Welcome to another edition of Payout Perspective. This time we take a look at the first PPV of 2023 with a return to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for UFC 283.
Hill wins Light Heavyweight Title
Jamahal Hill became the first alumni of the Dana White Contender’s Series to win a UFC championship. Hill defeated Glover Texeira to win the UFC Light Heavyweight title. The fight was not very close as Hill dominated the 42-year-old Texeira through 5 rounds. In the end, it was the old warrior that laid down his armor and announced his retirement.
Hill can celebrate his victory from relative obscurity to the best 205er in the UFC. However, he now will have to face the former champion Jiri Prochaka who relinquished the title after injury.
Moreno wins quadrilogy; Figgy retires…from 125
It was not a classic like the first three fights, but Brandon Moreno was able to stop Deiveson Figueredo due to stoppage after round 3. Figueredo’s eye closed after a Moreno strike and he was unable to see out of it stopping the fight. After the fight Figueredo took off his gloves, the universal sign that one is retiring. Except, Figueredo stated that he was retiring from the Flyweight division and move up to Bantamweight.
Even with the “retirement” I do not rule out a 5th fight between the two.
UFC 283 returned to Rio for the first time since the pandemic. In fact, the UFC was one of the last major sporting events to be held before safety and health concerns halted most public events. The last UFC event before the pandemic was in March 2020.
The reported attendance per the post-fight press conference was 13,604 at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The last event did not have any in attendance as you might recall it was one of the last events prior to the closure of most of the world due to COVID-19.
The Fight of the Night went to the main event of Jamahal Hill and Glover Texeira. The fight saw a new light heavyweight champion in Hill. It also saw the retirement of Texeira. The performance bonuses went to Ismael Bonfim for his highlight KO of Terrance McKinney in the second round of their fight on the UFC 283 Prelims. The other performance bonus went to Jalton Almeida who stopped Shamil Abdurakhimov in the second round of their fight on the Early Prelims.
The UFC 283 Prelims on ABC drew 756,000 viewers. The telecast on ESPN drew 348,000 viewers.
It should be noted that the NFC Playoff Game between the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants drew 28.6 million viewers and an 8 share of during the bulk of the prelims.
UFC Promotional Payouts
Jamahal Hill: $32,000
def. Glover Teixeira: $32,000
Brandon Moreno: $42,000
def. Deiveson Figueiredo: $42,000
Gilbert Burns: $16,000
def. Neil Magny: $21,000
Jessica Andrade: $21,000
def. Lauren Murphy: $11,000
Johnny Walker: $6,000
def. Paul Craig: $11,000
Ihor Potieria: $4,000
def. Mauricio Rua: $21,000
Brunno Ferreira: $4,000
def. Gregory Rodrigues: $6,000
Thiago Moises: $6,000
def. Melquizael Costa: $4,000
Gabriel Bonfim: $4,000
def. Mounir Lazzez: $4,500
Jailton Almeida: $4,500
def. Shamil Abdurakhimov: $11,000
Cody Stamann: $11,000
def. Luan Lacerda: $4,000
Ismael Bonfim: $4,000
def. Terrance McKinney: $4,500
Nicolas Dalby: $6,000
def. Warlley Alves: $11,000
Josiane Nunes: $4,000
def. Zarah Fairn: $4,000
Daniel Marcos: $4,000
def. Saimon Oliveira: $4,000
Sponsorships
The sponsors in the cage included the new Universal Pictures, M. Night Shyamalan movie, “Knock at the Cabin” which stars former WWE pro wrestler David Batista. The Ronda Rousey-featured video game Raid – Shadow Legends, was also a part of the telecast. Also in the cage was Grupo Souza Lima, Telecall, Easypost, Hudson Shipping, Crypto.com, Howler Head, Stake, Jimmy Johns, VeChain, Fit Combustible, Monster Energy had a post and the center of the Octagon. Manscaped had the outside of the Octagon.
Stake.com sponsored the UFC Embedded series.
Odds and Ends
The biggest news of the night outside of the Octagon was the Jose Aldo was the first inductee of the UFC’s 2023 Hall of Fame class. Aldo was emotional as it appeared he had no idea it was happening. Also of note, Aldo is scheduled to make his boxing debut on a card that will air on UFC Fight Pass in February.
In addition, many UFC Brazilian fighters were in attendance including Charles Oliviera, Mackenzie Dern and Amanda Ribas.
Shogun Rua fought his last fight in the UFC and lost via first round stoppage to Ihor Potieria.
Not a good trip for backup Light Heavyweight Anthony Smith as he failed to make weight. So, even if one of the fighter could not compete, Smith could not step in.
Gilbert Burns looked great in his fight. He called out Colby Covington but it looks like he will face Jorge Masvidal in April.
UFC 283 was the first ESPN PPV that is being charged at the new rate of $79.99.
Conclusion
UFC 283 was a very good event to kickoff the 2023 year. Its unlikely that it did well in PPV buys. The combination of the card being in Brazil and the NFL playoffs as well as the new price point likely had the casual MMA fan holding off on this one. I would foresee this PPV doing between 200-250K PPV buys.
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