The UFC doesn’t release its pay-per-view sales, though White did say publicly that UFC 148 did the second-most in company history, behind only UFC 100.
But there have been a number of bombs on pay-per-view this year, when fans simply opted to save their money. UFC 147 was a disaster and UFC 149 wasn’t much better.
That has led some to speculate that the MMA boom is on the decline.
That doesn’t jibe, though, with the rock-star status that UFC fighters receive when they’re in public.
It’s simply a recognition of the fact that the UFC has a finite number of stars it can bank on to sell. When one of them is injured and is sidelined a long time, it depresses the entire business.
It hasn’t reached a crisis mode by any means, but White knows as well as anyone the importance of finding that next generation of pay-per-view stars.
Nothing is more critical to the UFC’s future.





