All is good in the world of fighting when it comes to Las Vegas. At least for the next few weeks. Beyond the mega-card at UFC 126, Sin City has turned into a tough place to hold a fight. If the timing isn't right and the card isn't stacked, Vegas fight fans seem to be staying home in larger numbers.
UFC 126 features Anderson Silva-Vitor Belfort, Jon Jones-Ryan Bader and Forrest Griffin-Rich Franklin on top of the card. It's also on Super Bowl weekend. So it comes as no surprise that the card is nearly sold out and the UFC is working on adding closed-circuit viewing.
It's an amazing turnaround from UFC 125. The New Year's Day card headlined by the Frank Edgar-Gray Maynard fight had an announced attendance of 12,874, but MMAjunkie points out that 5,896 of those tickets were free. With the momentum UFC has going in markets around the U.S. and the world, to hear numbers reminiscent of 2005, it must've been startling for some readers, but it wasn't to Las Vegas media and residents.
Three excellent boxing cards in November and December all failed to eclipse the 5,000 mark in attendance. Vegas has become a fickle city and because of the economy, the residents don't have the extra income they did four years ago.
Yahoo!'s Kevin Iole says it's probably not going to get any better for fight promoters in the near future in Las Vegas. He suggests it may be time to bail on the city unless the fight card is an absolute slam dunk.
Ba Te er Ryan Bader Siyar Bahadurzada Bao Ligao Josh Barnett
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