A source from the Honda Center indicated to Bloody Elbow earlier this week that Affliction II had only sold just over 1,400 tickets earlier this week. We held off posting the rumor, but Tom Atencio was pressed on the figure this morning at a presser, and refused to confirm or deny the number.
Attendance has been down across the MMA world as a result of the economic recession. Prices were significantly scaled down for this event, but if the rumor is correct it is a significant decline from their first show in Anaheim 6 months ago, where at the equivalent point they had over 6,000 tickets sold. It should be restated that this is only a rumor at this point, and we just have one source from the Pond that gave us the number.
The Honda Center would not release the information.
Caveat: For the first show Affliction made its sales public, but it won’t release the numbers this time, so it is impossible to know for certain.
Update: When I spoke with Tom Atencio, he told me that ticket sales were “comparable” to the first show and he expected success. Affliction has denied this rumor, claimed it is “ridiculous,” and postulated that UFC people are spreading this rumor to try to undermine their show.