Where are the best US markets for the UFC?

[Alex84]

Recently when the talk of Silva/GSP was heating up and the UFC was saying it would do a fight at Cowboys stadium alot of mma writers were saying they shouldn't put the event there because Dallas isn't a great fight market. So im wondering where are the best fight markets in US obviously Vegas is number 1 the others ones that stick out when i look the UFC events list on wikipedia are NJ and CA mainly Norcal because of the WEC and more recently the UFC and Strikeforce's history up there. The only other place that had a decent number events was Colorado. So where are the other great fight markets in the US?

 

[Twister44]

Madison Square Garden needs to be one.

 

[JayElectra]

New York isn't a great place for fights anymore because of the tax laws. One of the reasons why we see so many big prize fights in Las Vegas is because the promoters get to keep more. Boxing is trying to bring fights back to New York, primarily in Brooklyn (at the Barclays Centre). The only big fighters in boxing that really fight in the New York area with any regularity are Cotto (because of the Boricuas in the area) and Adamek (because of the decent Polish-American population in the North East). Maybe you could include Judah in the mix, too. I don't think fighting at the Garden is as big a deal as many seem to think. Symbolically, maybe, but in terms of long term impact, I don't necessarily see it.

 

[COBRA03]

Chicago sold out both of there 2 UFC and Strikeforce cards, but Bellator failed miserablly when they came here, and WEC an IFL did mediocre here.

 

[Right Straight]

Best U.S market...I guess Canada doesn't count eh?

 

[Davey J]

I'd still say Vegas. Gotta go where the big spenders are, no professional sports teams in Nevada so people come out to the boxing/mma fights for live action. Also, relatively close to California to draw in celebs/people with money.

 

[graciefighterz]

I'd say California. California is a huge MMA hotbed.

Dallas might not be as big of a market like people say, but a fight like gsp/silva would still sell out imo and it's a huge fucking stadium. I'd be fitting to have the biggest fight in ufc history in one of the largest stadiums.

 

[tigerstripes]

A good market would include interested fans and money.

So LV, Norcal, SoCal, DC and NJ.

 

[Calipwnia]

Calipwnia

 

[Fruits]

Silva/GSP & especially Silva/Jones at Cowboys Stadium would sell out because people would come from all over the place to see it.

The market in Texas for MMA really hasn't been tested by the UFC, but I imagine it is better than some people here are giving the state credit for. Texas seems big on practically every sport (yes, even hockey), so I don't know why a big UFC event in a 20,000 capacity arena wouldn't do well.

I'd say California. California is a huge MMA hotbed.

It depends where in California. NorCal (the Bay Area and Sacramento specifically) and various parts of California bordering Nevada and Arizona tend to have great fans.

Anaheim and LA... eh.... they're a mixed bag.

Outside of California, Las Vegas, the Tri-State Area, Massachusetts, Washington (the people of the Pacific Northwest are true sports fans), Arizona (that crowd at the last WEC event was awesome!), Illinois (the UFC events seem to do well) and Philadelphia are all pretty good states for fighting. Also, Washington DC.

I don't know about Oregon, but I imagine they would be big fans of MMA too if they got some UFC or (big?) Bellator events.

 

[stin4tw]

Columbus, Ohio has done well, especially on the Arnold Festival weekend.

 

[Fists of Fire]

San Jose, Oakland, and Sacramento need more events imo.

 

[Fists of Fire]

Columbus, Ohio has done well, especially on the Arnold Festival weekend.

Wasnt that Strikeforce with the gawd awful attendance in Colombus?

 

[Which Doctor]

When I was in Indiana (West Lafayette) for awhile it seemed like MMA was really big there, even on a grass roots levels.

 

[orangecuse]

I've seen some sort of stat somewhere on ratings/ppvs buy. They named the most popular cities in the US for the UFC according to ratings. I'm too lazy but the info is probably out there.


I lived in the Dallas area for some years. The UFC is pretty popular from what I've seen. Plenty of bars play(or at least used to) the events and every place was always packed. But the last time I was there was around 2010.