Welcome to another edition of Payout Perspective. In this edition, we take a look at UFC 234 in Brisbane, Australia.
Adesanysa defeats idol in main event
With Robert Whittaker needing emergency surgery for a hernia, his middleweight title fight against Kelvin Gastelum was scratched and Anderson Silva-Israel Adesanya was inserted at the top of the card. The fight was to become the number 1 contender according to the UFC.
Adesanya bested his idol via unanimous decision in a fight that he was inserted in to win. The good news is that Silva looked like Anderson Silva. Two years removed from his last appearance in the Octagon due to a drug suspension, Silva appeared slower (of course), but had enough to make the fight entertaining for all.
Adesanya now waits to see if he will fight Whittaker or a showdown with Kelvin Gastelum.
UFC 234 was a sell out with 15,238 in attendance for a gate of $2,470,088 U.S. Dollars. There was an opportunity for those wishing to receive refunds to obtain them.
The bonuses went to Silva-Adesanya, Montana De La Rosa and Devonte Smith. FOTN went to Silva-Adesanya while De La Rosa and Smith received Performance Bonuses. All earned an addition $50K.
Reebok Promotional Guideline Payouts (via MMA Junkie)
Israel Adesanya: $4,000
def. Anderson Silva: $20,000
Lando Vannata: $5,000
def. Marcos Mariano: $3,500
Ricky Simon: $3,500
def. Rani Yahya: $20,000
Montana De La Rosa: $3,500
def. Nadia Kassem: $3,500
Jim Crute: $3,500
def. Sam Alvey: $15,000
Devonte Smith: $3,500
def. Dong Hyun Ma: $5,000
Shane Young: $3,500
def. Austin Arnett: $4,000
Kai Kara-France: $3,500
def. Raulian Paiva: $3,500
Kyung Ho Kang: $5,000
def. Teruto Ishihara: $5,000
Jalin Turner: $3,500
def. Callan Potter: $3,500
Jonathan Martinez: $3,500
def. Wuliji Buren: $3,500
Sponsorships
TAB, the online gambling web site in Australia served as a “presenting” sponsor for the event as its logo was everywhere during UFC 234. Tab was also on the fighter kits. Its unlikely that any of the fighters received compensation for wearing the logo based on previous logo placement.
TAB had the fighter checkpoint. The Octagon featured Air Asia, Hudson Shipping Company, Nemiroff, Hooters, Modelo and Monster Energy in the middle. Also in the Octagon was Port Local Pirate Life Brewing, the video game Fallout76 (which also sponsored the Embedded episodes) and Bisley, an Australian workwear company.
Odds and Ends
The partnership with ESPN looks to be off to a great start as the second prelims show on ESPN has drawn stellar ratings. Although no viewer numbers as of Sunday night, the metered market rating has a 1.0 share peaking with 1.7. Once again, the Duke-Virginia college basketball game was the lead-in.
Dana White brokered one time deal with DirecTV as the UFC deal with the satellite provider ended in 2018. It was not until Thursday that White came to an agreement otherwise a big section of the UFC fan base would not have access to the PPV via DTV.
Gastelum walking around the arena with Henry Cejudo’s belt brought out a reaction, which may have been all he wanted. Also, it forces the issue that he should deserve the next shot at the middleweight title. Whether Gastelum will get the first shot at Whittaker or if Adesanya does will be an interesting question. Obviously, if Whittaker takes some time to recover, we could see Gastelum and Adesanya vying for another interim title.
Interesting to note that the Middleweight title has not been the same since GSP took it from Michael Bisping two years ago.
Montana De La Rosa’s post-fight interview in the Octagon stated that she wanted to get through her TUF contract so that she would be able to make better money. She did earn a Performance Bonus so that should help her.
In addition to the UFC, Showtime Boxing had an event.
There were over 1 million google searches for UFC 234 on Saturday which may be attributed to the main event change.
Conclusion
This may be the first of many instances where the UFC Prelim show on ESPN will do a big rating but the PPV will not. In the past, the UFC Prelims have served as an indicator on PPV success. With the UFC on ESPN now, I don’t think it will no longer be the case. With the elimination of the title fight, I think the PPV may have taken a hit, but not one that would show considerable damage. The problem is that this PPV was destined to be in the 125,000 PPV range which are the UFC hardcore fans minus a few not wanting to shell out the $65 this time around.
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