Welcome to another edition of Payout Perspective. This week we take a look at UFC 143 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada where Nick Diaz took on Carlos Condit for the interim welterweight belt.
Condit frustrates Diaz for interim belt
We saw the Stockton Slap but Carlos Condit executed his game plan to perfection in eluding Diaz’s boxing skills and a last round submission attempt to win the interim title. The bout was reminiscent of Frankie Edgar versus BJ Penn at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi. In that one, Edgar executed a game plan to perfection that by Round 5 you knew that the favorite was in trouble. Same here with Condit.
For Condit, a date with GSP is in the future. Despite his post-fight interview where he quit MMA, Diaz will likely be back and a Josh Koscheck fight seems about right. Even in defeat, a Nick Diaz post-fight interview is always entertaining.
Werdum outlasts Big Country
A solid debut for Fabricio Werdum who edged out Roy Nelson in a battle of BJJ black belts. A very good fight that won Fight of the Night honors. Werdum may not be ready for the top tier of this division but maybe a couple more impressive victories could earn him a return bout against Junior dos Santos.
Koscheck defeats Pierce
A closer bout than most thought. Arguably, Pierce could claim he should have won. Not sure why Josh Koscheck is such a hated man but Nick Diaz is gaining fans for being about as bad. Of course, Koscheck’s post-fight “salute” to the fans won’t help his plea for fans.
Attendance and gate
MMA Junkie reports that UFC 143 drew 10,040 fans for a gate of $2.3 million.
Bonuses
MMA Junkie also reported the fight night bonuses for UFC 143. Each fighter received $65,000.
Fight of the Night: Fabricio Werdum versus Roy Nelson
Submission of the Night: Dustin Poirer
KO of the Night: Stephen Thompson
Poirer and Thompson were the clear cut winners for their divisions as Poirer had an impressive submission and Thompson’s educated foot won him a KO.
Sponsors
The octagon included a couple new logos including the UFC’s new official corn nuts sponsor, Corn Nuts. Also, the History Channels’ new show, Full Metal Jousting. The show is from the producers of the Ultimate Fighter. It also included MetroPCS which also ran commercials during the prelims. In addition, UFC Undisputed 3 was featured as the UFC is pumping up the game for its release as you can purchase the game via GameStop. The Octagon also had its usual mainstays of Harley Davidson, Musclepharm, Tapout, Dodge and Bud Light.
The Corn Nuts sponsorship included a “corn”er cam. A nice play on words. It will be interesting to see what future activation plans it has with the UFC. MetroPCS also sponsored the Judge’s Call which occurred right before the judge’s decision.
The US Marines, as always, sponsored the Tale of the Tape for Koscheck-Pierce. RYU was also a featured sponsor although its signage was not featured.
Every time Josh Koscheck fights I’m reminded that Lugz is still around.
Roy Nelson was sponsored by the History Channel’s new show for his fight. Maybe it was fitting that his white shorts were stained with blood for “Full Metal Jousting.”
UFC Primetime
Good reviews for this set of shows. It was a little weird for the show to feature GSP’s rehab but this may have compensated for the lack of Diaz information. An interesting snippet from the last episode of Primetime: Nick Diaz didn’t know who was playing in the Super Bowl. We will try to update you with ratings if we can obtain them.
Post-UFC 143 Headlines
Condit versus GSP. Its not the matchup that most, including GSP, wanted. But we will see this fight sometime later this year. Perhaps, this is Montreal’s fight to have since its spring card was delayed. It should be a good battle although the UFC could have marketed a Diaz versus GSP fight easier. Nonetheless, the UFC could get Diaz versus Koshcheck which could get a lot of interest albeit not for a title.
What would Nick do? UFC Primetime got more out of Nick Diaz than most have seen. But, how likely would Diaz do another behind-the-scenes look after this loss. His disdain for any type of media coverage is evident. But, he’s a compelling figure that many have grown to like (or hate). Regardless of what fans think, he’s an asset for the UFC that they must manage.
Dustin Poirier may be the only hope for the 145 division against Jose Aldo. An impressive fight with some great jiu jitsu. We’ll see how he progresses.
Odds and Ends
– I liked the new intro to the PPVs. I’m wondering why they didn’t go with something like this earlier. Long live Gladiator Man.
