MMA Fighting reports the PPV buys for UFC 173 is in the 200K to 215K range. UFC 173 was the Memorial Day weekend show which saw TJ Dillashaw upset Renan Barao.
According to Dave Meltzer’s report, the PPV buy rates are based on independent sources.
Last 5 Memorial Day Weekend UFC PPVs
5/29/10 – UFC 114: Evans vs. Rampage 1,000,000
5/28/11 – UFC 130: Rampage vs. Hamill 325,000
5/26/12 – UFC 146: Dos Santos vs. Mir 560,000
5/25/13 – UFC 160: Cain vs. Bigfoot II 380,000
5/24/14 – UFC 173: Dillashaw vs. Barao 200,00-215,000
PPV buys via MMA Payout Blue Book
Payout Perspective:
The UFC 173 PPV buy rate number was to be expected. A combination of factors contributed to this number but the lack of star power and the fact that weight classes under 155 do not draw PPV buys are the two main reasons. Obviously a lot has changed since 2010 in the UFC. There are a lot more cards and a lot more MMA on television. Fans can pick and choose when they want to pay $55 for fights. But, the PPV buy trend reflects the decreasing buy rates. Not only was this year low, but UFC 160 did less than the prior year.
Down down down….hahahaha
200k PPV buys from a division the UFC made out of thin air a couple years ago. How many boxers can sell 200k buys?
Buy rate is low, but predictable. I’m guessing 100-125k for 174. BS yes, the UFC brand is what sold the PPV, not the actual fights. How long will that continue to last though? This core group keeps diminishing with every unspectacular PPV that is put on. Have you read comments from hardcores who bought 174? Even they regret it.
A paid event sold at a premium, should be premium. 2014 PPVs are not, and we see it in the numbers. PPVs are getting dangerously close to the quality of the “good” cards put out for free on cable.
Dana keeps saying they could never put on enough fights – I couldn’t disagree more. The fan base they built over the last 5 years is vanishing.
@leon
” Have you read comments from hardcores who bought 174? Even they regret it.”
Did you happen to visit the sherdog forums after 174? The wave of regret, depression and just general complaining that flowed through that place was awe inspiring.
I remember when white said ” we saw everything Boxing did and did the opposite” lol Yeah you sure did Dana. Floyd Mayweather is the highest paid athlete in the world for like the 5th straight year and the most a UFC Fighter has made in one fight in this this “thriving business” is 5 million dollars. Ratings are tumbling as well. So long jerk off.
Tops trolling at maxium. Small event small buys. 175 bigger event more buys.
Leon,
Yeah, the fans are vanishing. That is why 6 months ago they did a ppv that did over a million buys. 2013 was a very big year for them ppv wise. The only reason why their numbers are down this year is because their 2 biggest stars are out.
173 was a very good ppv. The Dillashaw-Barao fight was an excellent fight. 174 shouldn’t have been ppv, I agree, but it was only 1 ppv that was FOX material, let’s not get carried away. I seem to remember Broner-Maidana get scrapped because the promoters knew it wouldn’t even crack 200k buys and most likely would have done under 100k. Broner is a relatively big name in boxing whereas the 135 and 125lb title holders are barely even recognizable. Boxing wishes they could do 200k buys with no namers to the casuals. I do agree though they have to keep Johnson’s title fights on FOX unless the undercard is loaded.
Fightbusiness proving what kind of idiotic troll he is again. Hey genius, you do realize that Mayweather co-promotes his own fights. Why don’t we compare bank accounts of the Fertittas to that of Mayweather, idiot? If you really want to see buy rates tumble though, just wait until Mayweather retires which will be in a little more than a year from now. The boxing ppv’s will nose dive like nothing we’ve ever seen and then there will be even more boxing trolls on here crying about how their sport has lost even more ground to mma. Hahaha.
I don’t know if the fans are vanishing, I think overall views of the UFC are up across all mediums. It’s just that with so much MMA out there, and so much of it free, fans are more judicious about buying PPVs. I don’t see evidence of a diminishing fan base, I see evidence of oversaturation.
Big cards still do solid PPV numbers (as in boxing) but you can’t have two big cards a month. It just won’t work.
