UFC Edmonton has truly been a special event for Dana White and Co. The Ultimate Fight Championship event that was at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, has generated revenues of up to $2.6 million just through ticket sales, as confirmed by reliable sources. In fact, even Dana White has come up with a video where he announced that this event became their greatest-ever Fight Night success in North America.

UFC Edmonton comprised thirteen fights, with the confrontation between Brandon Moderno and Amir Albazi as the focus of interest. This was the second time that the Dana White-led promotion came to Edmonton, Canada, since 2019, and this time the fans managed to fill more than 16,000 seats, as revealed in a tweet by Jed I. Goodman.

The sports journalist revealed in a tweet that the UFC announced a gate of $2.6 million with an official attendance of 16,439. This shatters the announced gates of previous arenas in North America, such as the ones in Denver, Louisville, and St. Louis. UFC Denver had an announced gate of $2,374,303, while UFC Louisville and UFC St. Louis had announced gates of $2,500,652 and $2,470,197, respectively.

As a result, Dana White took to his Instagram to announce the record-shattering gate. He said, “I’m in Edmonton, Canada, right now. So tomorrow night’s fight night breaks the record for North American gate for a Fight Night.” After the Edmonton event, David Shaw confirmed that UFC Apex will be closed in the coming month, something that has been speculated about since the early part of 2024. This would surely allow the UFC to go on the road more often and possibly shatter more records.

With this, Dana White surely must be on cloud nine. However, it is worth noting that despite it being the biggest gate for the UFC in North America, other UFC Fight Nights that took place outside of it surely racked up more numbers. Like UFC Paris, it had an announced gate of a whopping $4 million with an announced attendance of 15,449. This is possibly why the UFC is now trying to crack the European market for their future sporting events. Maybe that’s why they are now aiming to bring the sport of MMA to Spain.

Dana White targets the European market

At UFC 308, Ilia Topuria cemented himself as one of the best fighters on the planet by becoming the first fighter to knock out Max Holloway outside of the championship rounds in their main event in Abu Dhabi. With the impression that ‘El Matador’ will be a champion for the long haul and the European market providing massive gates for the promotion, White feels that he must speed up the process of bringing the UFC to Spain, even if he has no other choice than to offer an event in a stadium.

During an interview, the UFC head honcho said, “We’re still trying to figure out Spain with the arena situation. But when you look at the performance that Topuria had tonight, we need to get to Spain and figure it out quickly.” He further added, “We have to get it done. We have to figure this out. I hate going to soccer stadiums. I like arenas better, but if that’s what we gotta do, then that’s what we gotta do. But yes, we need to get to Spain.”

An event in a stadium is something that aligns with the plans of Topuria himself, who is eager to defend his featherweight belt at the Santiago Bernabéu. However, it would be upon Dana White and the Spanish officials to decide whether this dream of Topuria comes to fruition or not. But what do you think? Will we get to see UFC events in more European nations soon? Let us know in the comments.