MMA Junkie reports the attendance and bonuses from Saturday night’s UFC Fight Night 78 on FS1.
The event drew 10,410 fans at the Monterrey Arena in Monterrey, Mexico. No live gate was announced. The event was lower than the two other events the company held in UFC. Both UFC 180 (21,000) and UFC 188 (21,036) were held in Mexico City and PPVs.
Bonuses were given to the main event, Neil Magny and Kelvin Gastelum, for Fight of the Night. Also Andre Fili and Polo Reyes earned Performances of the Night.
Payout Perspective:
Diego Sanchez/Ricardo Lamas were shut out for the $50,000 bonuses but Magny/Gastelum was a very good fight on a night of not memorable fights. Fili and Reyes were not on the 3 hour main card. The attendance at the is said to be around 17,599 so the 10,410 is low for the arena but still very good for this type of card.
There was 0 buzz for this card, I was surprised about how few people even knew it was happening. Most people were moved up and some felt like suckers for even paying since there were so many complimentary tickets. It was crazy for them to do it on the same night as Cotto-Canelo–that event completely eclipsed it.
Again, logical posting his boxing propaganda.
This was a low profile fight night. To compare it to the second biggest boxing card of the year is ridiculous. Point being, no one expected this to have any buzz. Gastulem was the headliner. It would be like comparing Jones- Cormier to some low profile PBC show on Spiketv.
What’s bad though, is that another major boxing ppv failed to even come close to living up to the hype and also that fight likely under-performed based on poor ticket sales and barely any buzz from fans. The future is looking very bleak for boxing.
I have to agree with Logical that having a Mexican/Latin American themed MMA card in Monterrey, Mexico on the night that the #1 Mexican fighter is taking on the #1 Puerto Rican fighter is not good for business. Any other weekend would have been great.
It’s not even about MMA v. boxing – it’s about trying to compete with any sporting event on the night that a hugely popular Mexican personality is fighting for traditional supremacy of the Mexico v. Puerto Rico rivalry in the 2nd most popular sport in Mexico (after soccer).
It’s like scheduling a Mexican MMA card on a night that the Tri is playing in the World Cup or the finals of the Gold Cup. Even hardcore Mexican MMA fans will have their loyalty tested.
Boxing has been around for decades and it’s not going to go away just because some UFC fanboy wants it to.
The UFC has around 1 million fanboys. 2 million if you add the casual fans. How many fans does it have abroad? Is the UFC even relevant in Asia and Europe? The only place on this planet outside the US where the UFC still manages to draw some attention to its hyped BS is Brazil. No one in Sweden cares about Gus anymore. McGregor’s popularity is going downhill in Ireland.
The UFC’s secret weapon is Jones. The UFC will probably hype up Jones’ upcoming fight more than anything it has ever hyped up before. Get ready for the usual trash talks, staged conference fights, snarky comments and irrelevant late night show appearances.
The UFC has pretty much milked all of its cashcows dry. If MMA is to stay relevant, it needs to be freed from the UFC’s monopoly. The UFC has got to be the most overrated thing in sports history, even more so than Ali and baseball.
5h5 hours ago
Dan Rafael @danrafaelespn
No #CottoCanelo PPV figs yet. Will be few days but based on early satellite numbers, source involved told me it’s a lock to do at least 900k
Rousey-Holm still outdraws it regardless as does McGregor-Aldo easily. Then what for boxing????? Pray that Mayweather comes out of retirement? Also, what are they going to do with Canelo, keep avoiding GGG and have him fight bums for 300k buys? Ward ran away from GGG to LHW, Canelo will probably drop weight and there are no big ppv fights anywhere. They needed two ppv names, tons of money promoting it and a major Mexican/Puerto Rican rivalry following to hit that figure. Boxing ppv is in the gutter.
UFC 193 will probably fall to 900k-950k, while Canelo-Cotto will do around 1M.
The Greatest has never been correct about a prediction.
UFC 193 does at least 1.5m ppv buys.
1.5M my ass. Maybe if they lie about it like they try to always do.
I recall the last Rousey ppv was trending over 1M only to fall to 900k.
Same thing with McGregor, being called over 1M. Falls to 800k.
Funny thing is that both of those were being heavily promoted, where Canelo-Cotto wasn’t being promoted basically at all, to the point that many people were thinking it does 400-500k, since there was barely any ads for it.
It does at LEAST 900k according to Fat Dan, so maybe it hits 1M, which is better than expected.
Canelos next ppv does 1m, assuming its against even a notable name.
Hahaha.
The Weakest’s predictions: 0-60 this year.
UFC 194 does at least 1.5m, probably more. Rousey-Holm does at least 1.1m. That also doesn’t even take into account all of the people who paid to stream it- which is rarely used in boxing because most of their fans are old and don’t know how to use a computer.
Canelo-Cotto cost 10s of millions to promote. There was little fan buzz, but tons of promotional money involved.
Canelo’s next ppv does 300k. He won’t fight GGG and there are no other notable fighters out there at 154-160lbs. Boxing ppv is int the toilet for 2016.
Hahaha.
The Weakest’s predictions: 0-60 this year.
UFC 194 does at least 1.5m, probably more. Rousey-Holm does at least 1.1m. That also doesn’t even take into account all of the people who paid to stream it- which is rarely used in boxing because most of their fans are old and don’t know how to use a computer.
Canelo-Cotto cost 10s of millions to promote. There was little fan buzz, but tons of promotional money involved.
Canelo’s next ppv does 300k. He won’t fight GGG and there are no other notable fighters out there at 154-160lbs. Boxing ppv is int the toilet for 2016.
You have no idea what it cost to promote.
I bet the ratings in Mexico are insane.
Dan Rafael said earlier today that the current updated total for Mayweather-Pacquiao is 4.605M
You should never tell anyone else that they don’t know something, because you are beyond delusional.
Rafael didn’t do any investigative research for the Mayweather fight. Go back and read his articles, he sourced the production for everyone.
RIP boxing ppv 2016. Haha.