@Diego,
Indeed it’s hard to compare apples to oranges, ie. Spike TV (less events) and 2M + viewers, and FS1 (more events) and 800k viewers. Just made that up for example… However, I get the general feeling MMA is on the decline in North America, from it’s peak in 2008-2010 era. Less stars to follow, less things to talk about with the casual viewer, less interest overall. I’m confident that 4 years ago it would’ve been easier to strike a casual conversation with a stranger than it is today, but I can’t prove it.
@D
Let’s be honest, the Rousey/Silva PPV is by no means “average” or the norm. That was a fluke PPV that occurs once every few years. And yes, the stars are gone from the UFC, and the UFC has showed no evidence that they have any replacements on the horizon. UFC 170, 172, 173, and 174 all had pretty mediocre main cards. You can’t tell me these are PPV worthy fights:
Stephen Thompson def. Robert Whittaker
Mike Pyle def. TJ Waldburger
Max Holloway def. Andre Fili
Jim Miller def. Yancy Medeiros
Takeya Mizugaki def. Francisco Rivera
Schaub vs Arlovski and much of 174
Theres more too I didn’t list.
@Leon, you may want to reevaluate what a fluke is and you are wrong that a fight like that happens only once every few years. They also had the GSP-Diaz fight that did close to a million last year as well. Plus all of the other ppvs that did over 400k buys. There will always be replacements on the horizon, we may already see one right now in Weidman. I remember everyone saying that when Liddell/Ortiz/Shamrock/Couture retired.
174 shouldn’t have been ppv, but that is the only one. You do realize that all of their big fights are coming up. They weren’t expecting big numbers from any of those fights that you mentioned.
How many fights have been >1M buys in UFC history? That’s what I meant. Perhaps fluke was the wrong choice of word.
Also I’m not expecting big #s from the rest of the fights this year. I would say 175 will be lucky to break 500k. Weidman has a looong way to go to becoming a star.
There have been 7 ufc ppvs that hit 1m+ buys in the last 8 years. There have also been 4 that went over 900k+ buys. You said that happens once every few years which simply isn’t true. And if they loaded their cards and only had 4 ppvs per year like boxing has in the past, they would be doing just as many.
175 should definitely break 500k buys. Weidman is already some what of a star, it won’t take long for him to hit GSP/Silva status if he keeps winning.
You are also forgetting that Gus-Jones should be the biggest ppv of the year. Cain still has his fight against Werdum that should do pretty good. There probably will be another mw title fight later in the year too.
I don’t see them doing any million+ ppvs this year, but they will still have a few ppvs that do over 500k buys.
What do you think the boxing ppv numbers will look like when Mayweather and Pacqauio retire? Here’s a hint, they will take a worse drop than the UFC’s.
Yawn! Excuses excuses. All ufc poop shoot boys do is vew things in the rear view mirror. Ufc what have you done for me latley? Not 6 months ago and not 5 years ago. What are they going to do today and tomorrow? Down size and recreate yourself and make some real stars, not some reality tv crap bs star. Fight fans arnt buying what you’re selling. Look out because now dana will try to out do bellator and end up digging himself into a bigger hole. Watch viacom end up buying the ufc
So what is 174 going to be 75k bahahah
DaQueef attempting to take top troll status away from Sampson/Topps.
Arum’s really stepping up his propaganda attacks huh, you little queen?
News flash for the ufc poop shoot boys. Boxing could easily come close to doubling ufc ppv numbers in 14 ouch that hurts bahahaha
You just proved my point.
You are beyond delusional.
Not bad for a not so good product.
UFC is in a tough spot. Make just enough to keep a product on PPv… While having just too little viewers to actually grow the audience.
Boxing has been down this road for decades on channels that are in less than 1/3 of homes in the US.
D- stop it with your nonsense. They said PPV’s would fall when Delahoya retired also. Did that happen? GGG is on the way. Trust me Boxing will be fine. Your Fertita/ Mayweather comparison is ridiculous and yes if you soley look at the money the Fertitas are making in the UFC I guarantee you Mayweather is more liquid since he has almost no overhead. The Fertitas are not making 80 million annually in pure profit from the UFC. A better comparison would be the UFC verse HBO. HBO makes more in pure profit from Boxing than the UFC does.
All you spew is nonsense.
