Welcome to another edition of Payout Perspective. This time we take a look at UFC 185 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas where two UFC titles were on the line.
RDA wins Lightweight Title
Rafael dos Anjos earned his unanimous decision against Anthony Pettis. It was total domination by the challenger as he topped Pettis with his striking and grappling. It was an impressive win considering the complete manhandling of Pettis and the post-fight news that he had a knee injury coming into the fight.
Up next for RDA is the winner of Khabib Nurmagomedov and Donald Cerrone this May. But with RDA’s knee injury, we may not see this fight until December.
Joanna J destroys Cookie Monster
It was a mismatch. And the Champion looked to be in trouble from the start. Joanna Jedrzejcyzk controlled Carla Esparza and the “Cookie Monster” did not look like a Champion defending her title. Jedrzejcyk’s Muay Thai background defeated Esparza’s wrestling and it was an easy win for the fighter from Poland.
In the end, the referee was looking for a way to stop the fight in the 2nd round. Jedrzejczyk has the personality to promote fights in her division. But, will there be anyone in her division that can match her?
Attendance and Gate
Attendance at the America Airlines Center drew a reported 17,160 fans for a gate of $2.155 million as announced at the post-fight press conference. Despite the good number, it was still the lowest of the three PPVs held at the venue.
Previous Attendance for UFC PPVs at American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX (via MMA Payout Blue Book)
UFC 103 – September 9, 2009 – Rich Franklin-Vitor Belfort Attendance 17,428, Gate: $2.4M
UFC 171 – March 15, 2014 – Johny Hendricks-Robbie Lawler Attendance 19,324, Gate: $2.6M
Bonuses
For the second PPV in a row, there was no Fight of the Nights. The four Performances of the Night went to RDA, Jedrzejcyk, Ross Pearson and Beneil Darush. Each received $50,000 bonuses. There were a lot of stoppages to choose from but one would have to concur that these four stood out.
Sponsorships
For the second straight PPV in a row Monster Energy Drink had the center of the Octagon moving Bud Light to the Octagon bumpers. In addition, MetroPCS, Harley Davidson, Corn Nuts, DraftKings, Fram, MusclePharm and Toyo Tires.
Fram also had the fighter checkpoint.
Notably, Pettis was sponsored by Reebok, Corn Nuts, Monster Headphones and Monster Energy Drinks. Interesting enough, no Wheaties logo worn by Pettis or in the Octagon.
Reebok sold Showtime’s gear prior to the event at UFC 185. Wonder how sales are post-fight.
Go to http://t.co/lN5md2LwAr to get my official #UFC185 @Reebok gear!!! Let’s go #TeamPettis !!! pic.twitter.com/baecEUYE2L
— Anthony Pettis (@Showtimepettis) March 13, 2015
Monster Headphones also had a campaign centered on Pettis.
It’s Showtime! Save 25% on #MonsterOctagon & listen like UFC champ @ShowtimePettis! http://t.co/B2zLxVG0yY #UFC185 pic.twitter.com/MjmMWuot76 — UFC (@ufc) March 13, 2015
Post-Fight Headlines:
-The UFC saw the crowning of two new champions. Who will have the longest title run? Moreover, who will the UFC be able to sell to fans?
-Does Hendricks get another shot at the title? With the win over Matt Brown, should Hendricks get the winner of Lawler-MacDonald?
-Henry Cejudo made weight and won a unanimous decision over Chris Cariaso. Could he be on the fast track to a 125 pound title shot?
Odds and ends
-Ben Askren and CM Punk were in the corner for Anthony Pettis.
-Interesting enough, Erik Koch made a cameo during the first UFC Embedded which one might think unusual if you read “Thrown.”
-Carla Esparza wore a wrestling singlet which was a nice touch. Both Esparza and Jedrzejcyzk were sponsored by Alienware.
-Alienware, a UFC sponsor, has been active of late with its activation with the UFC. There is a lot more visibility in sponsoring fighters as well as sponsoring the UFC Embedded online episodes.