– Good move by the UFC and Fox to go back to the weigh-ins without commentary. I think for those that tune in to watch them, they like to see and hear the whole thing rather than get analysis.
– What do you think Nick Diaz was saying to Lorenzo Fertitta right after the fight?
-Diaz said he was paid way too much for MMA in his post-fight in Octagon interview. I thought his complaint was that he wasn’t paid enough.
– It will be interesting to see the numbers for the UFC in 3D in theaters. Based on twitter, there were very positive reviews but we’ll have to see if that equates to good attendance.
– We saw the first commercials for TUF on FX.
– For those watching the Super Bowl, here’s the Kia ad with Chuck Liddell. He’s in the commercial briefly around the 1:00 minute mark.
Conclusion
A good night of fights but Diaz-Condit didn’t have the star power of GSP. The co-main events and undercard featured good match-ups but only for hardcore MMA fans. How many casual viewers knew Mike Pierce? It will be interesting to see how much the 3D in theater attendance takes away from the PPV buy rate. A buy rate above 250,000 should be considered a success.
Jason,
If 250k PPVs is a success then we’re living in a new world of lowered expectations for the UFC. Even with the injury to GSP, this was still the Superbowl card. I thought the Primetime series was pretty good and expect it to drive the popularity of the PPV. We’ll see what those ratings were and what the final PPV #s show. Big Country, Koscheck and Diaz are all solid draws, Diaz’ previous fight was one that even casual fans know about and the main event was a title fight.
I was at the fight and I was amazed at how many seats were empty. I bought my ticket just as the undercards were starting and was not starved for choice. There were seats available in every section except the cheapest. Obviously any card where GSP goes missing is irrevocably damaged, but 250k is low to me.
I agree with Jason. I think they needed at least 350k to conisder it a reasonable card, and 375 are marignal success with 400k a success.
It was a close decision for me, but I bought the fight as I am a Condit fan and really wanted to see the main event, the rest of the main card was a wash in terms of purchase, but kinda wanted to see Berrao also.
I thought it ended up being a pretty good night.
Facebook: Excellent feed quality. Thompson seems likea an exciting fighter and one I want to see gain soon. Natal, eh, was ok, fills upo a card.
FX Card: Poirer is headed towards a title shot imo in the next year (2012 or 2013), could see him as co-headliner on FX/Fuel soon or even 3rd fight on Fox card for publicity. Riddle and Brown fill cards with normally exciting fights, but not PPV card worthy, FX or Fuel quality. I dont know what to make of Cacerras fight, not one of Dean’s best decisions.
PPV: Herman is on a roll and likely for another PPV slot against top 10 (Maybe Belcher or Weidman); Berrao is redy for a title shot now, love watching him fight; Koscheck wasn’t into it and it showed, doubt he got much of a locker room bonus, maybe Fitch, Ellenberger v Sanchex winner, or Rory McDonald. Condit will not fight him before GSP and he shouldn’t. Werdum looked good, better than I remembered maybe Carwin or even Valesquez upon his return. I do not know what to do with Nelson, Carwin or Travis Browne who knows. Headliner was a good fight, very strategic. Diaz is such a freakin cry-baby but will need to wait until 201 for a rematch or GSP fight. Condit will wait for GSP.
Without GSP on the card, there was no way they would crack 500k, but 250k would jsut be too low a target to be acceptable. I also liked the Primetime specials.
MMAJunkie posted the salaries. Roy made $20k (plus FOTN bonus). That’s very little to take the kind of sustained beating he took from Werdum. I don’t know what the future holds for him, but he’s in a division where being as tough as he is can leave you seriously damaged for life. He needs to change something up ASAP.
@Diego,
Yes, I think we may have to re-calibrate our expectations. There are a lot of UFC cards happening right now. We could see a rebound with the Atlanta card in April with 145 as Evans/Jones will have had ample pub for it. The preceding week is the UFC from Sweden but prior to that there’s almost a month w/o UFC live events.
Also key, almost two months of not having to purchase a UFC PPV. I think that’s a good thing. Consumers need a break too.
Also, here is the link to the salaries via Junkie.
Nelson made 20k+20k win for beating Cro Cop which was up from the 15k he earned for getting beaten up by Mir and 15k from the Dos Santos fight. Did not see salaries for FN21 when he beat Stuve, but earned $30k KO of the Night bonus. This should be the last of his 5 fight contract for winning TUF (20k, 20k, 15k, 15k, ?k) unless it was 6 fights. I think he needs to get down to 205, just not sure if he can do it. He does come to fight, so I think he will always have a place in UFC.