That is because those guys made a name off of De La Hoya by beating him. The reverse isn’t the case because Mayweather isn’t losing and there is no one on the horizon that can do what he did. Part of what helps him draw this huge numbers is his winning. Canelo does not have the talent to consistently win against the top level competition. You could make the argument he even lost to Trout. He isn’t a great boxer.
Also, I don’t trust you because you are an idiot. When Mayweather retires, boxing will take a huge dropoff in ppv. I don’t even see why this would be a debatable issue. It is as clear as day.
HAHAHAHAHA. The Fertittas are billionaires you idiot. Go look it up. Also, Mayweather definitely does have overhead. He puts up his own money for his fights. He also grosses a fraction of what the ufc does. It isn’t even comparable. And YES, they definitely make well over 80million annually in pure profit from the UFC, probably much more than that. Probably closer to 200m. They generated close to 700m last year in gross, they get the lion’s share of the take as you guy’s love to point out against the fighters, and they own around 70% of the company.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! HBO makes more in pure profit form boxing?????? HBO makes almost nothing off of ppv revenue. They have to rely off of tv and it isn’t tas much as what Zuffa is making. You are an idiot that doesn’t have a clue what you are talking about. Get outta here with your trolling boxing propaganda.
Here is the biggest problem for the UFC and something they are unwilling to change/accept for whatever reason; The brand alone used to guarantee around 350k buys, that is the reason why many contracts don’t actually give any PPV points to the top fighters unless the event sells more than that number. That is no longer the case, slowly but surely the UFC has killed its PPV structure by flooding the market with endless crappy/watered-down cards. As far as their TV ratings go, well, it has gotten to a point where now the main card draws the same numbers as their prelims.
When even hard-core fans find themselves unwilling to invest their time on a free card then you know you have problems. Dana White is stuck in 2009 and unwilling to get his head out of his ass and smell reality.
Sal daQueef go to boxing payout.com
Logical, that isn’t accurate. The difference is there is way more free content plus the entire ppv industry is down.
Although I do completely agree that once in a while, they should put some of these low profile fights on free tv like the 125lbers, most of their ppvs are still high quality. I don’t see how they killed their ppv structure either seeing how they had one of their best years ever last year, despite the fact that a few of their ppv’s bombed. The primary reason why their numbers are down is because GSP/Silva are gone. It won’t take long to replace them and when they do the numbers will go back up to what they were last year.
As for the tv ratings, they are low primarily because they are primarily on Fox Sports which is a relatively new channel that does poor ratings as a whole.
Anti Troll, if he did that, then he wouldn’t be the diabetic troll that he is.
D- You have SOOOOO many excuses its pathetic. You also use words like idiot and dummy alot which shows me you are defensive because your arguments are weak. Keith Thurman, Glovokin, Andre Ward, and the enivitable sleeper will all be pay per view stars in due time. The Fertitas dont make 200 million a year in pure profit from the UFC. Stop it with your lies. That would make the UFC a 5 billion dollar company. HBO makes 5 BILLION a FUCKIN YEAR!!! 1/3 of those subscribers specifically sign up for Boxing. whats 1/3 of 5 Billion? This doesnt even include Showtime. LOL
http://qz.com/174043/netflix-might-have-more-subscribers-but-hbo-makes-more-money/
Why are the free FOX cards available in 115 million households viewed so poorly?
I mean they get outdrawn by reruns of Cops. Isn’t that embarrassing?
Word has it that UFC 174 did less than 100,000 buys.
That is NOT a good sign.
Dw….trying to be funny with tyson….hahaha…once again using boxing..no star athlete in the ufc roster….typical dw…mentions the nba the nfl etc…..ufc people will use the line that what if this athlete (popular) step into the octagon? They wont because ufc pays sooooooo. LOW….its a cheapie league in sports!! hahahaha…nw sinking
Fightbusiness, I’m not giving excuses, I’m giving facts. All you do is compare apples to oranges and exaggerate everything imaginable. You call my arguments weak, yet everytime you post a stat, I debunk it like the time I did on here with you fabricated Jon Jones and Floyd Mayweather ppv numbers. And I call you an idiot, because you are a troll that deserves it.
