UFC 132 estimated 350-375k buys

The two smallest fighters ever to headline a UFC PPV event had one of the biggest performances at UFC 132 on 7/2 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Right now, Cruz vs. Demetrious Johnson (Cruz’s likely next opponent) or Brian Bowles is not going to headline a UFC PPV and do any numbers. Even with Faber, the numbers don’t appear to be overwhelming. But that’s part of the building process. When UFC first introduced lightweights, the live audience didn’t even want to see them. Here, the live audience loved the fight, but Faber still hasn’t had much UFC exposure even with his natural charisma and star power. But without him as champion, the division goes down in interest, and it’s really a process of building a division before it can headline.

The event was one of the better PPV shows in company history. The first four prelims on facebook were nothing special. The fight two were fine, but after four straight fights going to the decision, the last two (Aaron Simpson vs. Brad Tavares and Brian Bowles vs. Takeya Mizugaki) being pretty bad, Joe Silva went backstage and told the rest of the fighters to make something happen because this show wasn’t going well.

Things happened from there.

The show drew 12,947 and had a $2.3 million gate. Since this is Las Vegas, you don’t know how many of those tickets were sold to casinos as opposed to fans. The gate indicates substantial papering. The 5/28 show had roughly the same attendance, but a $2.6 million gate and about $1 million of those were sold to area casinos. And that show also had a lot of papering. The papering has become an issue because when I was flying into Las Vegas, I was on a flight with people talking that they were coming in for the fight, they had no tickets, and were all talking about how easy it was on a show like this where they knew it wasn’t selling out, to get free tickets. They were clearly experienced at it, as they were flying to Vegas for the show without tickets and had no interest in spending money on tickets.

Very early PPV numbers look to be in the 350,000 to 375,000 range. The number is lower than I would have expected. We won’t have what I’d call a definitive number for another week or two, but that’s a prelim number. The Countdown show was excellent, as Cruz and Faber should both get A+ ratings for their selling of the fight. Even though the first airing on a Wednesday afternoon did no viewers, it did normal debut-level numbers for the replay since it was right after Impact. The show looks to have been about 15% up from UFC 131 in the U.S., but was down in Canada (since 131 was from Vancouver, it was going to have more of a Canadian following.

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Historical PPV buyrate estimates

UFC 130: Rampage Jackson vs. Matt Hamill – 300-325,000

UFC 129: St-Pierre vs. Shields – 850,000

UFC 128: UFC 128: Shogun Rua vs Jon Jones – 445,000

UFC 127: John Fitch vs. BJ Penn – 260,000

UFC 126: Silva vs. Belfort – 750,000

UFC 125: Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard – 270,000-300,000

UFC 124: Georges St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck – 785,000

UFC 123: Rampage Jackson vs Lyoto Machida – 500, 000

UFC 122: Nate Marquardt vs. Yushin Okami – Free TV

UFC 121: Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez, 1,000,000

UFC 120: Michael Bisping vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama – Free TV

UFC 119: Frank Mir vs MirkoCro Cop – 295,000

UFC 118: Frank Edgar vs. B.J. Penn/Randy Couture vs. James Toney, 535,000

UFC 117: Anderson Silva vs Chael Sonnen – 600,000

UFC 116: Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin, 1,100,000

UFC 115: Chuck Liddell vs Rich Franklin – 520,000

UFC 114: Quinton Jackson vs. Rashad Evans – 1,050,000

UFC 113: Lyoto Machida vs Shogun Rua – 520000

UFC 112: Anderson Silva vs Demian Maia – 500,000

UFC 111: St. Pierre vs. Dan Hardy, March 27, 770,000

UFC 110: Rodrigo Nogueira vs Cain Velasquez – 240,000

UFC 109: Mark Coleman vs Randy Couture – 275,000

UFC 108: Rashad Evans vs Thiago Silva – 300,000

UFC 107: Penn vs Sanchez – 620,000

UFC 106: Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin – 375,000

UFC 105: Couture vs. Vera – Free TV

UFC 104: Lyoto Machida vs. Shogun Rua – 500,000

UFC 103: Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort – 375,000

UFC 102: Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Randy Couture – 425,000

UFC 101: Declaration – 850,000

UFC 100: Lesnar vs. Mir II – 1,720,000

UFC 99 – 360,000 (Franklin vs. W. Silva)

