought in a range of salaries. Usman, who won his bout with Buckley, received $300,000 with no bonus for his win, according to numbers confirmed by the Georgia Athletic and Entertainment Commission. Buckley received $150,000.
But Usman wasn’t the highest-earning in the night’s disclosed purses. Flyweight Rose Namajunas, who was matched against Miranda Maverick, made $250,000 with another $250,000 for her win.
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