Early UFC 226 pay-per-view estimates are under 400,000 buys

A weird day for MMA news.
  • Biggest fight of the year doesn't draw big
  • We find out Viacom was interested enough in UFC programming to meet with Ari
  • Brock is 100% officially back in USADA & can fight as early as 01/08/19 ... IF he doesn't pop
 
UFC is dying

GHPIyna.gif
 
Except Brock.
Except brock, JDS vs Mr did 560k. The others I think they were all under 500k, many of them at 300k.
Yes I said since JDS was champion. He drew stuff in the 500k while reigning.

Everything since has been 185k-390k. The exception being whatever title fight had CM Punk's debut on it.
 
If they were hoping for 500k then 380k without Halloway-Ortega isn't such a bad result imho.
 
Today fighters have nothing mystical or unique personalities/styles like old school fighters...they are really cookie cut fighters.

Daniel Cormier is a damn full time announcer.....who hypes everything up like rogan and who's shit talking is wwe like fake.....that doesn't appeal to fighting fans at all.

Back in the day fighters were legit badasses or atleast perceived that way....Chuck lidell, tito ortiz, wanderlei Silva, CroCop, Fedor.....all these guys were distinct...all these guys were "authentic" in their own way.

There is nothing unique or authentic or badass about Daniel Cormier, stipe, holloway, ortega...etc

The UFC manufactured hype makes it worse because it ends up looking ridiculous.

The promos are also crap.



Usually some promo with a song with rogan yelling "OmG, Oooooooooooo (insert fighters name)".....it literally explains nothing to the casual.

The old promos atleast caught people's eyes and informed them a little.

They also need to bring primetime shows back instead of the same old countdown and embedded shit....GSP primetime quality was amazing, close to HBO 24/7.
 
fake news meltzer seems to be more accurate

now that wme owns the ufc
not zuffa
very interesting & suspicious
 
Its a mix of a lot of things

Lack of big stars
PPV being a top heavy industry in 2018
Declining interest over-all in MMA

Agree, especially on the second two points. Another factor is that it's all over the map in terms of where to watch a full event from the weigh-ins to the prelims to the late prelims to the main card to the post-fight show. It's like a crazy diagram that isn't even the same from one event to the next.
 
Agree, especially on the second two points. Another factor is that it's all over the map in terms of where to watch a full event from the weigh-ins to the prelims to the late prelims to the main card to the post-fight show. It's like a crazy diagram that isn't even the same from one event to the next.

Do you think that hurts PPV sales though?
 
Its a mix of a lot of things

Lack of big stars
PPV being a top heavy industry in 2018
Declining interest over-all in MMA

Well a lack of big stars naturally means that there is going to be a declining interest in the sport. I blame all of that on the UFC trying to force superfights any chance they get, not giving a shit about the consequences that has on a division. They are just now reaping the harvest.
 
But that Ngannou - Lewis fight was so exciting. Why would someone want to miss that?

"they are going to kill each other"
"black on black crime"
"someone is getting KTFO tonigh, bro"
"it will last under 60 seconds"

I had a bunch of people over when Guillard vs Jeremy Stephens was going down and I was like omg guys...and then it was the worst fight ever.I had a bunch over for this event and talked up this fight like crazy,it was the same feeling.I try not to get excited for a slobberknocker but sometimes you just know it will be and you're dead wrong.I don't even know man =/
 
The exception being whatever title fight had CM Punk's debut on it.

Not even UFC 203 with CM Punk did that good. 450k. And it was Reem vs Stipe, many thought Reem will KO Stipe.
And 225 with Punk did worse.

I had a bunch of people over when Guillard vs Jeremy Stephens was going down and I was like omg guys...and then it was the worst fight ever.I had a bunch over for this event and talked up this fight like crazy,it was the same feeling.I try not to get excited for a slobberknocker but sometimes you just know it will be and you're dead wrong.I don't even know man =/

I guess that you believed, just like me, that "ok, first round was shitty, Ngannou is keeping his cardio, but in the second round he will try to KO Lewis". And after that... "wtf? not even in the 3rd?"
 
But that Ngannou - Lewis fight was so exciting. Why would someone want to miss that?

"they are going to kill each other"
"black on black crime"
"someone is getting KTFO tonigh, bro"
"it will last under 60 seconds"
PPV are purchased before the fight you spud, and that fight on paper should have been fireworks
 
Meltzer:
The preliminary numbers look to be about 380,000 buys, or roughly the same as the January show in Boston where Miocic retained his title over Francis Ngannou and Cormier retained his over Volkan Oezdemir. UFC was hoping for a number in excess of 500,000 buys, and there were indicators based on advance sales where that number looked plausible


Very disappointing numbers. No way to spin it.


<Dylan>

DC should fight Brawk first. The build-up is already starting, and it's liable to be the one thing he looks forward towards most. That fighg will bring him more exposure, which likely can cash in on in his last fight. Cutting it close, but then he's the one who made a hard deadline. Could maximize his earning for his last two,fights and rest up afterwards. Or make a ppv of his sparring at AKA. That's a few fight's worth right there. And may be where his career ends, to be honest
 
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Well a lack of big stars naturally means that there is going to be a declining interest in the sport. I blame all of that on the UFC trying to force superfights any chance they get, not giving a shit about the consequences that has on a division. They are just now reaping the harvest.

The declining interest has more to do with the fact that UFC stopped getting 20-somethings into MMA.
In the zero's they had a large 20-something audience that grew into the forties & like most things they lost some of the older audience but they never replaced them with younger viewers.
UFC/MMA doesn't cater anything to that age group.
UFC production has not changed in 15 years. Its boring & stale & there is nothing modern about it.
Add in 20-somethings are used to everything for FREE & that makes PPV a harder sell.

But the big issue IMO is catering the appeal to younger viewers & neither era of owners have done that.
 
But the big issue IMO is catering the appeal to younger viewers & neither era of owners have done that.

And how would you do that?
How can you attract the younger segment?

I don't know how many watch it in USA, but in Europe there are not so many. The ones I tried to talk to about MMA I got answers like:
"those guys who kill each other? no, man, too much blood, that's too violent"
"yeah, yeah, i've seen once on youtube there are women fighting too. disgusting!"
"that's too exaggerated for me, you can hit him when he is down, too much"
 
The declining interest has more to do with the fact that UFC stopped getting 20-somethings into MMA.
In the zero's they had a large 20-something audience that grew into the forties & like most things they lost some of the older audience but they never replaced them with younger viewers.
UFC/MMA doesn't cater anything to that age group.
UFC production has not changed in 15 years. Its boring & stale & there is nothing modern about it.
Add in 20-somethings are used to everything for FREE & that makes PPV a harder sell.

But the big issue IMO is catering the appeal to younger viewers & neither era of owners have done that.

How would you cater to younger audiences. Serious question. Also don't you think that main and co main events falling through on literally every card nowadays play a role in that?
 
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