The hunger to watch live MMA is strong after fans have been unable to attend events for over year amid the ongoing COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
This was evident when UFC 264, which features a lightweight trilogy showdown between former interim UFC lightweight champion Dustin Poirier and former two-division king Conor McGregor, sold out “in seconds” according to the promotion.
UFC 264 is set to take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on 10 July. At the time of writing, no other fights have been announced for the event as yet.
That wasn’t enough to deter fans from buying tickets for the first UFC event to be held with fans in Las Vegas since Israel Adesanya defended his UFC middleweight crown against Yoel Romero in the same venue at UFC 248 on 7 March, 2020.
Anticipation for a third fight between Poirier and McGregor is at its peak after the two fighters fired a series of shots at each other over social media last week.
In their first bout, McGregor scored a first-round knockout victory to propel himself into the UFC featherweight title picture at UFC 178 back in 2014.
Poirier avenged that defeat earlier this year with a knockout of his own, finishing the fight in the second round at UFC 257 on “Fight Island” and levelling the score between the two lightweights.
UFC 264 is the third that is confirmed to take place with fans without capacity restrictions.
Later this month, UFC 261 is set to feature a welterweight championship bout between Kamaru Usman and Jorge Masvidal in front of a full house at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.
In May, UFC 262 is set to feature Michael Chandler and Charles Oliveira’s battle for the vacant UFC lightweight title at Houston’s Toyota Center with a capacity crowd. It’s expected that the winner of that bout will then face the victor of McGregor and Poirier’s third contest.