UFC 189 was the moment that the MMA world really got to see just how much Ireland is behind Conor McGregor. We've always been event junkies. No matter the circumstance or the location, as a nation, we still manage to show up all over the world to lend our support to our sporting heroes. The Irish invasion of Las Vegas back in July was perfect evidence of this.
The McGregor support has been huge for years but the numbers that turned up in Vegas that week were the biggest indication of just how popular he had become. Now Jose Aldo is back on the card, there's a title to be unified and things are being ramped up another notch.
The interest around 189 was huge, the interest around 194 is going to far exceed that judging by what Dana White has had to say. Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports was speaking to White this week and he was good enough to let us all know what White had to say about the numbers behind the December 12th card.
Spoke to @danawhite late last night. He said all three shows in Vegas are sold out and that @UFC 194 gate will be 9 million or slightly more
— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) December 3, 2015
The 194 gate, White said, will be at least $9 million and perhaps as much as $9.2 million. It will be second-best gate in UFC history
— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) December 3, 2015
To put that into perspective, the gate for 189 was estimated at $7.1 million. That made it the biggest ever UFC show in America. If White's figures are on the money, 194 will blow that out of the water. Given that UFC 129 at Toronto's 55,000 capacity Rogers Centre is the biggest gate in UFC history, you can only imagine what a Conor McGregor homecoming in Croke Park would rake in.
At the moment though, McGregor will have to make do with the MGM Grand. But that's not going to be too much of a worry considering just how much of following he's going to have from an Irish crowd.
@JohnBalfe He said 30 percent of the tickets for 194 were from Ireland. Didn't say about the other two shows
— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) December 3, 2015
When you consider that White had said there were 25% of tickets sold to Ireland for 189, then you know things are going to be loud. That's 30% of the official ticket sals to Ireland. It doesn't even account for Irish fans in America nor does it account for the thousands of extra fans who are going over without tickets.
There's two weeks left until the big event and we almost hear the noise of that crowd already.
See also: Conor McGregor Was On Jimmy Kimmel Live And He Absolutely Killed It
See also: Conor McGregor Is Certain About His Next Fight After He 'KOs Jose Aldo'
Via /r/mma