UFC 98 – 635,000 (Evans vs. Machida)

UFC 97 – 625,000 (A. Silva vs. Leites)

UFC 96 – 350,000 (Jackson vs. Jardine)

UFC 95 – free TV (Sanchez vs. Stenveson)

UFC 94 – 800,000 (St. Pierre vs. Penn)

UFC 93 – 320,000 (Henderson vs. Franklin)

UFC 92 – 1,200,000 (Griffin vs. Evans)

UFC 91 – 1,010,000 (Couture vs. Lesnar)

UFC 90 – 300,000 (A. Silva vs. Cote)

UFC 89 – free TV (Bisping vs. Leben)

UFC 88 – 640,000 (Liddell vs. Evans)

UFC 87 – 625,000 (Lesnar vs. Herring)

UFC 86 – 520,000 (Jackson vs. Griffin)

UFC 85 – 225,000 (Hughes vs. Alves)

UFC 84 – 475,000 (Penn vs. Sherk)

UFC 83 – 525,000 (St. Pierre vs. Serra II)

UFC 82 – 325,000 (Silva vs. Henderson)

UFC 81 – 650,000 (Lesnar vs. Mir)

UFC 80 – 225,000 (Penn vs. Stevenson)

UFC 79 – 600,000 (Liddell vs. W. Silva)

UFC 78 – 400,000 (Bisping vs. Evans)

UFC 77 – 325,000 (A. Silva vs. Franklin II)

UFC 76 – 450,000 (Liddell vs. Jardine)

UFC 75 – free TV (Jackson vs. Henderson)

UFC 74 – 520,000 (Couture vs. Gonzaga)

UFC 73 – 425,000 (Ortiz vs. Evans)

UFC 72 – 200,000 (Franklin vs. Okami)

UFC 71 – 675,000 (Liddell vs. Jackson)

UFC 70 – free TV (Crocop vs. Gonzaga)

UFC 69 – 400,000 (St. Pierre vs. Serra)

UFC 68 – 540,000 (Sylvia vs. Couture)

UFC 67 – 350,000 (A. Silva vs. Lutter)

UFC 66 – 1,050,000 (Liddell vs. Tito II)

UFC 65 – 500,000 (Hughes vs. St. Pierre)

UFC 64 – 300,000 (Franklin vs. A. Silva)

UFC 63 – 700,000 (Hughes vs Penn II)

UFC 62 – 500,000 (Liddell vs Sobral)

UFC 61 – 775,000 (Ortiz vs Shamrock II)

UFC 60 – 615,000 (Hughes vs Gracie)

UFC 59 – 415,000 (Tito vs. Griffin)

UFC 58 – 290,000 (Franklin vs Loiseau)

UFC 57 – 400,000 (Couture vs Liddell III)

UFC 56 – 200,000 (Franklin vs. Quarry)

UFC 55 – 125,000 (Arlovski vs. Buentello)

UFC 54 – 150,000 (Liddell vs. Horn)

UFC 53 – 90,000 (Arlovski vs. Eilers)

UFC 52 – 280,000 (Couture vs Liddell II)

UFC 51 – 105,000 (Ortiz vs. Belfort)

UFC 50 – 40,000 (Ortiz vs. Cote)

UFC 49 – 80,000 (Couture vs. Belfort III)

UFC 48 – 110,000 (Shamrock vs. Kimo)

UFC 47 – 104,000 (Ortiz vs. Liddell)

UFC 46 – 77,000 (Couture vs. Belfort II)

UFC 45 – 40,000 (Hughes vs. Trigg)

UFC 44 – 94,000 (Couture vs. Ortiz)

UFC 43 – 49,000 (Couture vs. Liddell)

UFC 42 – 35,000 (Hughes vs. Sherk)

UFC 41 – 60,000 (Rodriguez vs. Sylvia)

UFC 40 – 150,000 (Ortiz vs Shamrock)

UFC 39 – 45,000 (Rodriguez vs. Couture)

UFC 38 – 45,000 (Hughes vs. Newton)

UFC 37 – 50,000 (Lindland vs. Bustamante)

UFC 36 – 55,000 (Barnett vs. Couture)

UFC 35 – 35,000 (Penn vs. Pulver)

UFC 34 – 60,000 (Couture vs. Rizzo)

UFC 33 – 75,000 (Ortiz vs. Matyushenko)