It was billed as the “biggest fight in UFC history,” but if pay-per-view (PPV) buys are the barometer for success then UFC 91: “Couture vs. Lesnar” at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 15 appears to have come up a bit short.
Slightly.
Dave Meltzer from WrestlingObserver.com reports:
“Based on numbers we’ve gotten, there are places where it was just slightly below UFC 66 (the record setter which did 1,050,000 buys) and it looks to have beaten UFC 61 (Shamrock vs. Ortiz, 775,000) for second place. It looks to be No. 3 in Canada behind UFC 79 (Silva vs. Liddell; St. Pierre vs. Hughes) and UFC 83 (St. Pierre vs. Serra) but ahead of St. Pierre vs. Fitch and Lesnar vs. Herring in August. That would indicate most likely topping 800,000 buys.”
While it will likely fall short of UFC President Dana White’s pre-event prediction of a record-setting 1.2 million buys, UFC 91 should be considered a big win for the promotion — especially when you consider the current state of the economy.
It also clearly indicates that new UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar is a massive box office draw, bringing in a whole new legion of interested of viewers thanks in large part to his days as a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) superstar not too long ago.
UFC 91 sold 10,845 tickets for a live gate $4,815,675, according to The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) . The promotion dished out $1,118,000 in UFC 91 fighter salaries for the pay-per-view (PPV) event, as well as $240,000 in additional bonus money for four participants who delivered outstanding performances.
Lesnar defeated Randy Couture via second round technical knockout to capture the heavyweight crown in the UFC 91 main event. Kenny Florian toppled Joe Stevenson with a first round submission in the co-featured bout of the evening, reinforcing his position as the clearcut number one title contender in the 155-pound division.
In fact, UFC President Dana White guaranteed Florian a title shot against lightweight champion BJ Penn in the near future.
For complete results and coverage of “Couture vs. Lesnar” click here and here. To check out the medical suspensions and injuries click here.
71 Comments »
good for them. it was a solid event.
right on, it was one of the best events in a long time!
best event i watched since ufc 66
but…you know what this tells me? Lesner isn’t as big a draw as the UFC thought he’d be!
the big names of mma sell more ppv’s than that of wwe, and for all you guys that hate him, tito ortiz is one of those big names!
I think Lesnar is as big as or bigger draw as any UFC fighter!
These numbers were based on the drawing power of both Lesnar and the return of Cotoure!
ANy card with Lesnar on it (especially if hes defending HW title) will sell LARGE!
Totally agree with the Tito as well, he puts asses in seats!
Spot on Kev!!
thanks, that’s what I get out of it. couture coulda fought violent mike and john at the same time and it would have sold just as many! Couture sold the ppv which is odd to me. The next one with wandy/rampage, mir/nog and rashaad forrest should do well too!
that one will be a huge draw. i cant wait for that event myself! i’ll be like a kid in a candy store the whole week leading up to it.
tito vs chuck was a much bigger fight at the time, everybody wanted to see what would happen because there was so much animosity..
The fight the holds the record is Chuck Tito 2 Chuck had already Tko’d Tito and thats what most people expected in the second
just think, 800k smiling faces. great event,all 9 fights shown= alot of returning customers. looks good for 92 and 94.
Yes sir…. and to think there were several people saying “it’s a horrible card” and people that said shortly after it that the card sucked….I for one was very happy with the event!
No Lesnar = No WWE fans so i doubt it. Also the reason 91 didn’t suck was 8 finishes because it was someone legit vs some can. If more than 3 had gone to decision everyone would have been pissed.
well duh! And the one that did go to the judges was fight of the night hands down. kinda ruins your theory huh??
it was ok i wasn’t blown away, and maybe the return of randy had something to do with those numbners as well
The only mismatch that I can remember is Hendricks Vs. Gonzaga! Show me one other Legit vs. can fight….please
think 94 will set the record?
If UFC 94 doesn’t beat UFC 91, it will be a sad state of affairs.
Get ready to be depressed,I am going to order it ,but I really do not see why everybody is excited to see Penn get whipped again
Obviously Scotts A Clown Cause Nobody Got Whipped In The First Fight….
