Dana White says UFC 205 has already broken MSG gate record

It's not even November yet and it seems like UFC 205 is already setting records.

UFC president Dana White said Friday night on FS1 that the megacard has set the Madison Square Garden gate record. He did not mention a specific figure.

"I wanted to make sure when we went to New York, we delivered," White said, while being interviewed on the World Series pre-game show. ... "It's the biggest, baddest card we've ever done in the history of the company."

.@ufc President @danawhite joined the Game 3 pregame show to discuss #UFC205, #CLEvsCHC & of course @PeteRose_14. https://t.co/otCsHJWIqx

— FS1 (@FS1) October 29, 2016

The current leader in live gate for a combat sports event at MSG is a boxing match between Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield in 1999.  That bout drew a sell-out crowd of 21,284 with a gate of $13.5 million.

If UFC 205 surpasses that number, that means it will also set the promotion's own gate record of $12,075,000 from UFC 129 on April 30, 2011 in Toronto. That venue, though, was a stadium that held a then-UFC-record 55,724 people.

UFC 205 is headlined by a lightweight title fight between champion Eddie Alvarez and featherweight champ Conor McGregor. In the co-main event, Tyron Woodley defends his welterweight title against Stephen Thompson. Also on the card, Joanna Jedrzejczyk puts her women's strawweight belt on the line against Polish countrywoman Karolina Kowalkiewicz.

McGregor will attempt to become the first fighter in UFC history to hold two belts in two different weight classes at the same time. He's already the biggest financial draw in UFC history with three straight million-buy pay-per-views under his belt and a fourth coming. McGregor also owns four of the top five Nevada gates in MMA history.

"He's a little tough to deal with, but he's worth it," White said on the FS1 broadcast. "All the other antics and everything aside, Conor McGregor will step up and fight anybody, anywhere, any time. I've never been in a situation where somebody pulls out the week before a fight and he literally does not care who he fights."