UFC 258: Payout Perspective

Welcome to another edition of Payout Perspective.  This time we take a look at UFC 258 taking place at The Apex in Las Vegas. 

Usman retains Welterweight title

Kamaru Usman survived an early first round scare to retain his welterweight title.  Gilbert Burns rocked the champ with a huge right hand in the opening moments of their bout.  However, Usman was able to shake out the cobwebs and took over in round 2 and 3 ending his former teammate in the third.  Burns appeared to have had an adrenaline dump after the first round and could not avoid Usman’s jab. 

Usman is making a name for himself and is staking a claim at being the best weltwerweight in UFC history when his career is over.  Usman has called out Jorge Masvidal, who he beat last summer, but “Gamebred” indicated he lost because it was on short notice.  While this fight might satisfy Usman, it doesn’t seem like the best fight for the progression of the division.  Of course, Dana White is looking for coaches for the next season of TUF so Usman and Masvidal or Colby Covington could make sense. 

Promotion of the Fight

UFC 258 was a hard sell as last month’s UFC 257 drew really well as it featured the return of Conor McGregor.  The UFC aired a special on Usman and the intriguing story of his relationship who was imprisoned on Medicare Fraud charges until last year.

Dana White did his usual round on ESPN including one on the network’s sports betting show indicating that he always looks at the betting lines for fights.

He was also on “Complex” with Tony Mui.  It was general hype for UFC 258.  And since it was Complex, they talked about sneakers. 

Bonuses

Usman, Anthony Hernandez, Julian Marquez and Polyana Viana earned the $50K Performance Bonuses. 

Promotional Guidelines Compliance

UFC 258 saw the roster of athletes receive $169,500.

Kamaru Usman:  $40,000

Gilbert Burns:  $30,000

Alexa Grasso:  $5,000

Maycee Barber:  $4,000

Kelvin Gastelum:  $15,000

Ian Heinisch:  $5,000

Ricky Simon:  $5,000

Brian Kelleher:  $10,000

Julian Marquez:  $3,500

Maki Pitolo:  $4,000

Anthony Hernandez:  $4,000

Rodolfo Vieira:  $3,500

Belal Muhammad:  $10,000

Dhiego Lima:  $5,000

Polyana Viana: $5,000

Mallory Martin:  $3,500

Chris Gutierrez:  $5,000

Andre Ewell:  $5,000

Gabe Green:  $3,500

Phil Rowe:  $3,500

Sponsorships

Zappos.com, P3, TR2 Tactical Respirators, Geico, Modelo, Toyo Tires, Howler Head, Draft Kings, the U.S. Army, GuaranteedRate.com and Monster Energy with the center of the Octagon.

Jimmy Johns also sponsored a portion of the telecast including the finish of the Viana-Martin fight.

Thorne sponsored the Embedded Vlog series this time around.

Manscaped had the mat outside the Octagon as it has had in multiple events.  In honor of Buffer’s anniversary with the company, here’s a commercial he did this past fall for the “Official Trimmer of the UFC.”

Ricky Simon praised the use of Trifecta Nutrition to help with his weight in his post-fight interview. 

Not sure where this came from but they let Julian Marquez read copy during his post-fight interview regarding a social media promotion for the UFC’s loudest fans.  Of course, he also made a call out for Miley Cyrus to be his Valentine.   

Odds and ends

The big star of the event was the new camera view from the UFC.  Similar to that used by the NFL on Fox later in the season, it provides a more cinematic viewpoint of the action. 

FYI per @jeffbottari the UFC used an A7RIV with a 35mm 1.4 G Master Lens to achieve these incredible shots last night. I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially during the raw emotions in the immediate aftermath of Usman vs. Burns.pic.twitter.com/xYhQvkUzNn

— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) February 14, 2021

Another happening this week were comments by Dana White in relation to the firing of Gina Carano after her comments

Two fights were taken off the event during fight week.  Bobby Green collapsed after weigh-ins and Gillian Robertson woke up on fight day ill and her fight was scrapped.

Bruce Buffer celebrated his 25^th year with the UFC and the company paid tribute to him during the broadcast.  He also wore a coat reminiscent of Isaac from the Love Boat. 

Dana White post-event said that they deterred another illegal streamer from stealing their PPV.  Of course, this may have been easier this time around since this was not a big card.  Also, not calling out the streamer seems curious since you

Conclusion

This was one of those cards that seemed like a placeholder until the next big PPV.  Although we received a welterweight title bout and Gilbert Burns was a deserved challenger.  But, this PPV lacked stars on the card for the casual viewer to pay $70 to watch it.  While we might not get an exact figure, I would surmise this event did 250,000 buys.