-For the first time that I recall, the Embedded episodes had a sponsor, Alienware (“Powered by Alienware”). It was the umpteenth time we saw an Embedded episode where someone was at a barbershop getting their hair cut. This time it was Showtime at his barber shop.
-With Monster Energy as a new UFC sponsor, it appears we will see the return of awkwardly holding a soda can in the Octagon after a fight.
-UFC Prelims was on FX due to college basketball. We shall see whether the network change will affect ratings.
-There were over 100,000 Google searches for the UFC on Saturday which was far less than UFC 184 and Ronda Rousey during the same time frame.
-Texas did not do any “out of competition” drug testing for this event.
Conclusion
Prior to the PPV, we wrote whether Anthony Pettis could be the next big PPV draw for the UFC. If he does, it will be in pursuit of the belt he just lost. The card seemed like one more for the solid base of UFC fans that usually purchase PPVs. Yet, with the solid success of UFC PPVs this year, could we see another good PPV buy rate from the company. There was less buzz for this event than the previous three this year. This could reflect in PPV buys as I would assume that we get a PPV buy rate of around 325,000-350,000.
“Texas did not do any “out of competition” drug testing for this event.”
Key statement. It is very clear RDA is cheating. When the random testing policy comes into play he will lose his title by either failing the test or because he didn’t cheat and went back to being an average fighter which he was before his synthetic help.
Yea D knows who’s cheating hahaha they all are you fuck stick haha
HAHAHA!!! Sal claimed Overeem and Belfort were clean their entire careers!
He’s just mad because he’s a retarded homo!!!!! HAHAHAHA!!!
@D how do you know Pettis doesn’t use it too? At this point, I’m convinced it’s much more rampant than we think.
JF, I agree, he could be, but he didn’t go through the drastic changes that RDA has, not even close. If I had to guess, I would think that Pettis isn’t, but I’m not positive.
Now D is just making things up, here is my take. 95% of any professional athlete in the top of any sport are using peds D wouldn’t know because he’s never competed in any sport in his life, playing x box doesn’t count as a sport and neither does jerking off! haha D cant handle that the Wheaties boy got his ass whooped. I would guess Pettis stopped his ped for fear of ruining his career, hence taking an ass kicking. More fighters will be exposed due to cleaning up. But D knows how to cycle drugs so dont worry bahahahahah Lesner was on a ton of gear when we was in the UFC and then got sick and had to stop, and he got his ass whooped!! here is one you can suck on! UFC 189 is being held in Vegas so aldo cant use ped’s the way he’s been in Brazil, but the ufc doesn’t realize is Connor uses more then aldo hahahah stay tuned hahahaha
HAHAHAHAHA!!! Sal is just professionally retarded troll. I love it how he just comes up with these insane delusional statistics.
I’m 100% certain I’ve competed in sports on a much higher level than the wheelchair bound derelict named Saldaqueef. I could care less if Pettis lost, I’m just pointing out how obvious it was that RDA has been cheating. Again you are too retarded to realize THEY DIDN’T FUCKING TEST OUT OF COMPETITION FOR THIS EVENT YOU INCREDIBLE RETARD!!!! If Pettis cheated before, he would be cheating for this fight-they were only testing his piss after the fight. Very easy to just cycle off and beat that.
Sal, stop being such a pathetic boxing troll homo. Get a job, get out of your parent’s basement, get off your dependency of insulin, diapers and your wheel chair, you scab.
Yea RDA probably was, so what sports D? I got to hear this one lol Oh and stop using my lines hahaha
There are zero sports you are better than me at in this world Sal- you are a retarded paraplegic.
What lines? Do you even know where you are idiot?
What sports do you compete in D we are all waiting????? I started the parent basement thing you google unoriginal loser! What sports D ????
Saldaqueef, again, everything. I am better than you at everything in this world. You are the bottom of the earth.
You started the parent in the basement thing? HAHAHA!!! Did you also start talking about how the sky is blue and how the sun is bright? Fucking idiot. HAHAHAHA!