UFC 227 Estimated PPV Buyrate Shows Encouraging Numbers

UFC 227’s estimated PPV buyrate has been revealed, and it’s not all doom and gloom for the promotion.

UFC 227 Estimated PPV Buyrate

Dave Meltzer of MMA Fighting is reporting that the early numbers show that this event pulled in 300,000 buys. This is one of the highest buyrates that the UFC has done for the majority of the year. They started off with UFC 220 that is estimated at doing 340,000 to 380,000 pay-per-view buys in January.

This number would be in the same range as the UFC 223 event. That show went down on April 7th, with Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Al Iaquinta in the main event.

Going into UFC 227, the show was not expected to draw very well as it was really a two-bout card with title fights in the main and co-main events. The UFC 227 pay-per-view event took place on Saturday, August 4, 2018, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

The Fights

This event was headlined by a bantamweight title fight pitting champion TJ Dillashaw against Cody Garbrandt in a rematch. Demetrious Johnson vs. Henry Cejudo in a flyweight title rematch served as the co-main event. Historically, rematches and grudge fights do well on pay-per-view for not only MMA events but boxing as well.

That could be a factor in this buyrate. What’s surprising about it is not only the fact that it was one of the highest bought UFC PPV events of the year. But also, it did well with four fighters that have not drawn well in the past most notably, Johnson and Dillashaw as champions.

Johnson fell to Cejudo by split decision and lost the UFC flyweight title in the process. Johnson had won a UFC record 11 straight title defenses coming in, a historic milestone.

Meanwhile, in the co-main event, Dillashaw won by first-round KO over Garbrandt. Rounding out the five-bout main card was a Thiago Santos vs. Kevin Holland middleweight bout, Polyana Viana vs. JJ Aldrich in a women’s strawweight bout, and Cub Swanson vs. Renato Moicano in a featherweight bout.

History

Here is a list of the estimated numbers for the last three UFC pay-per-view events in 2018:

UFC 227: 300,000

UFC 226: 380,000

UFC 225: 250,000

The promotion returns to pay-per-view with its UFC 228 show on September 8, 2018, at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. This show will be headlined by Tyron Woodley defending the welterweight title against Darren Till.