April 9, 2015
UFC Fight Night returns to North America on April 18, presenting its first event this year at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. This is the sixth UFC event held at the Prudential Center overall and the first since last February when UFC 169 was held at the venue before a crowd of over 14,000 patrons. UFC Fight Night on April 18 features a four fight official card, plus preliminary matches. The event will be headlined by former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida (22-5, 9 KOs) vs former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold (13-2, 3 KOs) in a middleweight bout.
According to TicketIQ, tickets for UFC Fight Night at Prudential Center have an average price of $156.30 on the secondary market, with the least expensive ticket to get in priced at $39. UFC Fight Night tickets for April 18 in Newark are 18% down compared to their last event at the Prudential Center for UFC 169 which featured the rematch between Renan Barao vs Urijah Faber with tickets on the secondary market having an average price of $191.56. Ticket for UFC 169 were more expensive because it was an actual UFC pay-per-view event, not the fight night series and the headlining bout featured a World Title fight.
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The most expensive UFC event held at the Prudential Center according to TicketIQ was UFC 128, which was Jon Jones’ title winning performance over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. The win made Jones the youngest UFC Champion ever. This fight was held on PPV and tickets on the secondary market had an average price of $375.66, 140% above UFC’s next event at the Prudential Center.
The main event on April 18 should be a good one involving one of the most experienced and recognizable names in the sport, former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida. Machida had a 27 MMA fight career and faced the best of the best including names like Chris Weidman, Jon Jones and wins over Rashad Evans and Mauricio Rua. However, Machida just might be on the downside of his career at age-36, having a 6-5 record in his last 11 fights.
Machida will going up against a younger and fresher fighter in Luke Rockhold, who is a submission specialist with wins in 8 of his 15 MMA fights. He’s riding high, winning his past three fights since a knockout loss to Vitor Belfort. Rockhold will present an interesting and dangerous test for the veteran Machida.
Also on the card as the co-featured bout is another pair of middleweights, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (21-3-1, 2 KOs) and the No. 1 contender in the division taking on powerful striker Yoel “Soldier of God” Romero (9-1, 8 KOs). The winner of this fight could be in line for title shot or possible near future showdown with the winner in the Main Event.
