Mixed martial arts fans turned out en masse last night in Houston, Texas, for the first-ever UFC event in the Lonestar State.

In fact, approximately 15,269 spectators packed the Toyota Center and paid a collective $2.8 million to watch UFC 69, according to the Houston Chronicle.

It was well worth the price of admission -- there were brawls, submissions and huge upsets.

For the sake of comparison consider these other attendance records:

• UFC 66 -- $5.4 million
• UFC 57 -- $3.3 million
• UFC 68 -- $2.8 million

Texas is in some pretty decent company. Hopefully, it's a signal that even bigger things are on the horizon.

All-in-all it was an entertaining evening of action from my green couch. I can't imagine what it was like inside that arena.

For some of the best coverage of the event I encourage you to read some of the stuff Steve Seivert has over at his Brawl Sports blog.

He's got post-event interviews and recaps that are solid.