UFC 150 is preliminarily estimated to have had only 190,000 buys; UFC 147 was even less with 140,000.
The worst PPV in 2011 was roughly 225,000, and the worst in 2010 was 240,000.
UFC 145, 146, and 148 garnered roughly 700,000, 700,000 and 900,000 buys respectively, demonstrating that the sport’s dominant league can still pull huge numbers, but the lows of 2011 are puzzling.
The most obvious explanation seems to be an oversaturation of shows. For example, in 2010, the UFC had held 12 shows by this time in August. In 2011 the UFC had held 15 shows by this time. This year the UFC has hosted 21 events – nearly double the number it had hosted by midway through August 2010.
True, many of these cards were free, especially given the UFC’s new presence on FOX, and its subsidiaries, FX and Fuel TV, but the fact is that suddenly MMA fans have more opportunities to watch the UFC. For the MMA fan who is struggling to pay his rent, things have suddenly become more straightforward.
In opting to forgo buying cards like UFC 147 and 150, which undeniably lacked real celebrity and name value, fans would not be deprived of the UFC for long. They still got to watch famous light heavyweights knock each other silly for free on FOX the week before UFC 150.
Suddenly the choice not to buy UFC 150 is much less painful. And with UFC 151 just two weeks later (anchored by rising superstar Jon Jones and legend Dan Henderson), the choice to brush aside UFC 150 and watch the highlights the next day comes even easier.
The high-density of UFC events also leads to another problem. Suddenly, the UFC needs to provide exponentially more matchups, given the increased number of events.
Events used to be much more spaced out, and the result was cards that were stacked thick with promising matchups. Now, in the wake of such an increase in the number of UFC shows, the result is cards like UFC 147.
Given that each card now boasts much fewer big-name matchups, an injury that prevents one of those integral matchups from happening can be a killer for Pay-Per-View’s success.
Take UFC 147. First, it appeared our main event would be between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen, (a fight that was later bumped to UFC 148, a card that was in dire need of saving itself, as it too had been pillaged by injury). This left UFC 147 with Wanderlei Silva vs. Vitor Belfort as a main event.
Cue a Belfort injury…and Franklin steps up to fight Silva, leaving us with a rematch that really doesn’t advance the status of the winner all that much. Sure, an entertaining fight, but a relevant one? No. And in today’s economy, no fan wants to shell out fifty-odd bucks for irrelevance.
Now look ahead to UFC 152, a Pay-Per-View that was recently robbed of a hyped-up matchup between prospect Rory MacDonald and former two-division champ, BJ Penn. Without this fight, it’s hard to be optimistic about the card’s success. Anchored only by a title fight in the UFC’s newest, (and thus least followed) division, the card will be difficult for flyweights Joseph Benavidez and Demetrius Johnson to carry.
Even with an appealing middleweight matchup between Brian Stann and Michael Bisping supporting them—from the early outlook, anyway—UFC 152 does not have Pay-Per-View success written all over it.
