Jake Paul is disappointed in his pay-per-view sales
Jake Paul continued his undefeated streak this past weekend by defeating Anderson Silva in a competitive boxing match. Jake is one of the biggest influencers in the world, but his influence hasn’t made a lot of people buy his pay-per-views as of late. Jake appeared on the “Impaulsive” podcast with his brother Logan Paul earlier this week to talk about his Silva fight.
Jake was excited when discussing the actual fight but was disappointed when discussing the commercial success of the fight. He estimated that the event sold between 200K-300K pay-per-view buys. Jake mentioned on the podcast that the pre-buys for the pay-per-view were doing great early in the week, but they tanked on Wednesday after Silva said in an interview that he had been knocked out twice during his training camp. Ticket sales also tanked after Silva’s interview.
This was still significantly higher than Jake’s last fight against Tyron Woodley which reportedly sold 65K pay-per-views, which is a number that Jake has disputed. Jake Paul’s first taste of pay-per-view success came when he fought former NBA star Nate Robinson on a card that was headlined by the return of Mike Tyson against Roy Jones Jr. The event was a massive success, selling 1.6 million pay-per-view buys, which was largely because of Mike Tyson’s return. Jake headlined an event against Ben Askren after the Robinson fight, which sold 500K pay-per-view buys.
Jake Paul has earned more respect with each fight, but he’s at a crossroads now. He can go down the route of fighting legitimate boxers, but there are not a lot of boxers that can help him sell pay-per-views, especially at his level. If selling pay-per-views is what’s more important to Jake right now, he has to continue fighting MMA fighters that have established fanbases. With Nate Diaz as a free agent, you can expect Jake Paul’s team to push hard for this fight. Nate is the only available MMA fighter that he can do big business with.
Kayla Harrison will not compete in the PFL league format after 2022
Kayla Harrison will compete in her final fight in the PFL’s league format on November 25th against Larissa Pacheco. Harrison confirmed to the media this week that she’ll be focusing on individual fights after the 2022 PFL Championship event. In March, Harrison re-signed with the PFL for the 2022 season and two individual fights after that. If Harrison defeats Pacheco, this will be her third PFL Championship win.
Harrison is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and is looking for more accomplishments. Competing in the PFL league format can be taxing on the body. If you make it all the way to the championship, you fight four times in the span of eight months. The reward is big with winners earning $1 million each, but Harrison feels like she’s proved everything she needed to prove in this format.
Harrison will fight Pacheco for the third time on the 25th. She’s already defeated her twice in 2019, including defeating her in the championship fight. Harrison might just be the best women’s fighter on the planet, but she feels she needs to get out of the league format to prove it.
Frankie Edgar retires next week
UFC 281 will mark the end of the legendary fighting career of Frankie Edgar. For years, Frankie was considered the Rocky Balboa of our sport because of his fighting spirit and his ability to push the pace after absorbing damage. Frankie’s fighting spirit is still there, but his durability is no longer the same. He’s been finished by knockout in four out of his last seven fights and is coming off back-to-back knockout losses against Cory Sandhagen and Marlon Vera.
Frankie became the UFC lightweight champion in April of 2010 by defeating B.J. Penn, who at the time was regarded as the greatest lightweight of all time. It was Frankie’s second and third fights against Gray Maynard that made him beloved by fans. Even after moving to Featherweight, frankie was still one of the best fighters in the world. He defeated the likes of Charles Oliveira, Cub Swanson, Urijah Faber, and finished both Yair Rodriguez and Chad Mendes.
It’s not going to be easy an easy exit for Frankie who will be taking on Chris Gutierrez. Gutierrez is on a seven-fight unbeaten streak and hasn’t lost since 2016. Frankie has his back against the wall, and that’s been a familiar position for him throughout his career. The stage is set. One last fight for Frankie Edgar as the underdog against a killer at Madison Square Garden.
Quick Hits
- Aline Pereira, the younger sister of Alex Pereira, signs with the LFA.
- Askar Askarov and 11 others are released from their UFC contracts.
- T.J. Dillashaw still believes that Aljamain Sterling is the most beatable champion in the UFC.
Verdict is the mixed martial arts platform for fan engagement. Available on iOS and Android. Verdict’s mission is to increase engagement of the MMA viewing experience. Primarily, using innovative data collection methods that are shared with the community. We’re increasing transparency within the MMA community and its thoughts by aggregating crowd-sourced data and sharing it back. By leveraging a user focused design, we’re bringing fight data to the community’s finger tips.
