https://www.bjpenn.com/mma-news/ufc/report-ufc-259-sold-800000-pay-per-views-worldwide/
We now have the answer to that question. According to Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand, UFC 259 sold 600,000 pay-per-views to domestic watchers in the United States, plus another 200,000 international pay-per-views for a grand total of 800,000 PPVs sold. When Adesanya headlined UFC 253 against Paulo Costa last fall, 700,000 worldwide PPVs were sold. It appears that UFC 259 is now Adesanya’s biggest PPV seller since he starting headlining UFC events. The loss to Blachowicz hurts, but it was still a big event from a financial POV, and both headliners are likely going to get a nice bonus from the UFC.
Having said that, there’s still room for improvement on this number. While 800,000 is a solid number overall, it still pales in comparison to UFC 257 in January, which reportedly sold 1.6 million PPVs worldwide. Of course, Conor McGregor headlined that card against Dustin Poirier, and anytime McGregor fights his cards see a big bump in sales. The UFC surely never expected Adesanya to sell McGregor’s level of PPVs, so the fact his PPV against Blachowicz, who’s not a big draw, still got to half of McGregor’s number is solid.
Not every numbered event is a PPV in all countries, right? Like Australia had to pay for 259, but not 258 I think. Or the UK having to buy 257.
So some cards have a higher ceiling of what worldwide PPV buys could be. It makes sense, just kind of interesting.
Izzy is a draw, but I bought it because it was champ vs champ, and mainly for Yan vs Sterling. Decent 2 bouts to start with also. I can’t stand WMMA on PPV, but at least Nunes is one of the very few legit ones.
I really wanted to see Conor vs Poirier but having two very minor WMMA bouts on that main card made it a no-no. WTF was that about
Cards matter too. Not just main-events.
2 Likes
Sprawl'n'Stall - Izzy is a draw, but I bought it because it was champ vs champ, and mainly for Yan vs Sterling. Decent 2 bouts to start with also. I can't stand WMMA on PPV, but at least Nunes is one of the very few legit ones.I really wanted to see Conor vs Poirier but having two very minor WMMA bouts on that main card made it a no-no. WTF was that about
Cards matter too. Not just main-events.
I thought the first 2 fights were better than decent. I was super excited to see Makhachev, and that Rakic vs Santos fight on paper looked awesome, and both guys are ranked in the top 5. That fight could be the co-main on some PPV’s.
forrestfan - Not every numbered event is a PPV in all countries, right? Like Australia had to pay for 259, but not 258 I think. Or the UK having to buy 257.So some cards have a higher ceiling of what worldwide PPV buys could be. It makes sense, just kind of interesting.
Aus pay for all numbered events.