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Rousey Looks to Make History at UFC 193

August 31, 2015 | Posted by Dan Plunkett

An injury has put Ronda Rousey in a position to make even more history.

A surefire action fight between Robbie Lawler and Carlos Condit was slated to headline UFC 193 in Melbourne, Austrailia’s Etihad Stadium on November 15 (which would air live on pay-per-view late on November 14 U.S. time), until Lawler came down with a thumb injury. Friday night, UFC President Dana White phoned ESPN’s SportsCenter program to relay the news that Rousey will now headline the stadium show against Holly Holm.

“[Rousey] will break the all-time attendance record for the sport of mixed martial arts,” White claimed. He continued, “she’s obviously a huge superstar for us and Australia’s an important market for us so we’re going to bring her out there.”

Rousey, already the most famous fighter on UFC’s roster, has exploded into the company’s top draw this year. Her February match with Cat Zingano, initially tabbed as the semi-main event, outperformed expectations by reportedly passing 600,000 pay-per-view buys. The video of her 14-second win – short enough to fit in an Instagram video or a reasonably sized GIF – went viral in a way that none of her fights had gone before. By the time her August 1 match with Bethe Correia rolled around, Rousey was obviously a bigger star than she had ever been, but the match was in Brazil, and overseas fights generally generate less interest and in turn fewer pay-per-view buys than domestic shows. But Rousey proved to be a draw without borders, drawing an estimated 900,000 buys (without figuring in internet sales) against an overmatched opponent.

Etihad Stadium will be a testing ground for her global drawing power. Compared to the biggest stadium cards in MMA history, UFC 193 is relatively weak outside of Rousey. Mark Hunt vs. Antonio Silva is the featured co-main event, a retread of their legendary 2013 meeting on Australian soil. Their first match sold out in Brisbane with 11,393 fans, although Hunt’s most recent bout on Australian soil – a wide loss to Stipe Miocic in May – couldn’t quite fill the arena in Adelaide. The other major name on the card is Michael Bisping, whose lone Australian headliner, in Sydney, attracted 9,904 fans in an arena that had previously housed 18,000 for the UFC.

In addition to Rousey, UFC is largely banking on the novelty of the first UFC event in Melbourne to fill Etihad. Hunt will help, and Bisping means something, but neither are moving the bulk of 70,000 tickets.

Since the show was first announced with the original main event, 70,000 has been the magic number. Dana White touted it in the initial press release; Etihad Stadium CEO Paul Sergeant threw the number around in interviews. Etihad Stadium generally holds 56,000 people. Floor seats can add a considerable amount to that, but UFC’s production usually eliminates some seating due to the big screens. For UFC’s last (and only) stadium show of this caliber, they crammed nearly 56,000 fans into Toronto’s Rogers Centre, which has a football capacity of about 54,000. Without the added production elements, which included seating risers to enhance viewpoints, they likely could have surpassed 60,000 in attendance.

It is unclear how UFC and Etihad officials will configure the stadium to fit 70,000, but even that amount of seats may not be enough to break the all-time MMA attendance record. Shockwave 2002, a late-summer outdoor stadium offering from Pride and K-1, currently holds the record with about 71,000 fans. One look at that card, and those of the other major stadium shows in MMA history, is a peak into what it takes to fill a big stadium. Partially due to its focus on major shows in December, UFC is handicapping itself when it comes to filling Etihad. Only the top three fights feature big stars, and there isn’t even a match between two big stars. An Etihad sellout, even at less than 70,000 tickets, would be a testament to Melbourne’s thirst for the UFC, the UFC brand, and the superstar on top of the card. If it can slip past the 52,300 mark, it could be one of the very biggest shows in MMA history. Even with the stated record-breaking goal, that would be nothing to scoff at.

The Biggest Stadium Shows in MMA History
5. Pride 23: Championship Chaos 2
Date: November 24, 2002
Venue: Tokyo Dome
City: Tokyo, Japan
Attendance: 52,228
Main Event: Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Gilles Arsene

This is certainly the oddest show on the list, particularly from a non-Japanese view. The main event was completely unmemorable, and the most heavily promoted match in Japan didn’t even make the American pay-per-view broadcast. Pride 23 was largely built on three matches.

In the main event, Kazushi Sakuraba, Pride’s biggest drawing card, took on an unknown who would never fight again. Sakuraba, four months removed from a broken orbital bone and fighting through a knee injury, looked unremarkable.

The most promoted match was the retirement fight of Nobuhiko Takada, the star that kept Pride afloat in its early years, versus Kiyoshi Tamura. The match drew on nostalgia, as Takada was the top star of the UWFI, a shoot-style pro wrestling promotion that had a short run with high peaks, and Tamura was his heir apparent before the company shut down. Takada, who never won a legitimate contest, was knocked out in the second round.

The match that drew the most eyeballs was Hidehiko Yoshida’s MMA rules debut against Don Frye. Yoshida, a 1992 Olympic Gold Medalist in judo, was a burgeoning superstar. Frye was one of the biggest foreign stars in Japan. After leaving the UFC, he became a major pro wrestling star in Japan, wrestling Antonio Inoki in the legend’s retirement match. Yoshida surprisingly pulled off the upset with an armbar.

The show packed the Tokyo Dome with 52,228 fans, although there was a good deal of papering to reach that point. It was a big success on pay-per-view in Japan with about 80,000 buys.

