The UFC is gearing up to honor the country of Mexico with a special event, yet again, on September 14, with UFC Noche in Las Vegas with the main event-  Sean O’Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili for the bantamweight title. The two fighters surely have a lot to offer in this fight. However, it seems like fans are not convinced with the fight card.

The event also features other fights, such as Mexico’s Alexa Grasso going one-on-one against Valentina Shevchenko for the women’s flyweight title. Despite being good bouts, they aren’t enough to match the “once in a lifetime” hype being created for the event at the Las Vegas sphere. In fact, Gilbert Burns and co. have just revealed that Dana White and the UFC have been forced to slash ticket prices by 83% to help sell out tickets.

It has been reported for quite a while that the UFC had been struggling to sell their tickets for the splendid event. With a mediocre fight card and a ticket price that almost starts at $3000, the UFC surely failed to draw a crowd. Instead, as many opined, fans surely could go and watch the Latino community’s favorite Canelo Alvarez fight Edgar Berlanga for $500. So to match the common demand, they have slashed the pricing by 83%, as Gilbert Burns revealed through his podcast ‘Show Me the Money’s Twitter page.

They tweeted, “This ticket price crash is officially historic😭” with a picture that shows the $3000 ticket now being sold for $513. Now that’s a major cut. And while some fans claimed that there are still tickets selling out for $3000, those are the ones that were much costlier earlier. And the original ticket pricing started at three thousand dollars. “For people saying “there’s still $3,000 tickets”. Those were the cheapest tickets available and nose bleeds. Now $3,000 gets you almost to the floor.”  

The full event match card features matches that wouldn’t interest many. Fights like Daniel Zellhuber vs. Esteban Ribovics and other bouts do not have much to offer when it comes to overall hype. In an earlier interview, White said he expected the event to make $25 to $30 million. As a result, he invested more than $20 million in the event. But with the new ticket prices, it surely looks like the UFC would be making a loss on Mexican Independence Day. But were the ticket prices really that bad?

Industry sources revealed the prices were the highest in UFC history

The tickets that were available on Ticketmaster had prices ranging from $3,007 for section 110, row 30 (with a limited view of the huge indoor screen) to $11,507 for a seat on the floor of row 8. Although there were still tickets of face value left, those eager to make a quick buck put thousands of tickets on sale on TickPick. A secondary market for commission-free tickets.

The floor prices on TickPick had a floor price of $2,280 and an average of $5,728. The most expensive ticket was $55,902 for a seat on the floor of section 5, row 5. The UFC’s debut on the Sphere was also the most expensive UFC event recorded by TickPick. The price of the cheapest ticket available was $2,280. The entrance fee for sections 1–5, located on the floor, was $10,179.

Well, looking at the major fall in prices, one can surely say that the UFC is in panic mode now. So it would be interesting to see if this gamble pays off and brings more people to the show, or if Dana White is up for a major loss. What do you think? Let us know in the comments.