ANDRE WARD????? HAHAHAHA!!! This guy has been in the top p4p list for years and still never headlined a ppv. Are you serious? Another one of your delusions. Keith Thurman is no where yet and if he does become a star, it will be a long time, certainly longer than it will for Mayweather to retire.
Stop with my lies? You guys are so dumb it is unreal. If they are bringing in close to 700m per year and they don’t pay their fighters much as you guys love to point out, why on Earth would that be so hard to comprehend? They definitely make around that figure, it may actually be even more. They run their business with very low overhead. Their biggest cost now is probably the money they’ve invested into expansion.
“Stop With Your Lies” HAHAHAHA!!! HBO BOXING DOES NOT MAKE ANYWHERE FUCKING NEAR A BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR YOU IDIOT!!!! And if you think 1/3rd of the subscribers are getting HBO specifically for boxing you have autism. More statistics manufactured in your delusional mind. You are so full of shit.
James(sampson, sam, topps, and many others), isn’t it embarrassing that you use an endless amount of aliases in a pathetic attempt to troll a website?
Also, word is that those voices in your head giving you statistics aren’t real.
D- I just posted an article that said HBO makes 5 billion annually. Did you not see it in my previous post? And yes at let 1/3 of HBO subscribers get it just because of Boxing. Premium content makes a shitload of money. Thats how Sirius was able to pay Howard Stern 500 million dollars.
james- How what source sited 100k ppv buys for UFC 174. I’m getting gitty. Dont tease me.
By the way fightbusiness, literally maybe 1%-2% of HBO or Showtime subscribers sign up specifically for boxing. Also, in case you would like to know, that isn’t some fabricated number that I pulled out of my ass, like you did. It comes from the amount of viewers against the amount of subscribers.
Makes the “stop it with your lies” comment even more amusing.
You suffer from delusions of grandeur fightbusiness. You lie as much as Dana White/Bob Arum and Richard Schaeffer combined.
Also, James is Sampson, so just ask Sampson which voice told him it drew under 100k buys.
Yes, Fightbusinessdelusions, I saw your source that said HBO AS A WHOLE generated 5b per year. The boxing division is dwarfed by tv and movies though. It isn’t even its own category, it falls under sports. Where do you see anything in that article about how much they are generating in boxing revenue specifically? The rest of your delusions about the 1/3rd subscribing for boxing is so beyond wrong. Do you know anything about business or even have any common sense?
The truth is even the big hbo fights generate only 1.2-1.5m viewers, but we aren’t talking about the big fights though, because we are talking about the viewers who are getting it specifically for boxing. So we are talking about the low level fights, many of which only draw 400-500k viewers. Seeing how HBO has close to 50m viewers, we are looking at an estimation of about 1-2% of viewers who are getting it specifically for boxing and that may be a generous number in itself. Almost no one gets it specifically for boxing or the ratings for these events would be through the roof considering the amount of subscribers.
D- 30 million people have HBO. Even less have Showtime. If Boxing didnt bring big money to premium channels why would Showtime pay Mayweather 200 million dollars to sign with them? If 1.5 million people pay 150 dollars a year for Boxing (13 dollars a month). Thats 225 million dollars right there. They get even more from ppv revenue (at leats 10%). My condolences for the death of your sport.
I’ve read various different sources on the amount of subscribers. The turnover is so frequent that it changes drastically quarterly. I’ve read it is anywhere in the range of 30m-50m to the president saying that Cinemax and HBO combined have 100m subscribers. Let’s say you are right that it is 30m, you are still absurdly incorrect and your math is bat shit crazy.
Showtime paid Mayweather 200m for 3 years, so divide that by 3 and they are paying him just under 67m per year. That isn’t that big of a number. That could literally mean Showtime may only be profiting about 40m per year from Mayweather. Seeing how he is generating 10x more than any other fighter on showtime, it is clear that would be the lion’s share of their profits. No where near what Zuffa does annually. Also, 1.5m people are not paying for boxing. The biggest fights draw only about that number and most of the people watching that are not paying for Showtime specifically for that boxing event. There is crossover appeal. Mayweather is a massive public star, he appeals to everyone, not just people that would pay exclusively for boxing.
