UFC 173: Payout Perspective

Welcome to another edition of Payout Perspective. This time around we take a look at UFC 173 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada where T.J. Dillashaw pulled off the upset of Bantamweight Champion Renan Barao.

Dillashaw upsets Barao

Renan Barao was thought of as one of the best pound for pound fighters in the UFC.  He had his way in the Bantamweight division and going through Dillashaw seemed like a sure thing especially with most odds having the former TUF cast member as an 8 to 1 underdog.  However, Dillashaw controlled the whole fight from the first round and left no doubt by finishing Barao in the fifth.

I would say Serra-GSP still is the top upset in the UFC simply because Serra had to win a reality show to get the title shot.  Dillashaw was an injury replacement but was still on the radar in the division.

The good news here is that the UFC now has a marketable U.S. Champion.  No offense to Barao, but one of the unfortunate knocks on him was that he was from Brazil and his lack of English limited his ability to reach out to the U.S. fans. Now, the UFC can rally around the underdog story of Dillashaw and maybe revive the division.

Cormier dominates Hendo 

Daniel Cormier served notice that he will be a formidable opponent for Jon Jones when and if Bones gets past his rematch with Alexander Gustaffson.  Henderson fought without TRT but that would not have mattered as Cormier totally dominated Henderson.  After winning, Cormier called out Jon Jones in a tasteful, pro-wrestling style way.

Attendance and gate

At the post-fight press conference it was announced that the attendance at the MGM Grand was at 11,036 for a gate of $1.7 million (via MMA Junkie). The number will be confirmed by the Nevada State Athletic Commission later in the week.

As we reported on Saturday, ticket demand on the secondary market was sparse.  Since 2011, it was the second least expensive ticket ($239) for a UFC event at the MGM Grand Arena.  Thus, not much demand from people that couldn’t buy (or did not want to buy) a ticket through the box office or Ticketmaster.  For those wondering, the least expensive ticket ($168) since 2011 was UFC 141 which featured Brock Lesnar versus Alistair Overeem. You may recall that it was on a Friday due to New Year’s Eve.

Bonuses

The bonuses were $50,000 each and Dillashaw received two for Fight of the Night with (Barao) and Performance Bonus of the Night.  Mitch Clarke won the other bonus with his submission over Al Iaquinta.

Pre-Fight Promotion

The UFC started new shoulder programming taking viewers behind the scenes with a series called, “Embedded.”  The series is in the same vein as HBO’s 24/7 or ESPN’s “The Life” for those that remember that show in the 2000s.  I am a fan of these behind the scene shows so I thought they were interesting although I can understand folks that think them a little tedious.

In addition, FS1 aired its usual “UFC Countdown” show along with “UFC All Angles” which was another behind-the-scenes show featuring Daniel Cormier.

Dana White was a recipient of a UFC friendly feature in the Washington Post.

Sponsors

The octagon sponsors included MusclePharm, Alienware, MetroPCS, Ultimate Poker, Air Force Reserve, Toyo Tires, EA Sports’ UFC video game (which comes out in June), Harley Davidson, the video game by Ubisoft, “Watch Dogs,” and Bud Light had the center.

Ultimate Poker had the fighter prep point.

People Finder and The Memory Tag were notable sponsors for T.J. Dillashaw as he won the Bantamweight Championship.

Odds and Ends

Popeyes Chicken crept into UFC 173 talk with the light-hearted dig at DC’s favorite fast food stop.  One of the behind-the-scenes UFC spots had Hendo delivering Popeyes to DC during a training session.  DC took it as a joke and did not seem to take real offense to Hendo’s “gesture.”  For his part, Hendo seemed to do it as a joke and less of an insult on DC’s chicken habit. There was debate as to whether the subtle undertones of racism could be scene (and used) by opponents of MMA (i.e., Culinary Union).  This seems unlikely as Cormier did not seem offended and he had admitted to liking Popeyes.

KFC, a UFC sponsor on TUF, cannot be happy with Popeyes being talked about without even having to pay.

Chico Camos sported Nike Foamposites at the weigh-ins.  It’s the second PPV in a row someone has sported the sneaks at weigh-ins.

Dana White had the most unfortunate auto-correct in a twitter debate when trying to explain that Renan Barao finishes people.  His tweet read “fishes” people. Of course, this was picked up on quickly.

It looked like slicker inset promos during the PPV hyping future events especially UFC 175.

According to Google Trends, Canada, Brazil and the United States were the top regions (in that order) searching for UFC 173.  On another note, TI-Mayweather was generating more hits than any UFC search term on Sunday.

Great scene after with Duane Ludwig and T.J. Dillashaw embracing after Dillashaw ended Barao.

Conclusion

The Memorial Day Weekend show for the UFC had been one of the company’s bigger shows of the year.  Even with last year’s big Heavyweight fights, it did not live up to expectations.  In fact, last year was down in attendance and PPV buys.  One might expect the same here.  Barao-Dillashaw was not a marquee fight going in despite the great action that occurred and Cormier-Hendo is not a main draw.  So what for the PPV buys?  It’s hard to say but 200,000 buys would be a good estimation here.