Updated UFC 111 numbers look to be coming in at around 770,000 buys. With Georges St. Pierre as the headliner, the numbers were strongest in Canada, as the top per capita markets were Halifax, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa. Montreal, Hamilton, Saskatoon, St. John’s, Windsor, Kingston, Burlington (Ont), Regina and Victoria, all Canadian markets. The top U.S. markets were Honolulu, Las Vegas, Sacramento, Seattle, Newark and Denver.
As a contrast, the biggest markets for WrestleMania the next day per capita were Guadalajara, Monterrey (Mexico, not California), Mexico City, Phoenix, Delhi, India, Lima, Peru, Marseille, France, Toronto, New York and Santiago, Chile. We still don’t have Mania numbers, but it looks like UFC beat them in the U.S., which is one that I figured would be close, and that’s still not a definite, just trending patterns show UFC 111 well ahead of Mania in the U.S.
In Canada, UFC killed.
But WrestleMania was far stronger internationally. Montreal is usually not a strong UFC PPV market. It’s a strong live event market, but that’s because a strong percentage of those at a Montreal show actually come from Ontario. It shows St. Pierre’s local fame has grown by a big margin in the past year.
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UFC 111 was a tremendously important event for the UFC, because it was essentially the launching point for the organization’s spring/summer campaign. The media and fan interest that comes along with an event that does 770,000 buys should translate into further interest in the UFC’s next few events.
While a good result for UFC 112 would be 400k, expect the UFC to be looking in the 600k range for both 113 and 114 where they’ll be able to generate far more interest in these domestic fights with two interesting top draws (the rematch and the grudge match, respectively).
Note: The PPV estimates are incomplete and still subject to change. We’ve posted the reports to give you an idea of the events progress with the cable companies.
Note II: Interesting that Seattle was one of the top markets, again, for the UFC. White has openly said he’d like to take a show there in the next 12 months and I’d expect that to come sooner, rather than later, if these market reports continue to produce such good results in that market.
