UFC 129 in Toronto sells 55,000 tickets

Wonder if officials in Ontario are having second and third thoughts about sanctioning the sport of mixed martial arts?

One look at what happened in the past two days surrounding ticket sales for UFC 129 in Toronto on April 30, and that answer must be a resounding "No."

The UFC sold 55,000 tickets -- 55,500 -- to the event being held at Rogers Centre, formerly known as the Sky Dome, home of the Toronto Blue Jays.

“Based on the lightning-quick sellout, there is no doubt that UFC’s fan base is extremely passionate”, Silvio D’Addario, vice president of  events for Rogers Centre, said in a statement. “We’ve worked closely with UFC to configure our venue to provide the best fan experience possible and we look forward to hosting this historic event.”

Yes, that's the largest crowd that will ever witness an MMA event live. It's also the largest gate for a UFC event, blowing away the $5.4-million haul for UFC 66 (Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz 2) on Dec. 30, 2006.

The initial seating configuration for the fight card, featuring welterweight champion Georges St.-Pierre of Montreal and featherweight champion Jose Aldo of Brazil, came in at 42,000, but Rogers Centre and UFC officials worked to change that once they saw how fast tickets were sellilng to the promotion's first stadium event.