Werdum's title in Mexico is among the five biggest UFC audiences

Octagon set up in Mexico yielded one of the biggest audiences in UFC history. Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC

The first time of the biggest MMA organization on the planet in Mexico was truly grand. Headlined by the conquest of the interim heavyweight belt by the Brazilian Fabricio Werdum, UFC 180 had more than 21 thousand people in attendance and became the fifth largest audience in the organization's history. Furthermore, it had the biggest attendance of the year for Ultimate events and the biggest audience in the history of Arena Ciudad de Mexico, the night's stage.

Interestingly, all four events with larger audiences than last Saturday (15) took place in Canada. From fourth to second place, all cards were held at the Bell Centre, in Montreal, and had audiences between 21,4 and 23,1. The absolute record holder continues to be the historic UFC 129, which had as its main fight Georges St Pierre x Jake Shields and which brought more than 55 thousand people to Rogers Arena, in Toronto.

To break the annual mark, UFC 180 surpassed another event starring Fabricio Werdum. The 21 present at the Mexican card beat the audience of 17 people at the Amway Center in April this year for UFC on FOX 11, which had the duel between Werdum x Travis Browne as the main fight.

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No event held in Brazil is part of the top 10 history of Ultimate, which begins with audiences of 17 thousand spectators. The Tupiniquim event that comes closest to the brand is UFC 147, an event that hosted the finals of TUF Brasil 1 and had Wanderlei Silva x Rich Franklin as the main fight, and attracted around 16 thousand people to the Ginásio do Mineirinho, in Belo Horizonte (MG).