4. Pride Final Conflict 2003
Date: November 9, 2003
Venue: Tokyo Dome
City: Tokyo, Japan
Attendance: 53,000
Main Event: Middleweight Grand Prix

The announced attendance of 67,450 would be good enough for second on this list, but that number, like many attendance figures Pride announced, was greatly inflated. About 53,000 fans sold out the Tokyo Dome (with very few reports of papering) for one of the most legendary events in MMA history. The show featured the final four of the 2003 Middleweight Grand Prix, including the semi-final match between Hidehiko Yoshida and Wanderlei Silva, which was the show’s biggest drawing card. Yoshida, still unbeaten in MMA, aimed to topple the man that had beaten Kazushi Sakuraba three times. Most insiders pegged Yoshida as a lamb out for slaughter, but provided Silva with the toughest challenge he’d had in years.

The other side of the bracket featured UFC star Chuck Liddell, a virtual unknown in Japan, against Quinton Jackson, the pre-tournament betting favorite. Pride had been building toward a Silva vs. Jackson match for more than a year, so the potential of that match was a big selling point.

The show also featured an interim heavyweight title match between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, the former champion, and Mirko Cro Cop, one of the biggest foreign stars in the company. In a clash for the ages, Nogueira absorbed tremendous punishment before dragging Cro Cop to the ground and submitting him with an armbar.

Kazushi Sakuraba, coming off two knockout losses, was also featured, rebounding with a submission win over Kevin Randleman.

3. Pride 17: Championship Chaos
Date: November 3, 2001
Venue: Tokyo Dome
City: Tokyo, Japan
Attendance: 53,246
Main Event: Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Wanderlei Silva

Kazushi Sakuraba first emerged as Pride’s biggest star after beating Royler Gracie in November 1999, and his performance in the 2000 Grand Prix cemented his superstar status. Then he ran into a Muay Thai tornado named Wanderlei Silva in March 2001. Their next meeting, for the inaugural Pride middleweight title, could have sold out the Tokyo Dome as the only fight on the card.

Sakuraba was competitive, but a dislocated shoulder ended his night after the first round.

When it occurred, Pride 17 was the biggest show in MMA history. It recorded a record $5.5 million gate and set a new Japanese pay-per-view record at roughly 80,000 buys.

The other big match was a K-1 vs. Pride modified rules match – Mirko Cro Cop vs. Nobuhiko Takada. The dull contest went to a draw.

2. UFC 129: St-Pierre vs. Shields
Date: April 30, 2011
Venue: Rogers Centre
City: Toronto, Canada
Attendance: 55,724
Main Event: Georges St-Pierre vs. Jake Shields

UFC was strong in Canada from the moment it crossed the border in 2008, but UFC 129 in Toronto still blew away the company’s expectations. The initial allotment of 42,000 tickets sold out before the public on-sale date. UFC then quickly reconfigured the stadium set up in order to sell more tickets. Those too sold out immediately. In the end, 55,724 fans paid $12,075,000 – a new record – to get into the historic show.

The show was built around a triple main event. Canadian superstar Georges St-Pierre defended his welterweight title against Jake Shields in the top-billed fight. The second biggest match was a meeting between Randy Couture and Lyoto Machida, which was later revealed as Couture’s last hurrah. A second title match, Jose Aldo vs. Mark Hominick, was the third big fight.

Although St-Pierre vs. Shields turned out to be a disappointment, Aldo and Hominick stole the show, while Machida scored a knockout that is replayed in highlights to this day.

An estimated 800,000 homes paid to see the spectacle on pay-per-view, one of the stronger numbers in UFC history.

1. Pride/K-1 Shockwave
Date: August 28, 2002
Venue: Tokyo National Stadium
City: Tokyo, Japan
Attendance: 71,000
Main Event: Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Mirko Cro Cop

Leading into the show, Pride and K-1 officials boasted that their combined supershow would sellout a stadium with 90,000 fans, so of course they were going to announce an inflated number of 91,107 for the show. In reality, about 71,000 fans attended, with about 24,000 of them getting through the turnstile without charge. Much of the card was put together at the last minute, but the top two matches were in place well in advance.

The main event saw a severely outsized Kazushi Sakuraba battle Mirko Cro Cop in a Pride vs. K-1 contest, but the biggest match on the show wasn’t contested under MMA rules. Hidehiko Yoshida debuted against Royce Gracie in a bout that commemorated the 50th anniversary of Helio Gracie’s match with Masahiko Kimura. Only body blows were permitted standing, and no strikes were allowed on the ground. The match ended in controversy when the Yoshida held a Gi choke and told the referee that Gracie was out. The referee stopped the fight, but Gracie immediately protested. Officially, the Yoshida’s win became a no contest, but the Japanese press touted his victory the next morning, ensuring his place as Pride’s next superstar.

The show also featured a key match between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Bob Sapp. Already receiving a big push, Sapp’s performance in this match and a kickboxing bout two months later against Ernesto Hoost capitulated him to mainstream superstar status.

In a kickboxing bout, K-1 star Jerome Le Banner flattened Don Frye, who was riding the painful momentum of legendary matches with Ken Shamrock and Yoshihiro Takayama over the previous six months. In another key kickboxing match, Pride’s Semmy Schilt surprised “Mr. Perfect” Ernesto Hoost by taking him to his limit in a match that was ruled a draw.

Wanderlei Silva was a late addition to the card, smashing Takuya Iwasaki in the opening match.

The show’s $7.4 million gate record stood for almost nine years. It set a new high mark for Japanese pay-per-view with about 125,000 buys (which was later broken by Final Conflict 2003). The television airing, in a Sunday afternoon slot three days after the show, scored a strong 10.6 rating. That broadcast peaked at a 14.5 rating for the Yoshida vs. Gracie match.

All attendance, gate, and pay-per-view figures were reported by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.


Dan Plunkett has covered MMA for 411Mania since 2008. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @Dan_Plunkett.

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Ronda Rousey, UFC 193, Dan Plunkett