UFC 235 PPV Estimates Bring Extremely Promising Numbers

Last weekend’s (Sat., March 2, 2019) UFC 235 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, was the most anticipated pay-per-view (PPV) of the year so far.

And the early pay-per-view estimates are certainly reflecting that. According to Wrestling Observer Newsletter (via Jed I. Goodman), UFC 235 brought in between 520-650,000 buys.

From WON, early #UFC235 estimates range from 520k to 650k buys.#UFC

— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) March 7, 2019

Goodman followed up that the event was the fifth-highest drawing UFC PPV since 2017.

The numbers proved that controversial light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who defended his title versus Anthony Smith in the UFC 235 main event, is still a very bankable draw. While UFC 235 obviously had the benefit of another title bout in Tyron Woodley vs. Kamaru Usman and Ben Askren‘s debut against Robbie Lawler, three of the top five UFC PPVs since 2017 featured “Bones”:

The 5 biggest UFC PPV estimates since 2017:

UFC 224 Conor/Khabib 2.4M
UFC 217 Bisping/GSP 875k
UFC 214 Jones/DC 860k
UFC 232 Jones/Gus 700k
UFC 235 Jones/Smith 520k-650k early estimate

— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) March 7, 2019

The dominant champ’s biggest PPV number was against Daniel Cormier at UFC 214 in July 2017, a fight after which he was suspended for testing positive for steroid turinabol. Jones returned to face another rival in Alexander Gustafssson at December 29’s UFC 232, drawing a rumored 700,000 buys to win back his title.

Jones is oft-linked to a move up to heavyweight, yet he’s teased defending the light heavyweight title up to four times in 2019. Rising knockout artist Thiago Santos has been pointed to as his next foe. It’s not the most exciting fight for “Bones.”

However, it appears fans will tune in to watch the troubled legend fight no matter whom it’s against.