UFC 195: Payout Perspective

Welcome to another edition of Payout Perspective.  This time we ring in the new year with UFC 195 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena where Robbie Lawler defended his middleweight title against Carlos Condit.

Lawler wins via split decision in all-out battle

The 5^th round of Lawler-Condit may have been the greatest rounds in the history of the UFC.  Both men gave it all they had and were exhausted at the end.  Fights like these are the reason why the UFC added two more rounds to championships fights.  Condit was the more active fighter based on stats, but it was Lawler’s aggression significant strikes which may have sealed this win.  It really depends on how you scored round 3.

A rematch could be in the offing although Condit stated after the fight that he is contemplating retirement.  If there’s not a rematch, then Tyron Woodley should be the next in line for the title shot.

Stipe stuns Arlovski

It took less than a minute for Stipe Miocic to stop Andre Arlovski with a shot to the temple and then finishing him off with strikes on the ground.  Miocic immediately went over to Dana and Lorenzo asking for his title shot.  His performance Saturday gave him ample reason for the request.

Look for Stipe to be the one to face Cain-Werdum.  Possibly Memorial Day card?

Attendance and Gate

What a difference 3 weeks makes.  It was clear that UFC 195 would not be as big as UFC 194.  Attendance topped 10,300 for a gate of over $2 million.  This was off from UFC 194’s attendance/gate record and not as much as the Jones-Cormier showdown at UFC 182 this time last year.

Bonuses

Bonuses were self-evident as Lawler-Condit earned FOTN and Miocic and Michael McDonald earned te $50K performance bonuses.  McDonald countered and arm and triangle choke by Masanori Kanehara with a rear naked choke.

Brian Ortega and Abe Trujillo could have been candidates for bonuses as well.

Promotion of the Fight

This PPV is always hard for promotion purposes as most of the mainstream hits are focused on the holidays.  Notably UFC Embedded caught Dustin Poirier doing interviews which goes in line with a stronger push for the UFC Fight Pass platform.

Sponsorships

UFC Fight Pass, Monster Energy, Metro PCS, Harley Davidson, Toyo Tires, Bud Light, Reebok, WGN America’s new show, “Outsiders” were in the Octagon with Monster Energy having the center.  The energy drink also had the fighter prep point.

Getting back to the WGN America show, the PPV showed a preview and had two of its stars in the crowd.  What does it say about the demo that it appears that the show is about mountain hillbillies?  But let’s move on.

Sharing the Octagon posts with Monster Energy was 7-11.  The corner neighborhood store and Harley Davidson are rolling out a promotion which shall culminate at UFC 200.

UFC Fight Pass continued with its push as there was a commercial for Dana White’s upcoming show, “Looking for a Fight,”  to be airing on YouTube and previewed on Fight Pass prior to the YouTube release.

Robbie Lawler still sponsored by Adidas?  Looks like it as the logo was shown throughout the Embedded episodes.  As we know, Adidas owns Reebok so not really any conflict.

MMA Junkie reports the Reebok payouts for this event which totaled $172,500.  Outside of Lawler ($40K) and Condit ($30K), Larkin ($10K), Poirier ($10K) and Arlovski ($15K) were fighters making more than $5K.

Odds and Ends

There was a rumor that Carlos Condit had a concussion prior to the event.  Nothing resulted out of that initial report.  Condit jokingly said in his post-fight Octagon interview that he was not “neurologically” damaged heading into the late rounds.  As in other sports (i.e., football) whether or not Condit should have fought due to a purported concussion may never surface.

The Embedded episodes this time around made special focus on the Fight Pass participants to push the platform.

Also on the UFC Embedded episode, it showed Condit swimming…without goggles.  That is hard to do.  Also featured with Carlos Condit…the Dolce Diet.

Despite the lack of strong needle movers, UFC was the number 1 trending google search in the US on Saturday night/Sunday morning.

It will be interesting to see the UFC Prelims ratings on FS1 as the UFC moved its strongest prelim fight to Fight Pass.

Conclusion

This was a very good card for fans of the UFC.  Did it do enough to reach past the core fan base of UFC fans?  Probably not.  It’s unlikely that this show will do anywhere near UFC 182 last year.  But, comparing the two New Year’s cards would not be fair considering there was so much promotion and hype for Cormier-Jones.  While it’s clear that this year’s main event was much better, it will not post a big PPV buy number.  I would suspect a range of 375-400K here.