NEW YORK -- James McDonough settled into his seat in Section 315 high above Madison Square Garden with his 14-year-old son, James Jr. and his wife Linda before the start of UFC 205 on Saturday night. As far as family outings go, this would be one of their more expensive excursions of the year.

The face value of each ticket McDonough paid to watch the first-ever UFC event in New York City was $831, bringing his family's admission cost to nearly $2,500 before buying a single drink or hot dog.

"It was expensive, but I've been getting the pay-per-views ever since the UFC started," McDonough said. "I've been going to different cities and states to watch events for a while. I'm glad that it's finally here. The New York fans have been dying for this for years. This is beautiful for us. We get on the train, come up here, watch the fights and go home."

McDonough, who is a 58-year old architect from Huntington, came to the fight with his family to watch Chris Weidman, who lost to Yoel Romero in the third round on Saturday night. His son, like Weidman, trains at Matt Serra's Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Huntington.

"It's great that to finally see it live and person in New York," James Jr. said. "I love the UFC. I don't know if I want to be a UFC fighter, but it's a great experience to see it first-hand."

With the average ticket price commanding more than $1,000 and floor tickets fetching as much as $15,000 on the secondary market, UFC 205 was the hottest ticket in New York City, beating out the Broadway phenomenon "Hamilton" for at least one weekend.

Seated in front of the McDonough family on Saturday night was Patrick Power, a 29-year old UFC fan from Dublin, Ireland, with his brother, Stephen. Both of them wore green Ireland soccer jerseys and had the flag of Ireland draped over their shoulders.

"We follow Conor wherever he goes," Power said. "It's great to be here in New York. We usually have go to Las Vegas, but this has been great. I hope they have more fights here in New York."

Power said he paid $1,000 for his ticket, which is the most he has paid for a Conor McGregor fight, but said it was worth it to watch McGregor live.

"Conor is a hero back home," he said. "There's no filter with that guy. He just says whatever he thinks, and I think everyone respects that. He entertains everyone. If it wasn't for him, I don't think tickets would be as expensive as they are."

It's no secret that UFC had to make its first fight in New York City and at Madison Square Garden a big show with big names. They needed McGregor to headline the card, and outside of an early Ronda Rousey comeback, no one else was really going to cut it at the top of the marquee in Manhattan. McGregor fans travel from all over the world to see him fight, and no one can sell a show quite like McGregor when it comes to his gift of gab or penchant for throwing water bottles and chairs. He's a UFC fighter trapped in the body of a WWE promoter.

As McGregor fans passed each other in the corridors of Madison Square Garden they yelled some of McGregor's most famous press conference lines at each other.

"Who the f--- is that guy?!"

"Shut your f---ing mouth!"

"You'll do f---ing nothing!"

So it wasn't the most family-friendly environment, but then again, there weren't many families in a crowd mainly dominated heavily by the company's 18-35 demographic, many of which saved up to come to UFC 205 in New York as soon as the date was announced.

"I went to UFC 200 and it was great, but I knew I wanted to come to New York; I wanted to be a part of history," said Pablo Bustillos, a 21-year old student from Houston, who paid $1,200 for his ticket. "This is the most exciting thing in the world. I know some people think that's a lot to pay, but I love it. I know most people are here to see Conor McGregor, but I actually want to see Eddie Alvarez win."

While UFC 205 was the company's first event in New York since mixed martial arts was banned in the state 20 years ago, it will be the first of many upcoming cards that will tell how big the market will be for UFC, which was sold to WMG-IMG for $4 billion in July.

"The fight was ridiculous to get here," said UFC president Dana White, who has worked for the past 15 years to get the UFC into New York. "It should have never happened, but at the end, it made it bigger. It made it a bigger event. It made it more special. I wouldn't change it for anything in the world."

UFC Fight Night will be held in Albany on Dec. 9 and UFC 209 will be held in Brooklyn. White said the company is also looking at holding cards in Buffalo and Syracuse. UFC 205, however, was the equivalent of the company's Super Bowl, and they priced the tickets accordingly with three championship fights, headlined by McGregor, who knocked out Eddie Alvarez in the second round to become the first fighter in UFC history to hold two titles in two different weight classes.

"Conor is the biggest star and the biggest villain, and I came here to see him," said Masih Kazerouni, a 31-year-old lawyer from Irvine, California, who flew in for the event with four of his friends. "The tickets I have were selling for over $1,000. The last time I paid prices like that was when I took my dad for Father's Day to watch Cleveland and Golden State in Game 7 of the NBA Finals and that was $800. So this is more expensive than Game 7 of the NBA Finals, but this is their Game 7. This is their biggest event ever."