Welcome to another Payout Perspective! This time we take a look at UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Two new champs crowned
While this event was to be headlined by Jon Jones taking on Stipe Miocic, the event still came through with action from the top two fights.
Tom Aspinall earned the interim Heavyweight title as he defeated Sergei Pavolovich. Despite just being one round, this was an intriguing fight as both fighters could have ended the night for the other with their power. It was Aspinall that was able to clip Pavlovich on the side of the head that stunned him and another solid punch dropped him and the new champ finished it off on the ground.
Aspinall should now face Jon Jones when he returns to action. If that does not happen, I would expect that Aspinall face Stipe Miocic who was in attendance.
Alex Pereira won the vacated Light Heavyweight Title as he defeated Jiri Prochazka in round 2 of their matchup. It was Pereira’s kickboxing acumen that was difference in this fight as he used leg kicks in round 1 to soften up the former champ and then finished him in round 2.
The UFC handed out 7 bonuses including to the winners of the top two fights – Alex Pereira and Tom Aspinall. The other bonus winners include:
Diego Lopes stopped Pat Sabatini in the first round of their bout to earn $50K.
Benoit Saint Denis used a head kick to take at Matt Frevola in the first round of their matchup.
Jessica Andrade returned to form as she defeated Mackenzie Dern via TKO in round 2.
The Fight of the Night was the first fight on the Prelims and featured Viacheslav Broschev Slava taking on Nazim Sadykhov. The fight was a majority draw but was an exciting back and forth fight between the two.
Attendance announced post-event by the UFC was 19,039 for a live gate of $12,432,563.
Sponsorships
The UFC octagon included DAV.org, the Netflix show The Killer, Monster Energy and Casey’s shared an Octagon pad, Crypto.com, Prime, DraftKings, Vechain, New Amsterdam Vodka, UFC 5, Call of Duty, VeChain, Howler Head, Jose Cuervo, easypost, HunterSevenFoundation, HSS, Toyo Tires, Air National Guard, Modelo, and Monster Energy in the center.
Modelo had the fighter prep point. Manscaped and VeChain were on the outside skirting.
Since it was Veteran’s Day, the UFC had messages from fighters to Veterans expressing their thanks.
Notably, the HunterSevenFoundation relates to an activation announced during Fight Week between the UFC and Black Rifle Coffee Company. The two company will team up to match $150,000 in public donations to HSF as it works to prevent and detect cancer at its earliest stages through research, education, and accessible medical screening per a company press release. It’s interesting that the UFC did not include Black Rifle Coffee Company on the Octagon mats. Maybe too controversial for the conservative coffee company. Then again, look who was in the front row.
Odds and ends
It was odd that combatants Mackenzie Dern and Jessica Andrade fought and revealed that both are working through divorces which has racked up legal bills. Andrade won by KO and earned a $50K Performance Bonus.
The UFC announced that it was switching television partners in Canada to Sportsnet and TVA sports for French-speaking viewers.
Logan Paul was in attendance and living the gimmick he brought his newly won Intercontinental title belt with him. He also had a shout out to Rey’s son, Dominick Mysterio.
Dana White announced that the UFC would be holding an event at The Sphere in Las Vegas on Mexican Independence Weekend in September.
Conclusion
This event would have had a higher buy rate with Jon Jones at the top of the card. Still, the UFC’s annual visit to MSG was well marketed and brought out a lot of “stars” to the event. Despite the good gate, I don’t think it drew on PPV. I would think a range of 300-450 buys would be a success for this card.
Leave a Reply