DaytonDailyNews.com

CINCINNATI — A sellout crowd made a surprisingly quiet and orderly descent on U.S. Bank Arena Saturday night for UFC 77: Hostile Territory.

It was the first UFC event held in Cincinnati, the hometown and training ground for Rich Franklin, the Main Event fighter who was trying to reclaim his middleweight title from Anderson Silva.

A line of fans, many of whom were wearing Franklin gear, stretched several hundred yards around the arena, with some waiting patiently for as long as one hour to get inside.

"This is a late-arriving crowd, but they're pretty calm," said Jim McGinnis, a fight doctor from Portsmouth who was surveying the scene.

"And it's going to stay that way," added a passing-by Cincinnati police officer, one of 21 assigned to event.

While things remained calm outside, the atmosphere was vastly different inside as soon as the lights went down at 8:15 p.m.

The crowd roared — and booed — loudly, even throughout the preliminary bouts between lesser known fighters.

Cincinnati Reds left fielder Adam Dunn and Washington Nationals right fielder Austin Kearns were among those sitting in the $400 floor seats surrounding the octagon.

"Ours cost much more than that on the open market," said front-row spectator David Bullis, who traveled 500 miles from Toronto with his friends Tyler Almond, Vince DiCaro and amateur fighter Richard "Monkey" Nancoo.

Bullis said his group paid $1,000 per seat on StubHub.com.

Other fans, such as Liberty Twp. resident Bret Boyer, went the more traditional, less-expensive route.

"We bought ours as soon as they went on sale," Boyer said of his upper-level $50 ducat. "I've been a UFC fan forever, and I can't believe they finally came to Cincinnati."

Already amped up on testosterone and beer, many in the crowd fired up even more when the first bout between Matt Grice and Jason Black ended in controversy.

Grice appeared to win handily, but the result was announced as a draw, eliciting thunderous rounds of boos from the crowd.

After interviewing Grice in the octagon, UFC color analyst Joe Rogan said, "Hold on a second, I'm getting. ... There's a mistake in the card. The decision goes to Matt Grice. Apparently, somebody can't count."

No doubt the UFC will be more accurate when tallying up its the profits.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2193 or jmorrison@coxohio.com.