I’m at the point where I am convinced literally everything you say, you just fabricate out of thin air. This has been going on for a while now with you. You lie, I call you on your bullshit by presenting the facts, then you change the subject or continue to lie about despite the overwhelming evidence. HBO/Showtime do not get 10%. Not even close. As a matter of fact, they lost money specifically from 2 out of 3 of Mayweather’s ppvs according to Dan Rafael. The distributors like HBO/Showtime hate ppv. They want nothing to do with it. They can lose money on these events and in the long run they barely profit from them. They would prefer Mayweather fighting free on Showtime. You are completely delusional.
My condolences for the death of your sanity.
D- I’m at the point where I’m starting to believe Dana White is your gay Lover because no matter how horrid the UFC’s numbers are you seem to think everything is just fine and coming up Rosey. There is a word for guy’s like you: delusional. By the way 80,000 people saw froch fight at Wembley. Being that you are the stats man can you please tell me what MMA fight can get that number in England.. No excuses since the UFC is internationally thriving and all.
“You lie, I call you on your bullshit by presenting the facts, then you change the subject or continue to lie ”
It is uncanny how right I was once again. I proved your dumbass wrong and you changed the subject. Hahaha.
By the way, once again, you being on this website proves that you are the one who is gay on a sport. I don’t go to boxing blogs and trash them. I don’t really care what boxing is doing. I don’t even hate the sport. I just like mma more and am aware of reality. Your so gay on Mayweather and co. it is unreal and by the way, I can’t stand Dana White, I hope Bellator eclipses the UFC.
You calling me delusional is like a morbidly obese person calling an anorexic fat. You lie about nearly everything, and when you do pull up statistics that are actually accurate you use them in an analogy that is comparing apples to unicorns. Most of the time you don’t even bother to read the articles on this website that show you the actual statistics and educated estimations. Saying that mma hasn’t done 80k or never will do 80k in the UK is irrelevant. When will boxing EVER do 90k plus in Japan? Not to mention the UK market is a joke.
You keep talking about horrid numbers, but what is amusing is the fact that the last million plus ppv buy event was in mma, not boxing. In 2013, the ufc demolished boxing in ppv revenue. The sport is down primarily because they are in a transitional phase with GSP/Silva on the shelf. Again, it will be much worse for boxing when Mayweather/Pac retire.
Why do you keep embarrassing yourself?
Haha. Tops E.
D is getting desperate no good news in sight…paragraphs are getting longer….hahaha…
Haha Tops
Make it an essay d hahaha
Just heard 174 was lower than bellator? Hahahahahaha down down down
@ D
Ouch, I see you forgot to switch back to your D alias on the ◾ tops E on June 19th, 2014 7:45 PM comment after trolling on the
“UFC airs NSAC hearing on Fight Pass” article using your fake tops E alias.
You just exposed yourself as the nut running around trolling under all those copied names and other aliases.
You dun goofed.
Haha. Na, you just agree with me a lot.
Kind of funny that you are claiming someone else is a nut trolling around here, seeing how you have at least 5 aliases and you define the word troll. You just don’t like the fact that someone gave you a dose of your own medicine.
Haha.
@ D
There’s no deflecting out of this one.
You got caught.
As you said to someone earlier,
“…isn’t it embarrassing that you use an endless amount of aliases in a pathetic attempt to troll a website?”
“someone”???? Hahaha. More like you, ya troll. It is called fucking with trolls on here. You have at least 5 aliases. You are the only one I’ve been fucking with.
Eat it, ya boxing queer.
Hahaha so d is the one copying my name….how pathetic!!
Write more essay d….174 results would be out soon…still declining…easy to count small ppv numbers hahaha
Hahaha. Yeah, Jack/Topps/Sampson/Sam/James/etc, etc.
“My condolences for the death of your sanity.”
MMA is fucking declining badly and that’s a fact a lot of people don’t want to deal with.
There is no doubt that D and that other guy brainsmasher are either the same guy or they both work for Zuffa. There is no way that any rational thinker will spin the numbers in a positive light in the past year.
Lets just face it, the UFC peaked and is now in a steady decline, sure they might still be making good money but Spike was bending over backwards for them and Fox isn’t.
I’m not mad, I’ve been an MMA fan since the pride and honestly have never liked the way the UFC have done business. I like transparency not some bullshit “Locker Room Bonus” crap when we know the athletes are getting paid chicken feed.
