UFC 148 gate and attendance break stateside record with $6,901,655 from 15,104 fans

The numbers are in (finally) for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Fourth of July weekend extravaganza and according to the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), they're good.

Very good.

UFC 148: "Silva vs. Sonnen 2," which took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on July 7, 2012, tallied a live gate of $6,901,655, thanks to a final attendance of 15,104. That equates to 13,606 tickets sold and 1,498 complimentary tickets, while just 64 seats remained empty.

And that's a UFC box office record.

Prior to last month's epic grudge match, the previous MGM record was also a main event rematch, when two of the most popular light heavyweight fighters of all time threw down at UFC 66: "Liddell vs. Ortiz 2," hauling in $5,397,300 from 13,761 in attendance.

UFC 148 cleaned up at the box office, but failed to break the promotion's pay-per-view record, estimated to be 1.6 million for UFC 100, which UFC president Dana White was expecting from his biggest fight card of the year, held during International Fight Week and in conjunction with the UFC Fan Expo in "Sin City."

It was still a solid event.

Anderson Silva was able to retain his 185-pound title after stopping Chael Sonnen in the second round (via technical knockout) amidst a sea of controversy. The challenger, who failed to capture gold for the second time against "The Spider," has rejected the idea of foul play and will not ask for a rematch.

Considering what Chris Weidman was able to do at UFC on FUEL TV 4, I doubt he would have gotten one anyway.

To see what happened at UFC 148, be sure to check out our complete event wrap up and link dump, featuring every angle you could possible explore, plus a whole lot more, by clicking here.