Preliminary Report: UFC 168 Should Be Around 1.1 Million PPV Buys
UFC 168 is well in the books now, and the time for debating the results is well behind us. All the results except one; the PPV buys. We already know that a 14,500 strong crowd pulled in a live gate of 6.2 million, but the PPV buys are yet to be disclosed.
According to an estimate by Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer, UFC 168 could well be one of the best PPV shows of all time. Check out what he had to say during a recent podcast:
“No no no. It’s between 1 and 1.1 million… The late buys haven’t been counted, and there’s always going to be lag in recording, things like that, so it’s probably going to end up 1.1 million.”
Although this is a ballpark figure, if it is roughly accurate it would rank 168 as the third (tied) best selling event of all time. It would also have garnered the UFC a tidy 66 million dollars; are we still seeing fighter wages as fair?
Add the live gate figures, and UFC 168 scored a massive 72 million dollars in just a few hours. I suppose that $5 PPV ncrease wasn’t such a bad idea after all? Check out how 168 ranks among the promotion’s best sellers, should the forecast be true:
#1. UFC 100
July 21, 2009, Las Vegas, Nevada
Buys: 1,600,000
Gate: $5,128,490
Main Events:
UFC Heavyweight championship Unification: Brock Lesnar (champion) vs. Frank Mir (interim champion)
UFC Welterweight championship: Georges St-Pierre (champion) vs. Thiago Alves
Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping
#2. UFC 116: Lesnar vs Carwin
July 3, 2010, Las Vegas, Nevada
Buys: 1,116,000
Gate: $2,053,990
Main Event:
UFC Heavyweight championship Unification: Brock Lesnar (champion) vs. Shane Carwin (interim champion)
#3. UFC 158: St-Pierre vs Diaz
March 16, 2013, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Buys: 1,100,000
Gate: $3,710,000
Main Event:
UFC Welterweight championship: Georges St-Pierre (champion) vs. Nick Diaz
UFC 168: Weidman vs. Silva
December 28, 2013, Las Vegas, Nevada
Buys: 1,100,000 (preliminary)
Gate: $6,200,000
Main Events:
UFC Middleweight Championship: Chris Weidman (champion) vs. Anderson Silva
UFC Women’s Bantanmweight championship: Ronda Rousey (champion) vs. Miesha Tate
