Dana White & Co.’s struggles continue to linger as the promotion prepares for its first outing of the year in Canada. Last week, the UFC rolled out UFC 327, a numbered event headlined by Carlos Ulberg vs. Jiri Prochazka. While the card met fan expectations to some degree, it still fell short of the promotion’s broader expectations. The biggest setback hit at the gate, as the event emerged as one of the lowest-grossing major shows in the modern era.

The promotion reportedly generated just south of $7 million in live gate revenue. The UFC brought in only 17,741 fans in attendance at the Kaseya Center. Even though the event is now in the books, concerns continue to build as the promotion looks ahead to UFC Fight Night 273 in Winnipeg, Canada. The outlook did not appear encouraging, as the Winnipeg card already seems to be struggling with ticket sales. On X, MMA journalist Andy Hickey shared an update on the situation.

UFC Winnipeg show struggles as seats remain unsold

“UFC event from Winnipeg this weekend has a very weak card,” Andy Hickey wrote. “Large volume of tickets available. Can currently secure tickets for less than $100 USD. The site fee era.”

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Andy Hickey also shared a screenshot from a ticket booking website, which highlighted a significant number of unsold seats. In comparison, last year’s Canada PPV outing, UFC 315, attracted 19,786 fans inside the arena and generated a $6,003,345 gate. But the numbers tell a different story for the UFC Fight Night in Vancouver.

The October 2025 event, headlined by Brendan Allen vs. Reinier de Ridder at the Rogers Arena, had an attendance of 17,671 and an announced gate of $2.7M. So, this situation does not come as a surprise for Dana White & Co., as the promotion’s live gate figures showed signs of decline in recent years. The UFC Edmonton Fight Night in November 2024 had 16,439 in attendance at a $2.6M gate.

In the past, Miami stood as one of the UFC’s most reliable markets for ticket sales. For instance, UFC 299: O’Malley vs. Vera 2, held at the Kaseya Center in April 2024, generated a record-breaking $14 million live gate.

Before that, UFC 287: Pereira vs. Adesanya 2 brought in a strong $12 million. Building on that momentum, last year’s UFC 314: Volkanovski vs. Lopes 2 also surpassed the $10 million mark, earning around $11 million.

However, UFC 327, in contrast, saw a noticeable drop, as it generated just $7 million in live gate revenue, nearly half of what previous Miami events achieved. However, this issue was not new, as the promotion had dealt with similar problems over time. Even recent events, including last year’s UFC 315, highlighted the same concern.

One of the main reasons behind these struggles came from the sharp rise in ticket prices. In recent years, UFC ticket prices increased significantly, which, in turn, pushed many fans to watch events from home instead.

At the same time, some fans also pointed to weaker matchups as another factor, which further impacted ticket demand. Together, these issues helped explain why a large number of tickets remained unsold at UFC 327.

Henry Cejudo highlights Miami’s unsold seats

UFC matchmaking has lately come under heavy scrutiny. Concerns grew as Dana White & Co. launched their partnership with Paramount+. Since then, several UFC events, like UFC 325 and UFC London, drew heavy criticism from fans, who questioned the promotion’s matchmaking decisions. Ahead of UFC 327, former two-division champion Henry Cejudo also highlighted the same issue and pointed to a possible reason behind the event’s unsold tickets.

Henry Cejudo said, “I wanna say there were about 6,000 tickets that were unsold at the end of the night because of the way that people actually saw this card.”

However, another factor behind UFC 327’s lower ticket sales could have been fans choosing to watch events through Paramount+ at a more affordable price of $8.99 per month (or $89.99 yearly). With this subscription model, many fans prefer streaming instead of spending heavily on live event tickets.

So, what is your take on this drop in attendance?