MMA Junkie reports that Viacom is planning a pay per view by the end of the year featuring Rampage Jackson versus Roy Jones, Jr. in a boxing match. No word on the date of the PPV or if Bellator matches will support this very odd main event.
Jackson’s representatives indicated that they have been negotiating with Jones for “over seven months.” It was rumored that Anderson Silva would fight Jones if Silva defeated Chris Weidman earlier this month. In fact, Jones was in attendance at UFC 162.
Payout Perspective:
An interesting and disturbing announcement from Viacom. Interesting because we had expected that Bellator would hold a PPV (as we were informed in the Eddie Alvarez lawsuit) although we didn’t know when. We should expect that Bellator matches will be on this card and we may expect its top stars (e.g. Askren, King Mo, Chandler) to be a part. Disturbing because its decided to have a sideshow in its very first PPV. Also unfortunate since it adds another blemish to the legacy of Roy Jones, Jr’s boxing career. We forget that he was the best pound for pound fighter in the late 1990s/early 2000s. Jones last fought in 2012 in Poland when he defeated Pawel Glazewski via split decision.
aintitthetruth says
I will pay buffalo wild wings 5dollars to watch this. As long as it isn’t a pr stunt. White tried to market a tito boxing match and suckered people into watching it. plus the mayorga din thomas thing.
michael says
I mean this in a positive way: I don’t care about Roy Jones Jr’s legacy “being hurt” by that. If it’s entertaining I woukd watch it + if he wants to do it who are other people to complain about HIS image or whatever.
BrainSmasher says
Rampage is just a punching bag and has no chance to hit or make Jones miss. This guy was out struck by Bader, Jones, Evans, and Glover. He might have landed a combined 3 punches.
I knew Bellator wouldnt let me down. Every time sooner or later. These promotions always shoot themselves in the foot. They have a name they can create stars with I. Jackson. If he wins great if he does t he builds someone up. They are throwing that down the drain. At the same time they make thief MMA product lOol bad by losing to a boxer. Then to top it off they are going head to head with a huge UFC event. Jones in his prime didn’t out draw what that UFC will draw. What kind of buys can he do as a has been? Even affliction couldn’t move PPV and neither could pride. I don’t see this getting more than 50,000 buys. Most of those will be boxing fans.
Let’s not forget that Bare Knuckle Boxing is starting to run PPVs and it looks pretty good. Far better than boxing. So to much options before someone throws their money away on a pointless side show that is a forgone conclusion.
Sampson Simpson says
This Hilarious. This fight will get more mainstream coverage then UFC 168 that is for.damn sure
Chris says
Do you actually believe that Sampson?
Cause they are saying they want it on the same night as UFC 168, lets see who does more PPV buys that night.
I’m calling 1 mill UFC 168 to 100k tops for Bellator. LOL, I actually thought Bjorn/Spike/Viacom/Bellator were kind of smart with the way they ran their business, guess they want to get embarrassed head to head.
Sampson Simpson says
Why would UFC 168 do 1 million buys? Because Dana White said so and his idiot zombie followers repeat it?
The first fight did 550k. There is absolutely no data that says the rematch will almost double that.
I don’t know if you can read well but I stated that Jones-Rampage will get more mainstream coverage and it will. The general public loves this type of stuff and Viacom will push it hard.
duck says
Casual fans didn’t know who Wiedman was, they will this time, you are also forgetting that Ronda Rousey will have a full season of TUF to hype her feud with Miesha Tate and Silva-Wiedman will have a 3 part Primetime.
Roy Jones Jr can’t even get a fight on HBO, even though he works as a commentator for them, his last PPV against Bernard Hopkins did 150,000 buys 3 years ago.
bret says
Jones last PPV fight was with Chad Dawson, that did 40,000 buys. Thats not a typo either.
A pathetic freak show fight with two washed up fighters who can’t draw is not a good move.
Sampson Simpson says
Rousey-Tate is the biggest joke of all. Neither has accomplished anything in MMA
BrainSmasher says
“The first fight did 550k. There is absolutely no data that says the rematch will almost double that.”
