10 UFC Events That Changed The Game
4. UFC 205 - First Event In New York City
Madison Square Garden is the spiritual home for all things fighting.
Boxing had seen the likes of Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier use the iconic arena as the background for their goliath clash and even WWE could claim to have formed some of the venue's most epic moments, stemming from multiple WrestleMania events.
So, you can imagine just how desperate Dana White must have been to get his beloved company on the Madison Square Garden Wall of Fame. Yet, with MMA being banned in the state of New York for much of UFC's lifetime, it seemed as though that dream could never become a reality...
...until 2016.
With the ban miraculously being lifted, UFC could finally grace the epic venue and Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez's Lightweight title bout would headline the game-changing event at UFC 205.
McGregor would become the champ-champ (holding both Featherweight and Lightweight titles) but the rest of the card included a few notable skirmishes, too. Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson and Joanna Jędrzejczyk taking on Karolina Kowalkiewicz for the former's Strawweight title, both set fans pulses racing - with the two champions successfully defending on the night.
That being said, the true star of the show was Dana White, and his dream managed to break Madison Square Garden's gate record with $17,700,000 in receipts, with the 20,427 attendance being the most for a Garden domestic event, too.