UFC 228 Estimated PPV Buyrate Shows Disappointing Numbers
UFC 228’s estimated PPV buyrate has been revealed, and it’s a bit of doom and gloom for the Las Vegas-based promotion.
UFC 228 Estimated PPV Buyrate
Dave Meltzer reported in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the early numbers show may not have cleared even 150,000 buys. “The 9/8 PPV numbers were well below expectations with Woodley vs. Till on top. They are so bad that we haven’t gotten an estimate past an early number of 130,000 that was going around,” Meltzer wrote.
The Fights
Tyron Woodley vs. Darren Till in a welterweight title fight headlined this show, which saw Woodley successfully retain his title. Jéssica Andrade vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz in a women’s strawweight bout served as the co-main event. Nicco Montaño vs. Valentina Shevchenko in a women’s flyweight title fight was supposed to be the co-main event but that fight got nixed after Montaño was hospitalized.
This wasn’t a stacked card by any means nor did it have some big name fighters featured. This event was projected to do decently after the surprise of the previous pay-per-view event, UFC 227, doing 300,000 buys the month before.
Although Woodley is known for his trash talk and one of the best welterweights in the world, he’s not a huge draw despite the fact that he creates headlines by the things he says and top fighters he calls out in interviews. Also, Till, who is still new to the UFC fan base as he’s only had a handful of fights under the promotion banner, had not headlined a PPV event before this fight.
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 229 show on Saturday, October 6, 2018 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor for the UFC lightweight title will headline the show while Tony Ferguson vs. Anthony Pettis in a lightweight bout will co-headline. UFC President Dana White has previously stated that this event is trending for over 2 million buys.
