UFC 207 PPV buyrate was huge

No one in the MMA media knows more about pay per view television buys than Dave Meltzer, and in his latest article for MMA Fighting, he says UFC 207 was huge.

To put it into context, the sole sports to have three events break 1,000,000 buys are boxing and MMA. Boxing did so twice, in 1996 and 2011. In 2016, the UFC had five events break the 1,000,000 mark.

2016
UFC 207: Nunes vs. Rousey • December 12 • 1,100,000
UFC 205: Alvarez vs. McGregor • November 12 • 1,300,000
UFC 202: Diaz vs. McGregor 2 • August 20 1,500,000
UFC 200: Tate vs. Nunes • July 9 • 1,000,000
UFC 196: McGregor vs. Diaz • March 5 • 1,300,000

2015
UFC 194: Aldo vs. McGregor • December 12 • 1,200,000
UFC 193: Rousey vs. Holm 2015.11.14 1,100,000

2014
0

2013
UFC 168: Weidman vs. Silva 2 • December 28 • 1,025,000

2012
0

2011
0

2010
UFC 121: Lesnar vs. Velasquez • October 23 • 1,050,000
UFC 116: Lesnar vs Carwin • July 3 • 1,160,000
UFC 114: Jackson vs Evans • May 29 • 1,050,000

2009
UFC 100 • July 11 • 1,300,000

2008
UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008 • December 27 • 1,050,000
UFC 91: Couture vs Lesnar • November 15 • 1,010,000

2007
0

2006
UFC 66: Liddell vs. Ortiz 2 • December 30 • 1,050,000

Looked at a different way, of the top five PPVs in league history, four were in 2016:
UFC 202: Diaz vs. McGregor 2 • August 20, 2016 • 1,500,000
UFC 196: McGregor vs. Diaz • March 5, 2016 • 1,300,000
UFC 100 • July 11, 2009 • 1,300,000
UFC 205: Alvarez vs. McGregor • November 12, 2016 • 1,300,000
UFC 194: Aldo vs. McGregor • December 12, 2015 • 1,200,000

There are a number of takeaways from the success of UFC 207:
•The loss to Holm did not detract from Rousey’s drawing power, as her last two fights were virtually identical.
•If Rousey had done media for the event, UFC 207 would have likely been bigger still.
•If UFC 207 was on a Saturday it would likely have been bigger still.
•If Velasquez vs. Werdum had not been scrapped, it would have likely been bigger still.
•If all those had happened, UFC 207 might well have been the biggest show in league history.
•And Rousey vs. Holm II would have been bigger still.

Of course, Rousey lost, and may not fight again.

PPV buy rate source: Tapology