Injury-plagued UFC proving a tougher-than-usual sell in Montreal
Quinton Jackson, Michael Bisping, Jose Aldo and Dan Henderson aren’t competing next month in Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to Montreal. But each star may have indirectly and unknowingly had a small hand in slower-than-expected ticket sales for UFC 154.
The comeback of Montreal native and long-time welterweight champion Georges StPierre was thought to guarantee a first-week sellout when tickets became available in September for the Nov. 17 card. Instead, less than three weeks before St-Pierre, in his first fight since April 2011, meets interim welterweight champ Carlos Condit to unify the titles, large groups of seats can be found in each of the top-five price ranges, including 14th row on the floor.
UFC is still expecting a capacity crowd at the Bell Centre. (St-Pierre has mainevented two prior cards in the arena: UFC 83, in April 2008, drew 21,390 fans paying a live gate of $5.1 million, while UFC 124 in 2010 drew 23,152 paying a gate of $4.6 million. The other two events at Bell Centre — UFC 97 and UFC 113 — averaged 19,549 fans paying $4.085 million at the gate.) It’s just taking a bit longer than anticipated.
UFC director of Canadian operations Tom Wright wonders if it’s the result of a year filled with injuries to bigname competitors who were forced to the sidelines.
“There’s been many examples over the last several fights — UFC 151 and 149 in Calgary is a good example of it — where fighters got injured and there were changes to the card,” Wright said in a recent interview.
“I think there are fans who are saying, ‘You know what? I’m really excited about GSP’s return and I love the fact that we’ve got (Martin) Kampmann versus (Johny) Hendricks in the co-main event and we’ve got a bunch of Canadians on the card. But you know what? I bought my tickets 12 weeks out for Calgary and a whole bunch of things happened. I’m going to wait until it’s a little closer.’ ”
Injuries have been one of the biggest stories this year in UFC. In the last three months alone, UFC 147 in Brazil, UFC 148 in Las Vegas, UFC 149 in Calgary, UFC 151 in Vegas, UFC 152 in Toronto and UFC 153 in Brazil each underwent drastic changes. The list of fighters pulled, bumped or shuffled due to injuries reads like a who’s-who in the sport: Anderson Silva, Urijah Faber, Dominick Cruz, Wanderlei Silva, Rich Franklin, Vitor Belfort, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, BJ Penn, Rory MacDonald, Mauricio Rua, Jon Jones, Jackson, Henderson, Bisping and Aldo, just to name a few.
UFC president Dana White and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta each said they had never experienced a card more plagued by injuries than the company’s debut in Calgary. Six weeks later, a knee injury to Henderson before his UFC 151 title bout versus Jones set off a domino effect that resulted in the first event cancellation in UFC history.
Sales to this point for UFC 154 are around 14,000, according to industry sources.
Sometimes the company is able to pull a rabbit out of its hat, as was the case with UFC 153 earlier this month when an injured Aldo was replaced with reigning middleweight champ Anderson Silva.
“Anderson Silva’s not a bad substitute,” Wright said with a laugh, adding it’s rare that perhaps the greatest fighter in the history of the sport is available for fill-in duty.
On www.ufc.com’s news page for UFC 154, the comments from several fans give credence to Wright’s theory.
“Now it’s just a mater (sic) of time before GSP or Condit announce their (sic) injured,” wrote Mainor Josh Bonilla.
“ive (sic) learned not to get so hyped up anymore because who knows now if the fight you want to see will happen or now if someone screws up the card all together (sic)!” wrote Glen Hooker.
While he wishes it wasn’t the case, Wright acknowledges after a string of highprofile injuries, fans may be hesitant to scoop up tickets the day they go on sale.
“I absolutely think that you’re seeing that,” he said. “I think you’re going to see that going forward.”
Still, Wright has no doubts the Bell Centre will be sold out for the return of St-Pierre.
“Absolutely,” he said.