My prediction is 350,000 buys. Anything over that and I’d guess they’ll be really pleased. They would be making nice money with that buyrate. There were only 4 pro boxing cards in all of 2011 that drew more than that (Mayweather, Pacuiao twice and Cott’s fight against Margarito). When you consider the likely profit margin on the card exceeding the margin of Cotto-Margarito, I dare say that there were only three more profitable boxing pay-per-view events last year. That ain’t too shabby for a main event that featured two welterweights with only one event of PPV headlining experience between them. Also consider this, the sports bar closed circuit buys (not counted in home PPV estimates) bring in substantial revenue. The company that does the sales, Joe Hand Promotions, charges an average of at least $1,200 per buy. My sources say they did well over 3,500 buys in North America. That’s $4,200,000. If Zuffa keeps that it equates to $2,100,000 of additional revenue in addition to the home PPV buys they get. That’s a big advantage for MMA over boxing that few journalists have brought up. Usually only Mayweather and Pacquiao fights sell big-time to sportsbars. After that it’s a gigantic dropoff.
Sorry, meant to say “If Zuffa keeps half that…..”
@Weezy
Pretty funny to see you bring the boxing comparison completely out of thin air for no reason. You sure seem like a Zuffa employee trying to mask the obvious… UFC has problems and is losing growth FAST.
The tell tale sign is the degradation of your ticket prices for FOX shows. Trying to encourage real fan participation with heavily marked down tickets? Something sure seems strange about it all… why take such a hit on your reported “live gates” just to make sure you have a crowd there?
Word has it that suspect numbers and tactics have driven the UFC’s perceived growth.
They key is sustainability. The product has too many flaws and limitations…
Sampson, I am very far from being an employee of Zuffa or any professional sports organization. I have promoted boxing events, however, and use that as a reference point because that’s what I have experience in. I don’t deny that 2011 was a lower year revenue-wise for Zuffa than 2010’s record-setting year. The new television contract should help a lot with that this year. If I’m wrong about Zuffa’s prospects for success with this television deal, it will be easy to falsify. They simply won’t receive a larger deal within the next few years. However, I’m willing to bet that I am correct. You seem to disagree. We’ll see who is correct. Zuffa brought in more money from live gates in 2011 than in any prior year. It was pay-per-view revenue that was down. Also, Zuffa had so many more $1 million + live gates than any other combat sport that it’s not even close. You’re right. The key is sustainablility. The costs for MMA are much more sustainable in the long run, in my humble opinion, especially when considering the revenue opportunities. Both MMA and boxing are doing well and have room for long-term sustainablilty.
Sampson,
Weezy used boxing to as a comparison to explain why he felt that a buy rate of 350k could be seen as a success. I agree with him, though it’s a come down from the kinds of numbers we previously expected from the UFC. If the UFC can average 350k PPVs and $2M+ gates for their big cards (all 16 p.y. of them) then not only is that business model sustainable, but it’s damn profitable as well (last year they averaged ~420k per card, in 2010 ~580k). Oh yeah, let’s not forget all the merchandising. I don’t see too many people running around with Top Rank or Golden Boy sweatshirts. And I nearly forgot the $100M or so a year the UFC gets from Fox. Bob Arum would give his right nut for that deal.
The way the business is set up today, it’s already immensely profitable. If it contracts in the future it can still be very (not immensely) profitable.
“Word has it that suspect numbers and tactics have driven the UFC’s perceived growth.”
Whose word might that be? If Weezy “sure seem[s] like a Zuffa employee trying to mask the obvious” then I have to wonder who you are. Bob? Is that you? Stop posting on the interwebs and make the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight already.
By the way Bob, papering the crowd when ticket sales are soft is a good way to drum up interest in future PPVs. The UFC policy is that once you see one live card you become a fan for life. You give away a ticket you weren’t going to sell, and in return have someone buying your product for many years to come. Offering deep discounts in a soft market is a strategy used in every industry from consumer goods, to automobiles to services. You should look into it.
IMO the balance between the FOX deal, maximizing PPV revenue, and combating online piracy will all lead to problems with the current business model.
