The roaring crowds and superb environment witnessed at the UFC 284 venue in Perth were truly any fighter’s dream. Still, the event at the UFC’s former no.1 pound-for-pound fighter, Alexander Volkanovski’s home country, couldn’t fulfill the UFC boss, Dana White’s expectations. The ‘Power Slap League founder’ had previously debunked the UFC Lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev’s “lack of promotion” claims regarding the UFC 284.

In his interview with the coveted American sports radio host, Jim Rome, he also expressed his confidence about UFC 284 breaking the records of the previous UFC events held in Australia. But the UFC supremo’s wishes sadly fell flat. Even UFC 193 in 2015 earned more than UFC 284.

The record-breaking UFC 193

The UFC 193 came at the time of Ronda Rousey’s meteoric rise in the promotion. ‘Rowdy’ had steamrolled past her 6 opponents prior to her UFC 193 bout, which got her into the main event of one of the biggest pay-per-views of the promotion. The UFC also left no gaps in promoting this one, with White going for multiple interviews and talking about the event.

The build-up to the UFC 193 also consisted of a few chaotic stare-downs which got even more eyes attracted to it. The main eventers, Rousey and Holm, appeared ready to throw punches during the stare-down itself.

The main card also consisted of a few other superb matchups featuring the noted UFC Middleweight, Robert Whittaker taking on Uriah Hall. A Heavyweight matchup between the coveted, Mark Hunt and Antonio Silva, was also set to feature.

A lot would agree on the point that UFC 193 has its place cemented in the history of the promotion. The Rousey-Holms headliner in Melbourne was also the most attended UFC event at the time, amassing a record 56,214 spectators.

As far as the pay-per-view sales and revenues go, ‘MMAFighting’ reported that the noted event had sold around 1 – 1.1 million pay-per-views for the company. It also reportedly accumulated a ticket revenue of about $6.8M. The coveted event also earned a total revenue of $60M and still holds the no. 9 spot on the most-selling PPVs list of the promotion.

The UFC 284 pay-per-view sales

The announcement for the UFC 284 was partially made when the UFC Lightweight Champion and now the UFC no. 1 pound-for-pound fighter, Islam Makhachev, claimed the Lightweight throne after defeating the former champion, Charles ‘Dubronx’ Oliveira at UFC 280. The October 2022 event had already hinted about UFC 284, where the main event would be featuring a champ-champ bout between the Lightweight and Featherweight kings.

The RAC Arena at Perth also greeted the UFC in an almost perfect way. The awesome response from the crowd to every notable moment of the night took the UFC 284 to all new levels. The champ-champ bout featuring UFC 284 went sold out with an attendance of 14,124 passionate UFC fans.

READ MORE – UFC 284: Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski So Impressive Even Lightweight Boxing Champ Couldn’t Stop Talking

But, the UFC boss’s expectations from the UFC 284 stayed far from being fulfilled. The event reportedly grossed a total of $4,086,687 in ticket revenues. The attendance figures also made it the highest-grossing UFC event in Australia to be held in an arena. But, it was nowhere near the $6.8M amount collected from the ticket revenues of the UFC 193.

UFC 284 performed better than expected

The UFC Lightweight Champion, Islam Makhachev, had been very vocal about the lack of promotion for UFC 284. The Dagestani had previously implied that the UFC could have done a lot in the UFC 284 build-up. He also specifically laid stress on his exclusion from the promotional campaigns for the coveted champ vs champ main event.

Also, the UFC supremo forgot the name of the Lightweight Champion of his own promotion. More shockingly, he couldn’t recall it even after a few moments of thinking. Many fans might have taken these as an indication of White’s neglecting attitude towards UFC 284 as Makhachev had complained.

While others also might agree that White had turned a bit too ambitious when he stated that the UFC 284 would break records.

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But, the RAC Arena at Perth told a different story at fight night with an enthralling response to the event. Still, UFC 284 lagged a lot behind UFC 193 in terms of attendance and revenues. However, it must be remembered that UFC 193 was held at the Etihad Stadium in Melbourne where the audience capacity is naturally a lot more than the RAC Arena in Perth.

A chunk of fans might agree that despite Makhachev’s complaints, UFC 284 proved out to be better than what most had expected. The super-active crowds boosted up the fighters, who, in turn, delivered everything they had. Also, the UFC probably won’t be disappointed. After all, becoming the highest-grossing UFC pay-per-view in Australia to be held in an arena isn’t a small thing either.