Couture/Chuck 1 49,000 buys
Couture/Chuck 2 280,000 buys
Couture/Chuck 3 400,000 buys
The first Silva Chris fight had no media coverage. Most mainstream people didnt even know it was happening. But after the KO. It was all over every sports show and everyone was shocked. Now Chris is a name, the fight is credible and anticipated, and people know when it is happening due to the press the Silva loss got and the press the rematch will have come fight time. I would be shocked if it didnt do atleast 800K buys. But i think 1 million is reasonable.
rematches always get better and better ratings. Chuck/Tito rematch went from 100K buys to over 1 million buys. Each Tito vs Shamrock fight got more viewers than the last.
aintitthetruth says
No mainstream coverage?fools were swearing up and down in the comments section that this fight was the host hyped and promoted of the year.who would want to buy the second silva weidman ppv when the first flopped and there are rumors th at the fix was in. themainstream coverage is a sideshow of white and longo trying to convince people that it wasn’t a fluke/fixed and that people should care enough to buy a rematch. do you really think people care enough to spend and possibly waste money again? Its a miracle it got as many buys the first time around.
Sampson Simpson says
UFC folks live in such a bubble thinking the mainstream gives 2 shits about Anderson Silva or Weidman. It his pretty damn funny.
Chris says
Make sure to check back end of the year to watch Sampson who uses Meltzers numbers when they are low, watch when 168 does a huge buyrate and Sampson says UFC paid Meltzer to leak fake numbers and that his numbers are bullshit.
Chang says
RJJ PPV Buys
Jones/Hopkins in 2010 150k
Jones/Calzaghe in 2008 210k
Jones/Trinidad in 2008 500k
Jones/Tarver III in 2005 420k
Jones/Tarver II in 2004 380k
Jones/Tarver I in 2003 300k
Sampson Simpson says
Huge buyrate? What is HUGGGGGE for the UFC?
1 Million? Oh… the number that Boxing averages 3-4 times a year?
duck says
Your opinion of Rousey and Tate as fighters doesn’t matter, Rousey-Carmouche got UFC coverage in places it’s never had before and this is a bigger fight than that fight.
UFC 157 had a lot more female buyer % than any other UFC fight, so adding that to the Silva-Wiedman should add even more buys.
Brock Lesner & George St Pierre have different fan bases, one Pro Wrestling fans and the other Canadian fans and that resulted in UFC 100 doing 1.6 million buys.
Chris says
Good for boxing, they can do a million buys on a Floyd or Manny fight, the 3 PPV a year they do, cool. I’m happy for them, I like boxing, I watch Manny and Floyd.
Why do you keep bringing that shit up? You have nothing relevant to say about any topic you resort to hating, trolling and posting shit that has nothing to do with the topic.
Sampson Simpson says
Relax menstruating chris. I’m merely putting your “HUGE” hyperbole that Dana has trained you to regurgitate in perspective.
1 million buys isn’t huge for boxing. Mayweather-Alvarez on the other hand has potential to be big. “HUGE???” was Mayweather-Cotto HUGE with 1.5 million buys… 500k more than the HUUUGE 1 million buys Silva-Weidman 2 is predicted to generate by everysmall minded minion out there?
BrainSmasher says
So boxing still sucks. Just because it has a couple personalitys that are popular doesn’t make boxing any more relevant. Most of the PPV’s bought in boxing are based on nationality. Not fans wanting to watch the sport. The sport of boxing is dying and FMJ and PCman are just red herrings to mask the state of boxing all around those two. The UFC doesn’t have to run their card on Cinco De Mayo. They don’t have to cut back their number of PPV’s to boost their individual PPV event buys. However they run TONS of PPV’s and people buy every single one of them. Of course those guys in boxing sell more PPV’s. There is only a handful of PPV’s anyway. Each event in the UFC would be massive if they were only doing 10 PPV’s per year. But that would be avoiding success for a morale victory of getting a high number. There is more advantage to the sport and the business by running more events. That’s why the UFC is growing and boxing is losing ground.
Don’t worry. MMA will have all the better TV deals. Bigger fanbase, better endorsements. But as long as Boxing has that 1 or two popular guy im sure you will have something to hang your hat on.
aintitthetruth says
K-1 is the most consistantly entertaining combat sport. There’s never a dull fight.
Sampson Simpson says
HAHAHAHAHA! This idiot BRAINSMASHER is HAPPY that he is getting charged more to watch a crappy product.
He must love Red Robins