UFC 98: "Evans vs. Machida," which took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 23, sold 9,550 tickets for an official live gate of $3,257,350, according to The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC).
Complimentary tickets to the tune of 3,056 pushed attendance to the 12,606 mark, which is a respectable number but a bit below the 15,000+ for UFC 94 "St. Pierre vs. Penn 2," the prior UFC event held at The MGM Grand.
Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida became the latest 205-pound champion in the UFC 98 main event, sending former belt keeper Rashad Evans into another galaxy with a savage combination of strikes that had "Sugar" dissolved on the canvas in the second round. And former welterweight champion Matt Hughes survived an early scare to settle his score against Matt Serra via unanimous decision in the co featured fight of the night.
UFC dished out $957,000 in fighter salaries for the pay-per-view (PPV) event and another $240,000 in additional bonus money for the four participants who delivered outstanding performances.
For complete results and coverage of "Evans vs. Machida" click here and here.