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LAS VEGAS – Noche UFC was a big success, and UFC CEO [autotag]Dana White[/autotag] intends to make the event a new yearly tradition for the promotion.
This past Saturday, the UFC celebrated Mexican Independence Day with a Fight Night card at T-Mobile Arena. The event was headlined by a women’s flyweight title rematch between champion Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko.
Mexico’s Grasso competing in a major title fight helped carry the load, but the undercard featured a number of the country’s fighters, including the youngest fighter ever signed to the UFC, Raul Rosas Jr. Also, all of the unique promotional elements throughout the week such as a mariachi band playing at ceremonial weigh-ins, special graphics and music on the broadcast, to Grasso’s custom title belt.
There were a number of elements that made the event feel special, and according to White, the numbers showed it.
“‘Hey Dana, your idea to go all-in on Mexican Independence Day paid off. Noche UFC was the most watched Fight Night of all time on ESPN+. One-point-one million unique views,'” White read from a text message on his phone during the Dana White’s Contender Series 62 post-event news conference.
“One-point-one million people that had never been to ESPN+ tuned in for that fight. So, think about that. … Killed it. It was an incredible success.”
As a note of correction, a “unique view” means there were 1.1 million different users that viewed the broadcast, not new users who have never visited the platform before. While White may have been mistaken about that difference, the numbers are impressive regardless.
“I will get that date every year from now on,” White said.
Sept. 16 has traditionally been home to major boxing events featuring Mexico’s biggest stars. Canelo Alvarez has reserved some of his biggest fights for the holiday, perhaps most notably, all three bouts against Gennadiy Golovkin. Going forward, White won’t give any mind to what is going on in boxing, because he intends to make MMA a part of that yearly tradition too.
“I don’t care if somebody here in town gets the date at the arena, I’ll go in an opposing arena and go head-to-head with them next year,” White said. “I’m doing this for the rest of my reign here.
“They can go on the same night, we can go head-to-head. I’m going. The thing was a massive success for us. This is something that I’ve been thinking about since the day we bought this company. So, we’re finally in the position. I’m all in. All my chips are in on Mexico. We’re opening the P.I., which we’ve spent millions and millions of dollars on. … We did it, it was huge, and we’ll do it again every year.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Noche UFC.