Welcome to another edition of Payout Perspective. In this edition we take a look at a very successful UFC 241 from The Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Stipe KOs Cormier to regain Heavyweight title
Stipe Miocic regained the UFC Heavyweight title with a KO of Daniel Cormier late in the 4th round. DC had looked like the better fighter through most of the 4 rounds but Miocic’s strategy of body shots took its toll on Cormier leading to the KO. Cormier had been leading on all cards at the time of the stoppage.
Despite the loss, Cormier has had a tremendous career and showed all class in what could be his last fight in the Octagon. Personally, I think he still has a couple more fights in him before he retires. It would seem as though a rematch would be the most logical thing to do although Miocic could wait to see the winner of the Walt Harris-Alistair Overeem fight or another fight with Francis Ngannou.
Diaz returns to defeat Pettis
The biggest question going into UFC 241 was determining how Nate Diaz would look like with 3 years off. The answer was sensational. Diaz looked fresh and used his dirty boxing tactics to stifle Anthony Pettis. Showtime did break his foot during the fight but Diaz was clearly the dominant fighter tonight.
Diaz called out Jorge Masvidal for his next fight in what many believe would be a great fight to see.
For the first time, an MMA event in California drew over $3 million as UFC 241 drew $3,237,032 with 17,304 in attendance according to the UFC post-event. It bested the previous record, UFC 214 by nearly $1 million. Earlier in the week, SeatGeek noted the secondary market was up for this event.
Bonuses
The $50,000 bonuses went to Stipe Miocic, Khama Worthy, Paulo Costa and Yoel Romero. Miocic and Worthy earned Performance Bonuses for their respective stoppages and Costa-Romero was a sight to behold with both fighters unloading big shots. Costa won by decision in the end.
Payouts
The California State Athletic Commission disclosed the payouts from the event. Stipe Miocic topped the payouts with $750,000
Stipe Miocic: $750,000 (no win bonus)
def. Daniel Cormier: $500,000
Nate Diaz $250,000 (no win bonus)
def. Anthony Pettis: $155,000
Paulo Costa $120,000 (includes $60,000 win bonus)
def. Yoel Romero: $150,000
Sodiq Yusuff $28,000 (includes $14,000 win bonus)
def. Gabriel Benitez: $40,000
Derek Brunson $190,000 (includes $95,000 win bonus)
def. Ian Heinisch: $25,000
Khama Worthy $24,000 (includes $12,000 win bonus)
def. Devonte Smith: $23,000
Cory Sandhagen $154,000 (includes $77,000 win bonus)
def. Raphael Assuncao: $79,000
Drakkar Klose $56,000 (includes $28,000 win bonus)
def. Christos Giagos: $28,000
Casey Kenney $28,000 (includes $14,000 win bonus)
def. Manny Bermudez: $20,000
Hannah Cifers $28,000 (includes $14,000 win bonus)
def. Jodie Esquibel: $10,000
Kyung Ho Kang $44,000 (includes $22,000 win bonus)
def. Brandon Davis: $21,000
Sabina Mazo $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
def. Shana Dobson: $12,000
Sponsorships
UFC sponsors in the Octagon included Toyo Tires, Roar Sports (“Aurora Canabis”), Motel 6, Devour, PariMatch, PokerStars, The Rock’s latest movie, “Hobbs and Shaw,” Nemiroff, Modelo, P3, Devour, Monster and Circle K shared an Octagon post and Monster Energy had the center.
Poker Stars also had the outside the Octagon standing area for the coaches. Body Armor was all over the place last night including the drinks and stools for the event.
Devour had the fighter prep point. It was also on most of the Reebok fighter kits including shorts and walkout shirt. Notably, it was not on Cormier’s fight kit as he had the Monster, “M” on his gear.
Trifecta Nutrition presented the 7 Embedded Episodes.
Daniel Cormier signed a deal with cbdMD as it was announced during fight week.
Odds and Ends
Nate Diaz ascended to superstar status at UFC 241. If he was not already a star after defeating Conor McGregor at UFC 196, he reminded people after a 3-year absence why he believes he’s the best in the fight game. Notwithstanding, you can argue that the UFC made some concessions due to Diaz’s new leverage. As Embedded showed, he didn’t have to wait around at weigh-ins, he stayed in Corona del Mar near the Wedge (pretty posh neighborhood near Newport Beach) and he lit up a blunt (later clarified as a CBD cigarette from his business) at open workouts. Yet, the UFC and ESPN went along with it.
😗💨 @NateDiaz209 #UFC241 pic.twitter.com/zWdF6UwXBH
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) August 15, 2019
The UFC is better with Nate Diaz than it is without him and Dana White admitted that he is a “needle mover.”
As part of the media strategy to reintroduce Diaz to the masses, the New York Times’ Pulitzer Prize winning writer, John Branch, wrote a piece about him which highlighted the fighter’s anti-hero attributes.
During UFC 241, there was a lot of hype for next month’s UFC 242 taking place in Abu Dhabi. As a part, it relived the Conor-Khabib matchup from last October.
Nate Diaz had a bunch of unintentional funny comments during his post-fight presser. Including this one:
Nate Diaz says fatherhood hasn’t changed him:
“I been a father for years. Fatherin’ all kinds of these little motherf–kers” 🤣
*NSFW*
(via @ufc)pic.twitter.com/eFjjpar6Ht
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 18, 2019
There were many notable fighters in the crowd including boxer Terrence Crawford and various UFC fighters but no one drew the most heat than Colby Covington and his MAGA gimmick.
The best part of the Embedded was the “push-up pump” Romero did before getting his photos taken.
The Costa-Romero fight earned Fight of the Night. During the first round, Romero used the “hey look over there” gimmick to buy time and nail Costa with a punch. The winner talked about it after.
In spite of his loss, Daniel Cormier showed class in the face of adversity. Embedded showed his busy schedule in promoting the fight which included throwing out the first pitch at the Angels game, a spot on Access Hollywood and other media. It also showed the various businesses that he has which will take care of him after his fight career.
Conclusion
UFC 241 drew over 2 million google searches on Saturday which likely equates to a very good buy rate. The return of Nate Diaz likely spurred the influx of interest coupled with the Heavyweight fight between Cormier and Miocic. Something in the range of 400-450K PPV buys from ESPN+ would be a good estimate.
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