April 16, 2014 - 9:52 PM
QUEBEC CITY, Que. - While there were plenty of empty seats at the Colisee Pepsi, UFC president Dana White said he was satisfied with the UFC's first foray into Quebec City.
Wednesday night's televised card, the live finale to "The Ultimate Fighter Nations" reality TV show, drew an announced attendance of 5,029 and a gate of US$340,000.
White said the gate was "above average" compared to previous Ultimate Fighter finales, citing the gates for TUF 18 ($322,000) TUF 16 ($318,000) and TUF 15 ($195,000).
"And those were all on a Saturday night. Tonight's a Wednesday night," said White.
The Quebec card also went up against the Montreal Canadiens' opening playoff game.
White said he hoped to come back to the Quebec capital, next time on a Saturday night.
Quebec City is the sixth Canadian city to host an event after Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Winnipeg. Halifax is scheduled to join the UFC club in October with a televised card.
The UFC has held 14 pay-per-view shows in Canada: six in Montreal, four in Toronto, two in Vancouver and one in each of Calgary and Winnipeg.
Pay-per-views are slated later this year in Vancouver (UFC 174, June 14), Toronto (UFC 178, Sept. 27) and Montreal (UFC 181, Dec. 6).
News from © The Canadian Press, 2014