Jon Jones Forced Desperate Dana White’s Final Hope to Save $12,432,563 UFC Event With Islam Makhachev vs. Charles Oliveira 2

Last year was a chaotic time for ͏Dana White ͏and͏ the UFC. ͏Two of the mo͏st high-profile UFC events were disrupted due to back-to-back injuries.͏ The UFC 294 and U͏FC 295 cards underwent major changes because th͏e main event fig͏hter͏s sus͏tained sign͏ificant injuri͏es, which surely rai͏sed Dana Whit͏e’͏s stress levels. At UFC 295, the main e͏vent was derailed w͏hen͏ Jo͏n Jones injured himself and͏ ͏had to withdraw fr͏om the͏ fight card. This forced Dana White to bring in Tom Aspinall and Sergei͏ Pavlov͏ich as repla͏cements. But wait, was there m͏or͏e to it?

The promotion wanted to make UFC 295 a major victory for them since it was their annual visit to the Madison Square Garden in New York, a tradition since the state legalized MMA in 2016. Dana White carefully assembled the card to make it big but the biggest fight fell through just days before the event. Hunter Campbell saved the card from being an absolute disaster, but recent revelations suggest that UFC 295 could have been better had the initial plan to include Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira come to fruition!

Dana White and Hunter Campbell tried to clinch Islam Makhachev vs. Charles Oliveira 2 for UFC 295

UFC 295 was the UFC’s return to the prestigious MSG Arena after UFC 281. Dana White wanted UFC 295 to break the records set by UFC 205, the first UFC event at MSG, headlined by Conor McGregor‘s fight against Eddie Alvarez. The event was so huge that it gathered a massive $17.7 million as gate revenue for the promotion. Looking at such revenue, White decided to host the UFC 295 at the same venue with the hope that they could breach the massive number but the cancellation of the fights stopped the promotion from getting such a number.

Ultimately, UFC 295 made $12.4M, which is massive in itself but failed to accomplish the goal. Months after the event, it has now been revealed that the promotion had a massive nuke that could have quadrupled the numbers. The MMA community witnessed a video between Dana White and Hunter Campbell, where the duo were having a conversation about how to save UFC 295. Amidst the conversation, Campbell asserted that he is planning to clinch Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev as their trump card fight after Jon Jones’s injury.

“The other thing we can do is try and see if Islam and Oliveira can fight. Islam took a single punch, and Oliveira is still in shape, and his cut would be ready by then too. I think I can pull that off,” said Campbell. White liked the video of Islam Makhachev vs. Charles Oliveira 2 clash considering the fact that their intended bout fell off at UFC 294 due to a cut above Oliveira’s eye in training and Alexander Volkanovski had to step in to fight the lightweight champ.

Regardless, Huntel Campbell wasted no time and called the Brazilian to offer him the fight but to his disappointment, Oliveira’s coach Diego Lima emphasized that ‘Do Bronx’ would not be ready for the fight on such short notice. Their clash could have made UFC 295 the highest-grossing MSG event but seems like fate had some other plans. However, the PPV was not as bad as expected.

UFC 295 is the second-highest-grossing MSG event

UFC 295 kicked off on November 11 with an attendance of 19,039 and a gate of $12,432,563. It became the second-highest grosser for the UFC in the arena after Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez fight back in 2016, which had a gate of $17,740,543 with an attendance of 20,427 people. Dana White set a big goal: surpassing UFC 205 numbers, but he fell short by $5.3 million.

The third-highest-grossing event in Madison Square Garden history is UFC 281, which took place on November 12, 2022, generating $11,562,807 in revenue with an attendance of 20,845.

The cancellation of the heavyweight clash broke the UFC Supremo as he was confused by what to do but Hunter Cambell jumped to the rescue. Tom Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich fought for the interim heavyweight belt and the Britisher clinched one of the fastest victories in the promotion as he knocked out the Russian in the very first round just after the one minute mark. What are your thoughts on UFC 295? State your opinion in the comments below.