UFC 90 at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois on Saturday night drew a record live gate of $2.85 million.

UFC President Dana White announced the figure during the PPV’s post-show press conference.

The record breaks the previous mark set by the WWE in 1997 when they staged WrestleMania 13 at the Arena.

A near sell-out crowd of 15,359 fans attended to see UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva retain his title over Patrick Cote in what was UFC’s first event in the state of Illnois.

The success of last night almost certainly guarantees a return to the Chicago area in 2009.

Martin Smith’s full UFC 90 recap is online at this link.

Phil Lowe
phil@ifight365.com