Dana White expects UFC 217 to do 1m pay-per-view buys and rake in $50m from the US

Dana White is confident that the upcoming UFC 217 card on 4 November in Madison Square Garden, New York will do very well financially.

After the strong end to 2016 which saw UFC 207 on 30 December headlined by Ronda Rousey's return do 1.1m buys, the MMA organisation have struggled to emulate the numbers in 2017.

Only one pay-per-view event has done better than 300,000 buys this year which was the UFC 214 card in July (860,000 buys) that saw Jon Jones return to take on Daniel Cormier for the light heavyweight title in their much-awaited rematch.

The last two pay-per-views in UFC 215 and 216 have only disappointingly managed a reported combined 220,000 pay-per-view buys as the Las Vegas-based company struggle with the absence of Rousey and Conor McGregor.

However, White believes UFC 217 will turn the tide in an event that will be headlined by Georges St-Pierre's return to the octagon for the first time since 2013 as he takes on Michael Bisping for the middleweight title.

"We've done very well in New York," White said on Varney & Co. "New York's been very good to us and it's good to be back at the Garden."

"And yes, pay-per-view does very well. We're expecting a big number. Georges St-Pierre is a big star. We will do a million buys for this fight."

White also added that the pay-per-view price will be $50 (£37.6) so UFC 217 will be looking at potential revenues of $50m (£37.6m) from the US alone, which would make it the most successful event of the calendar year by far.

Other fights on the Madison Square Garden card include a highly-anticipated bantamweight title fight between champion Cody Garbrandt and TJ Dillashaw as well as a women's strawweight title bout between champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Rose Namajunas.

The UFC will follow the event with huge end-of-year cards at UFC 218 and 219, both of which take place in December.