UFC 208 will be the third time that the company has held a show in the state of New York since it legalized professional MMA last fall. Are fans interested in this PPV?
In the main event, Holly Holm takes on Germaine de Randamie for the new UFC women’s featherweight title.
Also, Anderson Silva returns to action taking on Derek Brunson.
UFC 208 will be the second time a UFC card was headlined by women without Ronda Rousey as one of the main eventers. The other, UFC 200, featured Amanda Nunes and Miesha Tate. Of course, that was by necessity with Jon Jones being pulled from that event.
One must surmise the UFC had hoped for another title fight (possibly Diaz-Conor III) to headline this card with Holm as a strong semi-main. With McGregor taking a prolonged paternity leave and Nate Diaz trying out boxing since he claims the UFC put him on ice, fans get the matchup for a new title.
Perhaps this slot was to be for Cris “Cyborg” Justino. But, she was flagged by USADA.
So, it comes down to Holly Holm. While Germaine de Randamie might be a promising fighter, she has only 2 fights since 2015.
Holm is on a 2-fight losing streak which included losing the title to Miesha Tate in March and then dropping a decision to Valentina Shevchenko in late July.
However, the latter fight, which aired on Fox, scored the highest rating for a summer show since the company has been on Fox.
Her main event loss to Shevchenko peaked at over 4.6 million viewers with the broadcast averaging near 3 million viewers. Holm defeated Ronda Rousey in November 2015 to tear down the former undefeated champ’s mystique and essentially end her career.
But, is her appeal enough to draw on PPV?
Anderson Silva’s drawing power is now past its prime and marketing efforts are behind the Holm-de Randamie fight.
There are signs that this event will not draw. There is no sponsor for the Embedded series, which have been lackluster to say the most. UFC 208 is not trending online and the peak viewership of the weigh-ins on YouTube was comparable to that of UFC 206. The event featuring Jose Aldo and Max Holloway drew 150,000 buys and was the lowest rate for 2016.
It appears that UFC 208 will be on par with UFC 206 as its truly a card for the hardcore UFC fans.
Ouch. I guess they can’t all be blockbusters. I think this would have been a good one to put on Fox. A decent card for a free night of fights, but not worth the PPV. I live in Brookly and I’m not going. I’ll watch the replays the morning after. (Also I’m out of town, but whatever, you get the point).
Haha wouldn’t warch this for free. Should have been on Fox but I guess they gotta pay the 4 billion$ mortgage.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this still did 300k buys. It has star power with Holm and Silva.
I’m considering buying this PPV; the striking credentials of the main event fighters along with seeing if the GOAT Silva can still compete has me interested. What I want to know is do Holm and De Randamie get part of the PPV buys? I’m sure Silva will get part of the PPV buys, I’m assuming he has a great contract that guarantees him PPV buys. My question is do the ladies in the main event get a piece and does Derrick Brunson get a piece of the PPV? If they do then I’ll buy it, but if all the money is going into Dana White’s already fat pockets then forget that.
To pay 4 B they based it on theyre 2015 number…..
I like Holm, a lot, but I wont even buy this one, you dont make someone who has lost 2 straight the main draw. That shows where the UFC is right now. I would have watched if it was FOX or FS1 but not for this. The UFC better find a star and fast, its in real trouble without McGregor.
Oh man that was a boring card. I didn’t even pay to watch at the bar and I still want a refund. As soon as the decision came for the main event the place started blasting music to end the boredom. Not PPV worthy at all.
FF, who pays you to make up stories on here? Just curious.
D,
The same can be said about you..,
Give one example.
“Crickets”
By the way, who pays you to use 20 aliases?