UFC official: Economic crisis in Brazil cause for low attendance at UFC Fight Night 67

Attendance was incredibly low for the UFC's return trip to Goiania, Brazil.

Saturday's Fight Night card drew approximately 3,500 fans, a far cry from the promotion's first event held at the Goiania Arena back in November of 2013, when they boasted a crowd of 10,565.

A myriad of factors likely contributed to the drastic tumble in attendance, including the relative mainstream weakness of Saturday's main event. Carlos Condit-Thiago Alves doesn't really capture the Brazilian public's imagination like Vitor Belfort-Dan Henderson, which headlined the UFC's first foray into Goiania.

Giovani Decker, the UFC general manager in Brazil, says there was a much larger reason for the event's relative lack of success.

"We know Brazil is going through an economic crisis," Decker said at the post-fight press conference, according to MMAFighting.com's Guilherme Cruz. "That reflects in all areas of the economy, so also reflects here in the events. On the other side, in terms of pay-per-view numbers on Combate, we’re reaching historical numbers. If we didn’t do good numbers today, MMA continues to do historical numbers in other sides. We’re doing fine, thanks."

The UFC even pulled a Brazilian event from their schedule recently, moving the TUF: Brazil 4 finale from Sao Paulo to Miami, Fla.

"We will do one less card with this event going from Sao Paulo to Miami," Decker said. "We had an issue on this card. Like I told you when I entered the UFC two months ago, we want better cards, but we couldn't get the fight the main event deserved. We moved this card to Miami, which has a big Brazilian and Cuban communities, but UFC Brazil will do the entire event. All sponsors from TUF Brazil will have the same rights as if it was here in Brazil."

It won't be long before Brazil hosts another event, though, with UFC 190 - featuring a main event between Ronda Rousey and Bethe Correia - set to take place at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro on Aug. 1.