Is Jones fight really that big?

Underground
24

Also…Lewis vs Francis will sell like shit unless they put fucking Masvidal vs Diaz as the co-main or something. Lewis headlined a PPV against Cormier and it did 250K buys, which is really tiny considering DC sold 800-900K with Jones. Francis and Stipe did 350K buys the first time, and I can’t find reported numbers for the second one…and Francis and Lewis already fought and it was a shit fight.

So let’s assume it does…fuck it, let’s be generous and say 400K buys…and assume Jon vs Francis only does what a “typical” big fight does for Jon and does 750K buys. I know it’ll do way more with the media push it’ll get, but let’s assume it only does what his other bigger fights, and is his 4th or 5th best selling PPV…that extra 350K buys is $24.5M in additional revenue, and that’s just on the buys. If it does 1M buys, that’s an EXTRA $42M in revenue over what the UFC would bring in with Lewis and Francis.

So yeah, when you consider that even if it barely touches 1M buys, Jon fighting instead of Lewis generates an additional $40M in revenue…it’s a huge fight, yes. If it gets even a little bigger and does 1.3M? We’re talking $60M in additional revenue. Obviously the UFC doesn’t get all the $, with ESPN getting a huge piece, but when ESPN is looking at the $ they made with the UFC over the course of the deal and it’s time to negotiate the next contract, the more BIG fights they made money on will make the UFC more $ in the next deal too.

Both sides know this, and they’re negotiating. The UFC wants this fight too because they know that it’ll be an extra $40-60M in revenue, and if Francis wins, he’s likely to sell better next time out too, so there’s more money to be made in the long run if they have a massive fight now. They’ll get it done, they just need to figure out if they’re ok with paying Jon 13M instead of 9M.

1 Like
25

I agree. It just doesn’t have that huge fight feel to me. It feels more like Jones is taking an ego trip and Dana is trying to capitalize.

800k buys tops, IMO.

26

Had to Google this as I thought he had but nope. Still was an all-time seller far ahead of Jones though. He’s had some big ones, and consistent.

950
920
875
800
785
770
700

Not bad for old Georges.

27

Yeah I know…if you were a casual fan and saw this dude getting in the cage you would think he was going to kill his opponent

Then clinch/knee to the nuts-fest

29

He gave Cain all he could handle at the time

30

it’s interesting because I want to see jon get his head knocked off, but I won’t be paying for it

31

if its a stacked card…doesnt that make the fight lesser of a big deal. Conner fights and sells without a huge undercard

32

I’m not sure you can say FAR ahead of Jones. Jon has about as many in the 700-900 range. I’ll have to google, but DC was 800K and 860K, Rashad was 700K, second Gus fight was 700K, and I’m sure the Rampage fight was up there. GSP cracked 900 a couple times and Jones never did, but Jones had at least 4-5 in that range, with GSP having 7. GSP definitely sold more than Jon, but Jon also had 600K with Anthony Smith, and several others that topped 500K.

Jon is behind GSP, but I have to assume firmly in 3rd place for total PPVs sold for the UFC. People like Ronda sold more than Jon on a per event basis, but he’s headlined nearly triple the events…

Also…Dana act like Jon doesn’t draw, but talks about Liddell like he was a big star. Chuck has one PPV ever over 700K buys. BJ Penn has one ever over 700K buys and it was against GSP. Anderson Silva has 3 ever over 700K (Vitor, Weidman rematch and Chael rematch).

Jon is one of the biggest stars they’ve ever had, even on a per event basis he only trails Conor, Ronda, Brock and GSP…Jon’s shit fights still sell 500K, which is much higher than Silva, BJ Penn etc.

33

You also have to remember, that when GSP was consistently selling that many PPVs, his pay was in the 5M range with ppv points. Jon asking for more than Conor money guaranteed without ever breaking 1M buys is just plain retarded