Haha. What is funny is that for 1. I am definitely not brainsmasher, you can email the moderator and ask them if I am, and you will find out that is not me. 2. You just proved that “jake” is an alias of one of the consistent trolls on here. What is really funny though is the fact that there is really only about 4 or 5 consistent boxing trolls and each of you have a few different aliases.
By the way, 2013 being one of Zuffa’s biggest year’s isn’t exactly a steady decline. It is obvious Arum’s got you boxing queen’s on the welfare to work program in full blast.
Jack, I mean Topps E, I mean Sam, I mean Sampson, I mean James, which one of your personalities is coming out today?
@D
I should preface this that I do not watch (and am indifferent) about boxing, so no need to bring that up. But this comment is simply not true:
“I don’t see how they killed their ppv structure either seeing how they had one of their best years ever last year, despite the fact that a few of their ppv’s bombed.”
PPV Sales Total:
2005: payout help me out?
2006: 5.27 M
2007: 4.93 M
2008: 6.3 M
2009: 8 M
2010: 8.8 M
2011: 6.48 M
2012: 5.8 M
2013: 6 M
* 2014: first half 1.58 M… giving UFC 174 a generous 150k buy rate
So yea PPV is not dead by any means but it’s on the decline from the peak, which I mentioned above. This leads me to believe interest and fans have left since the Brock era.
Also, the UFC has to sell 4.5 M (approx) PPVs just to match 2013’s total sales. How is that going to happen? I would guess 2014 does 3.5 – 4 M PPVs, which would be PRE-griffin/bonnar ERA numbers.
How is it not true?
It was their 5th best year they ever had. The numbers were up from the year prior. They had two events that were around 1m buys. Their were only 2 years that were significantly higher. How did they kill their ppv structure?
You claiming the numbers are down from the Lesnar era is off too if your implying that Lesnar was the reason why the numbers were higher during that time. Lesnar was only involved in 2 ppvs per year back then and last year the UFC did 2 ppvs that were about at his averages. So obviously the big events were still doing very well. What was down from back in 2009-2010 was the fact that those slightly lesser stars weren’t as big in 2013 as they were back in 2009-2010. Part of that is because of the FOX deal and all of the free content. But realistically speaking, if they are doing 6m ppv buys per year, that is a very impressive number. The interest may have peaked at that time for now, but they will be back up when someone else really big comes along. This is the business cycle.
The 2014 numbers are down without question. I don’t think I ever disputed that. They lost their two biggest stars. It was inevitable that their numbers would be low. We still have more than 6 months to go though, so to assume 3.5-4m isn’t something that is set in stone. Jones-Gus is coming, Weidman-Machida, Pettis may fight Aldo by year’s end which would be big, Cain still hasn’t fought, another mw title fight at the end of the year, etc. The truth is this is just a down year for mma ppv wise because of the transition from Silva/GSP to the next stars. 2015, they will be back to normal.
Oh, also something else to point out. Back during the Lesnar era, the ufc’s revenue stream was 75% event related revenue, 25% non event related revenue. Now it is 55-45 respectively. So addressing their business standing and saying because the ppv numbers are down from 2010, etc., doesn’t mean their revenue is down as a whole. In fact, it just looks like it shifted from one to the other giving them more balance.
Keep it long d….hahaha
I personally don’t think PPV will bounce back next year as easily as you say it will. UFC has over-saturated the market and basically flooded it out. People pick and choose now more than ever and I don’t see some MEGA star being built in the next 6-12 months that will save the day. Cain, JBJ, and even Ronda have not been doing so hot on their last few headliners so I don’t all of a sudden see a huge leap in sales. It doesn’t help that Pettis, Cain, and Weidman sit out for long periods of time.
I think in North America there is a decline in interest in MMA/UFC. I’m not disagreeing about the UFCs entire revenue – they have found more ways to get money from the hardcore group that buys all these PPVs, and also on an international level. The problem is if they keep putting on these low-quality PPVs in NM, they risk losing this hardcore group as well.
And yes to @Jack or whoever, I visited Sherdog amongst many other forums, and saw many fans griping over UFC 174. I read many comments on how this was the last straw, people buying replays, etc. so we’ll see if there’s any future truth to that.