It’s hard to get people to shell out PPV dollars for events with their counter-parts air on free TV and free accessible streams. Technology will really be a problem for the UFC compared to boxing as the younger fan base is much more keen on finding free ways to view the product.
@Weezy You state that you have promoted boxing events so you must understand that a Zuffa produced product has a MUCH higher overhead cost than a boxing event does in terms of staff and marketing.
UFC spends alot more on details, production, and marketing than any boxing promoter does today. The boxing promoter of today is largely just a shell firm that brokers and negotiates deals with third-party firms.
The revenue streams might look significant when looking at their disclosed fighter payroll but nobody knows what their other costs look like.
IMO, the product has too many flaws to make it sustainable. Too complicated for the average person to understand.
If you’re arguing that MMA has a ceiling of how high it can go in American popular culture I agree wholeheartedly, always have. This sport isn’t for everybody. I never thought it would reach one third of the popularity it has. If it never gets any more popular it will have exceeded my expectations. I totally agree about Zuffa having higher corporate costs but they also have higher corporate sponsorship revenue. Couple that with much higher merchandising revenue and it is still in a favorable position. Again, don’t take my word for it. Let’s let the next five years play out. If you’re right, Zuffa will see substantial contraction. If I’m right, overall revenue will continue to grow.
Sampson is an idiot. It is hard to compete with free tv. Tiks have to be cheaper. During a PPV you have to pay whether you go to the event or not. Plus the free events are much lower quality. They do not have the fighters with the same following.
Weezy
On Joe Hands site they mention they are getting lose to 2,000 companies using their survice for the UFC. I remember seeing it a few weeks ago. But it could be something they just havent updated in a long time.
UFC 143 buy rate prediction:
I think it will sell over 400K buys. I dont think it will hit 500K but i wouldnt be surprised to see high 400K either. So 425 -475. Diaz as much as i hate him is polorizing and bnrings in people to see him lose or to win. Title fights always sell well and having the Prime time to push it always helps. The Super bowl weekend helps too. If this was under 400K i think it would be a huge let down for the UFC due to the amount of money that went into it with the Prime time. Even though the card was extremely weak. The weakest PPV card i can ever remember.
@Weezy It should be interesting to see how it all plays out. I’m in the mecca of MMA in the U.S. and the interest has decreased significantly. I have a friend who used to work with Joe Hand and he said that the commercial buy rates have fallen off a cliff for UFC buys by bars & restaurants. Many of these establishments have stated that UFC fans are cheap and don’t buy much throughout the events.
I just feel the overall product will adjust and we will see more Condit-Diaz type affairs or LNP fights which will drastically stunt the intrigue of the sport to new fans. UFC was originally in a huge growth phase due to sloppy stand-up and highlight reel knockouts. Now if we see guys use tactics to win without getting putting themselves at risk, it’ll be a less aesthetically pleasing version of boxing.
@BS… your name speaks for itself. Cain Velasquez vs. JDS is a free event of lower quality? The UFC heavyweight championship is a low quality event? WOW. That’s a HUGE statement if that’s the way these Zuffa fan boys feel.
Guess what? Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko BOTH fight on FREE tv in Germany and they due over 6 & 7 million dollar live gates. Your theory is small-minded and EXTREMELY flawed.
BS,
As usual your emotions get the better of your reason. Diaz v. Condit is the weakest PPV you can remember? Try to stretch that memory a bit. I can think of many that were worse. The cards on Fox have been PPV quality – championship and title eliminator fights with well known fighters. Do you think Fox is going to give the UFC a wheelbarrow full of cash and a Saturday night billing for a mediocre card?
Sampson,
The aesthetic differences you describe between boxing and MMA are fairly subjective. I think aesthetically the two sports are similar. A boring MMA fight is no more or less boring than a boring boxing match. The UFC has learned to stack cards in order to ensure that some excitement gets through. The fact that fights are either three or five rounds also forces the pace (which I love about kickboxing as well) – you don’t get two guys dancing around for 6 rounds before someone decides he would like to win the fight. Yes, Condit-Diaz did not live up to expectations, but where you asleep for Werdum-Nelson? That fight was ridiculous.
There are also many more jiu jitsu and MMA gyms in the US than boxing gyms these days. MMA has already shown sustainability. Whether the UFC is sustainable remains to be seen, though I think it is. MMA, in some form, and with a fan base of a certain size is here to stay.
