By Andy Young and Vanessa Cavasinni
The UFC juggernaut keeps rolling on as last Sunday’s UFC 205 event proved a huge success for Fox Sports and its venues.
As TheShout reported last week, venues were looking forward to increased patronage thanks to the three title bout event, and it didn’t disappoint.
Fox Sports Venues told TheShout that it was a massive day for the company, with UFC 205 delivering its biggest revenue event.
The Skinny Dog in Kew, Victoria, showed the event with its doors opening at 11am; the main event didn’t start until 5pm and a spokesperson for the venue told TheShout, that they were “packed throughout the day”.
The venue said that the saw an increase in bookings of around 45 per cent for the day. The spokesperson also told TheShout that revenue for the venue was also up on previous Sundays by around 45 per cent, with beer sales “through the roof” while food sales also saw an increase.
It was a similar story in Brisbane, with Alex Farquhar, the General Manager of The Caxton, telling TheShout: “We had a great on Sunday with the UFC. We had between 150-200 people throughout the afternoon and everything went really well.
“We have tried to be consistent with UFC and it's nice to see regular patrons for all the events.
“The bigger UFC events, such as MacGregor's fight, always make for a fun Sunday, with the crowd really enjoying the big screen and more relaxed Sunday vibe at the Hotel.
“It's great to see the obvious impact on both food and beverage sales that the UFC has, in all areas of the Caxton.”
In terms of upcoming events, UFC 206 takes place on Saturday, December 10 (Sunday, December 11 in Australia), and is headlined by the Light Heavyweight title rematch between Daniel Cormier and Anthony Johnson. While UFC 207 will take place on New Year’s Eve in Australia and will see the long-awaited return of Ronda Rousey, who will be looking to regain the women’s Bantamweight title that she lost in November 2015.