There is no denying the popularity of UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley and more proof came on Saturday with the record-breaking gate for UFC 299.
This past weekend the promotion was back on pay-per-view with a stacked card from inside the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida. The event featured several notable stars from the company, including former interim champion Dustin Poirier, top-10 welterweight Gilbert Burns, and the debut of fan-favorite Bellator fighter Michael “Venom” Page.
Also Read: Sean O’Malley next fight: Who will “Sugar” face in his UFC return?
However, all the pressure for the event’s success was on the man defending his title in the main event, Sean O’Malley. During his seven-year stint in the UFC, the 135-pound fighter has quickly risen up the division ranks, and in popularity. And last summer he received his first PPV headlining spot as he challenged Aljamain Sterling for the division’s top prize. But UFC 292 delivered mixed results.
While “Sugar” solidified his place at the top of the weight class by winning the bantamweight title and his knockout victory went viral on social media, the buys for the card were reportedly not as high as some expected. If O’Malley was to prove he is a legitimate star on the level of Conor McGregor, UFC 299 needed to be a hit, and at seems that it was.
Sean O’Malley has now headlined fourth-highest-grossing event in UFC history
Following the event on Saturday night, UFC boss Dana White revealed that UFC 299 earned $14.14 million from a sellout crowd of 19,165 fans in the Kaseya Center. “It was the highest-grossing event ever at the arena, we broke our own record, and it is the fourth highest-grossing UFC event of all time,” White said after the event.
The three highest-grossing UFC events of all time are all cards headlined by McGregor. It says a lot about the growing popularity of the 135-pound star that he could reach such levels in just his second PPV main event opportunity. Of course, other stars on the card deserve credit for the event’s success, but Sean O’Malley was promoted as the face of the event and if it failed he would have taken the blame.
The UFC badly needs a new fighter to fill the void McGregor’s inconsistent schedule has left and “Sugar” is inching closer to doing just that. O’Malley retained his belt with a dominant five-round unanimous decision victory over Marlon Vera.
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