You are confusing oversaturation with losing top draws. The ovesaturation is not the reason why the ppv draws are so low this year. It is primarily because of the loss of GSP/Silva. Once they are replaced, the numbers will definitely be back to last year’s numbers. The oversaturation may have been what brought the numbers down somewhat from 2009, but not what was the dropoff from last year to this year. Another thing you need to realize is the entire ppv industry is down. 2 of the last 3 Mayweather ppvs have failed to go over 900k buys.
Pettis is also the only one who has sat out for a long period of time, sounds like you are reaching here for something.
You may think there is a decline in the interest, but the truth is, you are relying on the ppv numbers to back up your claim where clearly it is just because of the star power in the sport presently. This is how things work in business. Some years are big, others are not. Just depends on circumstances like I mentioned. Go take a look at pro wrestling or boxing, they experience the same exact up and down trends. The only thing though with boxing is, they are losing the youth consistently. The 18-35 demo is locked into mma, not boxing even in a down year like this one. This is something that has not changed at all over the years. This clearly tells us in the future mma will progressively get bigger and boxing will get smaller. Pro wrestling doesn’t have as much crossover effect as the other two.
Actually I’ve been posting on and off for years now, the thing is I read a lot more then I post. I read all the comments and see what people are saying, you can break it down to a 3 categorizes.
1. Zuffa apologist – Nobody defends the garbage numbers more then you and brain smasher, it has to be you’re either working at Zuffa or want to work there so you’re wasting hours and hours with the hopes that they hire you.
I honestly hope you’re getting paid for all these long posts, there is no reason someone would spend so much time trying to spin everything into a positive without getting any kind of compensation.
2. Trolls – There are plenty of trolls who just type some “Zuffa is dying” or just cracking jokes at the expense of Zuffa. The thing is when you have a figurehead that makes such outrages predictions “MMA is neck and neck with Soccer” a lot of people will love to see you fall on your face.
3. Neutral fans – This is the fan base that isn’t biased one way or another and these are the guys that have become a lot more vocal in the recent years. They are tired of paying for turds sprinkled with diamonds and Chanel No.5 and being sold as priceless artifacts from King Tuts tomb.
The fan base will only take so many “Biggest fight” “Greatest Fight” “P4PNo.1” before every event until they stop believing the hype. The UFC started off with a great reputation, it was the so called “Anti-Boxing” where cards were stacked and the PPV used to cost $29.99.
The early fan base(myself included) enjoyed the product and got great value for a PPV. We would try to convert all our friends to become MMA fans, the thing is that Zuffa got away from that and is now paying the price. I don’t think they are going to turn it around either, as much as you try to spin things in a positive light it’s only looking weaker and weaker for the upcoming years.
I doubt Fox is going to re-up for another 100 million a year, the numbers they were promised “Tuf doing 3 million a week” and what they are getting is nowhere in the same ballpark.
How bout the “baddest man on the planet? Then compares them to mike tyson hahahaha
Jake, it is clear you are one of Arum’s minions. And you definitely have a few aliases on here.
1. You troll a mma website and then accuse others of being apologists. Everything you are accusing me of, you are doing yourself, you fraud.
2. Trolls-you are a troll. Yeah Dana White is a delusional promoter. So is Bob Arum, Richard Schaeffer, and every other promoter or high ranking executive in either sport. The funny thing is, you only focus on White. You are a delusional, boxing fanboy hypocrite. Arum makes more absurd claims than anyone. Saying mma is skinheads and homosexuals. All while saying this in an interview to a Jewish guy. Does it get more absurd than that?
Also, if you go back and read my posts, you would realize, I am not a Zuffa apologist. I just defend the sport as a whole. You guys defend boxing to the bitter core, regardless how absurd the statements you make are. Hell, half of the boxing trolls on here(which is probably only 4 or 5 people with a total of about 20 alias accounts), don’t even bother to read the articles here with verified credible sources, they simply manufacture bullshit in their minds and attempt to pawn them off as facts.
3. Yes, this is what happens in a sport over time when it grows in popularity. The promoters make more money, raise the prices of everything, etc. You act like boxing hasn’t done the exact same things. I do agree also that the Pride days and early Zuffa/SEG days, the ppvs were obviously a higher quality. They only had 4-5 of them per year.