@Diego
I agree that to knowledgeable fight fans, a boring MMA fight is no more or less boring than a boring boxing match.
However, the perceived comprehension of both by the casual viewer is where I’m making my point. This is coupled with the expectations by the UFC marketers that MMA is the new, NON-boring form of boxing/combat on tv.
A boring boxing match is blamed on the combatants of the sport.
A boring MMA match can have a combination of combatants and/or rules (to the casual viewer who knows nothing about fighting other than punching or kicking).
I live in the SF Bay Area and there are many more pure boxing gyms then there are pure MMA gyms. This is a statistical fact. Jiu Jitsu has many gyms for sure but to compare it as a Pay-Per-View sport with boxing is incomparable.
This thread has touched on a lot of topics!
I’d like to say sth about boring mma/boxing/kickboxing bouts, in that I’d like to say that MMA is in general the most exciting combat-Sport to watch because…
I think that if you look at one fight by itself, an mma-bout might even be the worst to look at. Be it a fight where nothing happens, or a lnp-one sided match without any real initiative, or (worst) some of those fights that are just a display of incredibly bad standup (mayhem/bisping or nate/cowboy were pathetic! imo).
In K1 you get so see only standup at it’s best level, a good'(!) boxing match is great to watch, even if it’s technical. Because the guys are so fast and boxing especially because the camera-work works best with boxing (where they sometimes have the close-up angle from the waist up plus in boxing and K1 they can film through the ropes and they tend to show wider angles where you see more footwork). But it’s always more of the same.
I think, watching ufc99 live in cologne, is that an mma-Card is way more entertaining because every fight is different!! If I had to watch an hour of combat sports everyday, I’d pick MMA because it’s the most diverse, even if some fights on a card are lame, but in the end you never know, how a fight will play itself out.
(hard to believe, people watch tennis, that’s always the same stuff 😀 just kidding )
Meltzer says the early trend is 400K buys. Also Fuel prelims are already doing almost five times the viewers Facebook averaged.
Sampson
Your Joe Hand comments are made up bullshit. It isa a fact that the MMA demograhic is bigger spenders by far. As everyone can confirm there is very few bars who quit showing UFC events. In fact where i am more an dmor ebars are showing the UFC than ever before. I find it very funny you have a friend that “USED” to work for Joe Hand and that some where gets you current client information. Information that just happens to support your anti MMA/UFC opinion. lol
MMA Demo
http://mmapayout.com/2009/11/mma-demographic-young-wealthy-high-tech/
The Santos/Cain fight was a last minute event that was thrown together with pieces from a PPV. THe main evetn was good but the UFC knew the rest of the card wasnt being shown and they just put anyone who would fight on it. Also it was the second card in a week a Ca. Of course the ticket prices will be low. It has always been the case with the UFC to sell Tickets real cheap to free tv events. They did the saem at the absolute peak and they do it now. So using it as some proof the UFC is in trouble is stupid to be blunt.
UFN 3
Jan 2006
Attendance 1,008
UFN 5
June 2006
Attendance 606
UFN 9
April 2007
Attendance 1734
UFN 13
April 2008
Attendance 6,742 [1]
Total gate $753,429
Avg. $111
UFN 14
July 2008
Attendance 2071
UFN 18
April 2009
Attendance 10267
Average ticket price was $60
UFC on Fox
Nov 2011
Attendance 11,607
As you can see Free UFC events started out in small Arenas infront of a few thousand people, sometimes a few hundred people. When the UFC started putting them in larger Arena’s the cost of the tickets were always cheap. The UFC has only booked Arena’s over 6,000 a few times and each time the ticket prices were cheap. The Cain/Santos event was in a 18,000 seat Arena. By far the largest the UFC has ever used for a free event. Not only did the UFC get their highest attendance for a free tv event ever. But it was also at a average ticket price higher than all the other free events at a large venue. When you are setting records for the company that is hardly a negative sign. You keep comparing a free event to a PPV. Im sure you get lots of useful information comparing apples and oranges.
