UFC's annual November trip to Madison Square Garden came with mixed results.
UFC 230, headlined by a Heavyweight Title fight between champion Daniel Cormier and challenger Derrick Lewis drew 17,011 fans for a gate of $2.84 million. UFC 230 was the second largest commercial pay-per-view event of 2018 according to Dana White, but the fifth biggest gate of the year.
However, UFC 230 was the lowest attended and gate total in the UFC's three trips to Madison Square Garden. UFC 205, headlined by Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez for the Lightweight Title, drew 20,427 fans for a live gate of $17.7 million. UFC 217, headlined by Michael Bisping vs. Georges St-Pierre for the Middleweight Title, drew 18,201 fans for a live gate of $6.2 million.
As far as bonuses go; Chris Weidman and Jacare Souza earned Fight of the Night bonus for their back-and-forth middleweight scrap. Weidman looked on his way to a decision victory or possible late stoppage when Souza cracked him with a right hand halfway through the third round. The blow put Weidman out cold, giving Souza arguably the biggest win of his career. This was Souza's second straight Fight of the Night bonus and Weidman's third overall.
Performance of the Night bonuses went to Israel Adesanya and Jared Cannonier. Adesanya blasted Derek Brunson in the first round of their middleweight fight, stopping the veteran with nine seconds left in the round. Adesanya has now picked up a Performance of the Night bonus in three of his four UFC bouts.
Cannonier earned his bonus by ending David Branch's night just 39 seconds into the second round round by stoppage due to strikes. This marks Cannonier's second Performance of the Night bonus and first since April 2016.
Full information:
Attendance - 17,011
Gate - $2,841,718.68
Fight of the Night ($50,000 each) - Chris Weidman vs. Jacare Souza
Performance of the Night ($50,000 each) - Israel Adesanya and Jared Cannonier
If you missed any strike or submission from UFC 230, head over to Fightful's full recap of the event. And join Sean Ross Sapp and James Lynch for the post-fight podcast.