Also. the sport has grown 20x over since the pre Zuffa days, you obviously aren’t very aware.
Your problem is you don’t read so well, despite claiming to read more than you post- which you are most likely posting as another alias anyway. I don’t defend Zuffa endlessly other than when it is revolving around the growth of the sport. I can’t stand Dana White. I think he is one of the most unprofessional promoters I’ve ever seen in my life. The way he black balls and insults his fighters is horrible. I would love to see Bellator eclipse the UFC in popularity. If you read my comments you would realize this. But you didn’t because you are one of the many boxing trolls, that obsess over mma taking over boxing. Oh and when the UFC is on FOX next year, are you going to acknowledge you were dead wrong? I doubt it.
I am an idiot.
I wish I could agree that this is just a bad year but I predict it’s more than that. Bones Jones and Cain Velasquez are 2 guys that should have (already) been groomed into being the next big stars. However, both JBJ and Cain have seen a trending decline in PPV sales, not an increase…. there is no way to spin this. Even Ronda Rousey debuted at 450k buys, and was touted the hottest thing in the UFC, and went on to do 340k her next headliner.
If guys like JBJ and Cain showed growth, I could see this as just a bad one, but that’s simply not the case. Let’s see what the Gustaffson rematch does. If (and a big if) this is regarded as the biggest event of the year, and it only does 500k… there’s no way to spin it.
Assuming that Jones and Cain should have already been groomed into the next big thing is not accurate based on history. Look at Andre Ward. He is the 2nd best boxer p4p and has been around for quite some time now and still can’t even headline a ppv. Some guys never turn into ppv superstars despite how good they are. Velasquez only has had 2 title defenses. How long did it take guys like Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquaio to turn into big ppv stars? Years. We may already be seeing the next big star in Weidman. If he beats Machida, don’t be surprised if he starts to do GSP numbers.
JBJ/Cain and the rest of the ppv world has seen a declining trend in ppv sales. Look at Mayweather, 2 out of his last 3 ppvs didn’t even break 900k buys. Pac only did 475k against Rios and 800k in a highly touted rematch against Bradley. The entire industry is down. Of course there is always that 1 or 2 big ppvs like Floyd did vs Canelo and Weidman-Silva, but as a whole, ppv has taken a dip.
No one was expecting Rousey to be a superstar from the start. She did a good number right off the bat and then White assumed she was going to be a mega star. I don’t think the fans ever believed she would be a ppv mega star. She is not reflective of the rest of the sport because she is a woman.
By the way, no way Jones-Gustafsson only does 500k, it will probably do close to 700k. But again, I don’t think Jones will ever be a big ppv star. People really don’t have a ton of interest in him for whatever reason. As for Cain, if he starts to win consistently, don’t be surprised at all if his numbers go way up. In my opinion his only disappointing ppv buy rate so far was the Dos-Santos III fight. The fight against Silva was not expected to do big numbers because Silva is not a draw at all.
Dw letting tyson write in his forehead is an act of desperation hahaha…no news in the ufc except declining everything and ped controversy of two fighters haha
D. You clown.
Just to let everyone know. “D” posts on yahoos comment section all day and literally does the same exact thing.
Any time someone makes a comment about how UFC fighters don’t get paid dick, he defends Dana and the UFC with a furious passion.
Its almost complete insanity, your dedication in trying to defend a point that is so utterly wrong.
D you claimed the UFC was going to outsell boxing this year in ppvs.
You still sticking with that statement?
You also claim that UFC fighters make more than boxers.
How many boxers made over $1mil this year for one single fight? Over 17 have.
How many UFC fighters have made $1mil for one single fight this year? Zero.
UFC is selling 200k and 100k ppvs….
Wow. How the fuck you gonna explain that D, you faggot.
No response from d hahaha.
Actually I change my mind, this guy truly is the gayest! You gayest, you are pretty insane tracking someone down like that. Pretty mentally ill stuff right there.
Insane how?
I happen to click on this article and I see a guy named D doing the same exact thing ive seen on other sites.
But of course that’s too broad to simply blame every person with the name “D”.
But then I saw your insults and I knew it was you.
The only person who will say “You eat diapers” and think its clever.
Also the paragraph rants further showed me it was you
Tops E is the one who called you insane above your comment.