Noche UFC going head-to-head with Canelo again — this time in Mexico

Overlook The Sphere. Overlook Las Vegas. Overlook U.S.A. This yr’s Noche UFC lastly headed to Mexico.

Throughout Saturday’s UFC on ESPN: Moreno vs. Erceg occasion at Area CDMX in Mexico Metropolis, the UFC introduced that they’d be making their debut in Guadalajara for a 3rd Mexican Independence Day spectacular on September thirteenth.

The occasion can be held on the new Area Guadalajara, which may maintain as much as 22,000 followers. The one query: can UFC fill it when going head-to-head with the town’s hometown hero Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who is anticipated to battle the identical weekend?

A number of stories have Canelo Alvarez preventing Terence “Bud” Crawford in September, and it might be loopy to have him compete then and miss Mexican Independence Day. A few of Canelo’s greatest profession fights have been on that date, together with his bout towards Floyd Mayweather and all three fights in his trilogy with Gennady Golovkin.

In 2024, Alvarez fought a recreation however outmatched Edgar Berlanga in an occasion that was direct competitors with the UFC’s second Noche UFC occasion in Las Vegas. That UFC card at The Sphere — the most costly occasion the UFC has ever produced — did extraordinarily properly, nevertheless it was on no account a certain wager with Canelo preventing down the road.

Some tickets for Noche UFC 2 went from an eye-watering $3000 right down to $500. There’s part of that which has to do with the present manner UFC father or mother firm TKO sells tickets. Each occasion is priced as excessive as doable at first after which introduced down till the market can bear it. However the market may solely bear a lot with Canelo in Vegas as properly.

In the long run, UFC introduced UFC 306 aka Riyadh Season Noche UFC aka The Sphere occasion was the very best grossing UFC gate ever at $22 million. To do this, UFC sank over $15 million into manufacturing and put their greatest lively star, Sean O’Malley, into the primary occasion. Canelo vs. Berlanga drew a $17 million gate and 650,000 pay-per-views off Canelo simply displaying up.

Now the UFC can be attempting to promote out a 22,000 seat enviornment in Guadalajara the place Canelo was born on the identical date Canelo will battle Crawford. With out the glitz and glamor of The Sphere to assist them discover an viewers, can UFC pull this off?

Even in a time when the promotion appears to promote out in all places it goes with the flimsiest of playing cards, we now have our doubts — however received’t be stunned in the event that they succeed but once more.