Dana White may not have been in the building for Noche UFC, but he was still blown away by how the promotion’s first Mexican Independence Day event performed.
“Noche UFC was the most-watched Fight Night of all-time on ESPN+,” White proclaimed Tuesday at his Contender Series post-fight press conference. “1.1 million unique views.
“Think about that. It generated 167 million total minutes, and it did three times the average viewership minutes watched on the Spanish feed. Killed it. It was an incredible success.”
Headlined by the first title defense of Mexican flyweight champion Alexa Grasso, Noche UFC was a departure from the UFC’s usual non-pay-per-view event. Featuring a card lined with Mexican talent, a production awash in cultural flair, and a championship rematch between Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko that proved to be one of the most entertaining — if controversial — bouts of the year, Noche UFC was a break in routine for a promotion that has been accused of lacking creativity with its week-in, week-out schedule.
Boxing has long held major events on Mexican Independence Day to great success, but White promised that Sept. 16 will begin to be a date associated with the UFC as well.
“I will get that date every year from now on, yes,” White vowed.
“I will go that date every [year]. I don’t care if somebody here in town gets the date at the [T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas], I’ll go in an opposing arena and go head-to-head with them next year. I’m doing this for the rest of my reign here. So they can go on the same night, we can go head-to-head — I’m going. The thing was a massive success for us. This was something that I’ve been thinking about since the day we bought this company, so we’re finally in the position, I’m all-in. All my chips are in on Mexico. We’re opening the PI, which we’ve spent millions and millions of dollars on.
“We did it, it was huge, and we’ll do it again every year, regardless of whether boxing goes or doesn’t go. I will go head-to-head with them every year.”