Bob Arum: The UFC’s PPV numbers have been very bad since the FOX deal

Everyone’s favorite professional boxing promoter, Bob Arum, recently spoke to FightHubTV regarding last year’s monumental deal between the Ultimate Fighting Championship and the FOX Network. According to Arum, the UFC’s PPV numbers have seen a major dip since partnering with FOX, which he says is likely due to giving the product away for free.

Bob Arum

“First of all, there is no real competition between boxing and the UFC. There’s a very, very small crossover, eight-percent. I think the UFC does a very good job with promotion, but it’s a totally different gameplan from the one that we have. Going on the Fox network is okay, but I don’t know if it helps their pay-per-view numbers. It’s a mixed bag. Their numbers have been very, very bad on PPV (since the Fox deal) because people say we can see the same thing for nothing, why should we pay? You can’t make value judgments with the very small window that they’ve had. Let’s see how it works out over a year. … These (PPV) shows are not distinguishing themselves from the Fox shows. It’s all like the same thing, it’s UFC.”