The UFC fought for years to get MMA regulated in the state of New York. On March 22nd 2016 the state was finally won by the UFC and it became the 50th state to regulate the sport. Since then the UFC has held 6 events at the worlds most famous arena at Madison Square Garden.
UFC 205: ALVAREZ VS. MCGREGOR
Nov. 12th 2016 - The promotions debut was built around the sports biggest star Conor McGregor. He had just defeated Nate Diaz in a rematch and earned himself a shot at becoming a two division champ in the main event against current Lightweight Champion Eddie Alvarez. 3 title fights headlined the card w/ Tyrone Woodley successfully Defending his Welterweight title against Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson and Joanna J. also retained her Womans Strawweight strap against Karolina K. In the nights main event Conor McGregor put on one of the all time masterful performances to earn a TKO victory in Rd. 2 and become the first ever two division Champion in the UFC.
The card also featured future lightweight GOAT Khabib Nurmagomedov defeating Michael Johnson on the prelim card. Belal Muhammad was KO’ed by Vicente Luque on the opening bout of the preliminary card. Also featured on the card was Frankie Edgar, Meisha Tate, Yoel Romero and Chris Weidman.
Tyrone Woodley Vs. Stephen Thonpson won Fight of the Night honors while Conor & Yoel Romero Took home Performance of the night bonus’s.
ATTENDENCE: 20,427
GATE: $17,700,000
BUYRATE: 1,300,000
UFC 217: BISPING VS. GSP
Nov. 4th 2017 - UFC 217 the second card at Madison Square Garden was the second time the brand featured 3 title fights. This particular event was headlined by a returning Georges St. Pierre as he battled Michael Bisping in an effort to become a two weight division champion. The Card saw 3 title changes for the first time in company history and it has yet to happen again. Rose Namajunas captured the woman’s Strawweight title from Long time champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk and in a huge grudge match TJ Dillashaw KO’ed Cody Garbrandt to regain his bantamweight title. In the main event GSP was able to Submit Michael Bisping in the third round to become the new Middleweight Champion and a two division Champion.
The card also featured a bout between Stephen Thompson (his second MSG event) and Jorge Masvidal. Plus Paulo Costa’s coming out party w/ his huge knockout of Johnny Hendricks.
Bonus Awards were given to Georges St. Pierre, T.J. Dillashaw, Rose Namajunas, Ovince St. Pruex and Ricardo Ramos.
ATTENDANCE: 18,201
GATE: $6,200,000
BUYRATE: 875,000
UFC 230: CORMIER VS. LEWIS
UFC 230 was a much anticipated event that did not have a main event until close to a month before the event. It was finally decided that Danial Cormier would defend his newly won Heavyweight championship against the knockout King Derrick Lewis. Lewis was coming off a come from behind KO against Alexander Volkov. Originally the co main event was set to be a middleweight title rematch between Chris Weidman and Luke Rockhold, however Rockhold was forced to withdraw w/ an undisclosed injury. Weidman would then battle Jacare Souza while Souza’s original opponent David Branch wound up fighting Jared Cannonier. In the end Souza and Cannonier came out w/ Victories as did Daniel Cormier as he defended his title w/ a second round Submission over Lewis.
The card also featured Isreal Adesanya defeating Derek Brunson in the Pay Per View opening bout, as well as Matt Frevola and Shane Burgos coming out victorius in their respective bouts.
Bonus Awards were Given To - Jacare Souza vs. Chris Weidman, Israel Adesanya and Jared Cannonier
ATTENDENCE: 17,011
GATE: $2,841,719
BUYRATE: 250,000
UFC 244: MASVIDAL VS. DIAZ
With no traditional Title bout on tap for the promotions 4th trip to NYC the UFC went w/ a Made up called called the BMF (Bad Motherfucker) belt which was something dreamt up by never champion but always entertaining Nate Diaz. Jorge Masvidal was coming off a 5 Second KO of Ben Askren and a 2nd round KO of Darren Till. Meanwhile Diaz returned from a 3 year absence and defeated Anthony Pettis which set this bout up. The Rock was on hand to wrap the belt around the winner which would end up being Masvidal after Diaz was unable to continue by doctors orders due to a cut above his eye heading into what would have been round 4. The Co main saw Darren Till beat Kelvin Gastelum by decision in a pivotal Middleweight bout.
This being the first time the UFC visited NYC w/out a traditional title fight they stacked the card w/ Names like Derrick Lewis, Stephen Thompson, Vicente Luque, Kevin Lee, Gregor Gillespe, Corey Anderson, Johnny Walker, Shane Burgos and Jarizinho Rozenstruik.
Bonus $ was handed to Stephen Thompson, Vicente Luque, Corey anderson and Kevin Lee
ATTENDANCE: 20,143
GATE: $6,575,996
BUYRATE: N/A
UFC 268: USMAN VS. COVINGTON 2
UFC 268 was absolutely loaded w/ the Main event seeing Kamaru Usman defeating Colby Covington for the second time to retain his Welterweight Title inching him closer to the all time record. The grudge match was every big as entertaining as the first bout. This time it went to decision however it saw Both men in trouble w/ Covington going down in the second but battling his way back to a close decision loss. The Co main event saw Rose Namajunas defend her Woman’s Strawweight championship against Zhang Weili. The PPV Opened w/ a Fight of the year candidate w/ Lightweights Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler a bout in which Justin won by Decision.
The card also saw Marlon Vera KO Frankie Edgar Also The UFC Debut of future Middleweight Champion Alex Pereira, Bobby Green, Future prospect Ian Garry and Al Iaquinta
Bonus Awards went to: Justin Gaethje, Michael Chandler, Marlon Vera, Alex Pereira, Bobby Green and Chris Barnett
ATTENDANCE: 20,715
GATE: $9,800,000
BUYRATE: 700,000
UFC 281: ADESANYA VS. PEREIRA
The UFC stacked stacked this card w/ a main event that had a perfect storyline. Alex Pereira KO’ed Israel Adesanya in Kickboxing and defeated him by Decision, now he’s 6-1 and undefeated in the UFC attempting to dethrone one of the longest reigning Middleweight champions of all time. Alex was Successful and went 3-0 against Israel by KOing the longtime champ in the 5th round (down on all scorecards) to become the 12th Middleweight Champion. In the Co main Event Zhang Weili defeated Carla Esparza by submission to Regain her Woman’s Strawweight Championship. The Feature bout saw Dustin Poirier submit Michael Chandler in the 3rd round in the fight of the night.
The card also featured Frankie Edgar’s retirement bout as he was KOed by Chris Gutteriez as well as Names like Dan Hooker, Ryan Spann, Erin Branchfield, Renato Moicano and Matt Frevola all coming out w/ Victories
Bonus Awards were handed to: Michael Chandler, Dustin Poirier, Alex Pereira and Zhang Weili
ATTENDANCE: 20,845
GATE: $11,562,809
BUYRATE: N/A