The Aug. 8 UFC debut event at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia headlined by UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn vs. Kenny Florian has sold nearly 14,000 tickets and passed $3 million in sales.
"We put tickets on sale, I believe sometime at the end of April or early May, and we've sold almost 14,000 tickets," UFC Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner told MMAjunkie.com. "It's the biggest event in Pennsylvania history, as far as a live gate, already."
The state of Pennsylvania only recently began regulating mixed martial arts, but Ratner claims UFC 101 has already shattered long-standing boxing records in The Keystone State.
Ratner, the former head of the powerful Nevada State Athletic Comission, claims UFC 101 has already topped a record set by legendary boxer Jack Dempsey in 1926 when he fought former U.S. Marine Gene Tunney in Philadelphia. The event reported drew a live attendance of 120,557, which still stands as a combat-sports record.
"We've sold over $3 million worth of tickets," Ratner said of UFC 101. "No boxing match has ever sold that much. When you go back 75 years ago, Jack Dempsey fought there (Philadelphia), and they had 100,000 people watching the fight. But tickets in those days? Maybe if you interpolated those dollars into what it's worth today, it wouldn't be there, but actual dollars – like $3.2 million - [UFC 101] is the largest gate in Pennsylvania history."
Wrestlemania XV held at the Wachovia Center (then known as the First Union Center) on March 28, 1999 drew a sellout of 18,274 and just under $1.5 million for a card headlined by Steve Austin and The Rock.
In addition to Penn vs. Florian, UFC 101 features an intriguing non-title bout between UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and former light-heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin at 205 pounds. Additionally, "The Ultimate Fighter 7" winner Amir Sadollah makes his long-awaited return from injuries to face Johny Hendricks.
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