Diego
The Diaz undercard was crap. The main event was fine. And i could really careless if it is weak because i buy all of the events. But there was no quality in the rest of the card. Look at the co-main event. It was Werdum vs Nelson. Nelson has lost so many recently they are talking about releasing him. Werdum was coming off a loss. A great fight on paper but not co main event worthy. This is a fight that would typically open up the PPV broadcast. The only other meaningful fighter on the card was Koscheck who was fighting a unranked guy who has looked average in his last 2 fights coming into the fight. The rest were all little known prospects and filler. For a Las Vegas Super bowl PPV it was crap. I dont mind them giving a good fight then 9 other showcase fights. I was at UFC 68 and they did the same thing. There was 1 meaningful fight and the rest were showcase fights. But even in Ohio we got a card stacked with well known fighters. We got Couture vs Sylvia and got to see Franklin, Hughes, Babalu, Lytle, Kampman, Hamill, Fitch, etc. Not to mention a few others that would be big names compared to 143’s card. 143 had Diaz vs Condit. After that you have Werdum, Nelson, Koscheck, and Herman. That is a good card for a UFN. But not a Super Bowl weekend card in Vegas that you built with a Prime time show. The UFC sold the main event and the rest was filler.
Forgot to mention:
“. Do you think Fox is going to give the UFC a wheelbarrow full of cash and a Saturday night billing for a mediocre card?”
Do you not remember the original card for UFC on Fox 2? Sonnen was supposed to fight Munoz. A fight Munoz had almost no chance to win. With equal as much chance of being exciting. Bisping was supposed to fight Maia. I dont think i have to tell you Maia’s chances of beating Bisping. Thats 2 fighters with very little mainstream name value fighting uncompetitive match ups. BTW, Saturday Nights are typical poor ratings nights. So it isnt exactly Half time of the super bowl. I highly doubt that Fix is putting much pressure on the UFC to stack their Fox cards. Any card the UFC puts out there will beat anything that Fox was going to show anyway.
BS,
I disagree – Saturday nights often have very solid sports programming. It’s not a throw-away night for Fox where they are just happy for any viewership.
I think the numbers disagree. The UFC numbers always blow away the normal num bers they used to get in that time slot. The UFC also beats everything else on the other networks that night. It is the week days that networks put on their best sitcoms and drama’s.
Look at when Amrican Idol airs, wednesday. Criminal Minds, Modern Family, CSI. All on Wednesday between 8-10 and all getting 11 million to 19 million viewers.
UFC on FOX 2 would have been 10th in total viewers on Tuesday between 8-10. 12th on Wednesday. 12th on Monday.
I didnt say Saturday is a throw away. But it is one of the worst if not the worst Prime time night on network TV. My point with that is the UFC doesnt need to roll out the big guns to be a success for Fox. They could put Strange Brew vs Andy Wang as the main event and still draw 3 million viewers and would be the 2nd highest rated show that night. Fox woudl still be happy.
Well-trained Zuffa shill you are…
Keep doing what you do, I just hope you’re getting paid to do it.
At around 400,000 PPV’s, UFC 143 did pretty well from a business standpoint–especially in such a bad economy.
The UFC continues with its PrimeTime series, which markets the individual fighters and makes their names grow in the public eye. This human interest approach pays dividends in the long run since it creates ‘Names’ which can carry PPVs.
As I have mentioned before, the UFC is currently in a long transition from PPV to free TV. In addition, this is happening in bad economic times when discretionary cash for PPVs is scarce, just as the number of PPVs has been increasing.
The PPV numbers are only the tip of the iceburg when assessing how many viewers actually saw a UFC event, via PPV, free TV, or illegal streaming. Since this broad total number is so elusive, and difficult to quantify, often commentators will come to erroneous conclusions regarding the popularity of the UFC and the sport of MMA.
In my view, the challenge facing the UFC is in monetizing this wide, and uncounted viewership. For example, some commentators have called UFC Rio a ‘flop’ judged solely by PPV estimates–somehow ignoring the millions of Brazilians watching the event on free TV in Brazil. I have heard no word as to how much the UFC obtained from Brazilian TV networks–but based on even the most conservative estimates, UFC Rio was a smash hit–in Brazil.
It will take time, but I am fairly sure the UFC will reap large rewards from the success in Brazil. The next few years will be difficult for the UFC as it transitions slowly to free TV. The transition can only happen when Zuffa makes more money from network deals than from PPVs. It is possible that the UFC will reserve a few mega fights for PPVs in the future, but once they are on free TV, they will be able to monetize their viewership through ad revenues generated to TV networks globablly.