UFC 231: Attendance, Gate, Bonuses

UFC 231, held in Toronto, Canada, saw the largest crowd to ever come out to a UFC event at the ScotiaBank Arena in history.

In fact, there wasn’t an empty seat in the house, as the UFC sold the arena out with an attendance of 19,039. The total gate was $3,289,250 Canadian dollars (or $2,481,552 U.S. dollars).

The Fight of the Night honor went to the Max Holloway vs. Brian Ortega featherweight title main event. While Holloway had the stronger start, each man managed to rock the other at several points throughout the fight. But the end of the fight came in the fourth when Holloway busted up and bloodied Ortega to the point the fight was nearly stopped (by TKO or submission) a few times. While Ortega survived the round, doctors refused to allow him to come out for the fifth.

Holloway’s performance earned him a Performance of the Night bonus as well. The other performance bonus went to Thiago Santos, who won arguably the second-best fight of the night — a heavy-hitting, light heavyweight affair with Jimi Manuwa that opened the pay-per-view card. Santos scored a knockout win early in the second round.

Holloway will walk away with $100,000 in bonus money (two $50,000 awards), while Ortega and Santos each take home an extra $50,000.