Yeah I am a clown ,and I will be honking my nose while I am watching GSP beat Penn again,maybe I stretched it by saying that Penn got whipped,but he did lose,and I do not believe that he deserves a rematch ,not right now ,I think he should have fought Alves for the shot at the title
Again? Did you see the first fight. Hell, all you need to see are the judge’s scorecards. It was close enough to earn a split decision and BJ was definitely winning before he gassed. Your point is moot anyway, people tune in precisely to see asses get whipped. This is MMA.
My comment won’t show. Third time’s a charm? This website run by AOL?
wtf
anyway, scott, the original fithr was a split decision and Penn was winning before he gassed. this has been said a million times by a million people. anyway, your point is moot, people show up precisely to see asses get kicked.
OK so you do not mind if Franklin and Silva fought again?Yes,we all do love watching people get their ass kicked ,but I would rather see them whip somebody they have not fought before
Event is 300,000 buys below Dana White’s projection.That’s even if 800,000 is correct.
400,000 buys short if they where at 800,000
uh?Check your math ,thats 400,000 buys below
Guys it could be more or less….these are not official numbers
ROBERT. 800k is still 10 times what Affliction 2 will do. count on it.
Affliction 1 didnt even do 800K! And it was supposedly stacked!
lol 800k, affliction didn’t do 100k JV, it was a tank!!
JV. A1 probably didnt even do 80k. insiders are saying that A2 will be lucky to crack 50k. dana would have been right about them not making it through the end of the year,just like elite, if they would have actually put on another show! they only stayed alive b/c they didnt do anything.
WTF does that have to do with UFC 91 Falling below Dana White’s claim it was the biggest event in UFC history nothing.This event wasn’t as big as UFC 66,61,OR 79.Dana was the one hyping this as the biggest fight in UFC history and it wasn’t at all.
it was 4rth only in the live gate. it IS 2nd in mma ppv buys and this is the worst the economy has been since zuffa took over. after the wandi/rampage fight was dropped off this event, nobody thought it would do 1.2 mil. even dana. dana was just being a promoter.
Well he doesn’t have a crystal ball! He and many others THOUGHT this event had the right “ingridients” to top all previous buys.
Why are you making excuses for Dana White’s claim they were going to get 1.2 million buys.He’s already doing himself saying it was so ESPN would cover it.Dana doesn’t need help putting a positive spin on things when he says something outrageous.The Affliction comparisons I don’t get because alot people who get together and watch UFC PPV’s don’t even know that there are other MMA events I’ve met some people who have watched UFC events and don’t even know that MMA means mixed martial arts but you say Ultimate Fighting and their like oh yeah!The majority of people who order these events don’t know Affliction puts on MMA fights so the comparisons are baseless.The expectation levels for both promotions is very different.That’s why the people at Strikeforce are smart they didn’t start a promotion and try to immediately compete with the UFC their slowly building up the company,unlike EliteXC and Affliction.
come on robert, expectations are different? how? affliction will be out of business after their next show, but if they did 800k buys, they wouldn’t be! go figure!
i agree. Strikeforce=smart, Affliction/Elite=stupid. nobody is making excuses for dana, they dont have to. dana saying it will do 1.2 mil and it doing 800k is’nt that outrageous, when nobody actually thought it would go that high. this was a huge success for the ufc, so dana is laughing all the way to the bank. it’s not dana’s fault if people you know dont know what mma stands for and think that it’s ultimate fighting. he is the ufc’s promoter, not other orgs. it is on other mma orgs and their management to change the way people think, not dana
Saying Dana doesn’t have Super X-Men Powers to know the exact number of PPV sales is not an excuse, merely reality!
“The comparisons are baseless”
The mere fact that both are MMA companies competing against each other is base enough for a vague comparison.
your comments, my friend, are baseless!
their business model is strange, pay out same or more than UFC, sell 10% of ppv’s and be happy? come on robert, they aren’t happy, their a sinking ship trying to plug the holes with tissues!
If you think the comparisons have merit then you must think Affliction is on the same level as an MMA promotion as the UFC i don’t.You must also think the NFL and CFL are on the same level,and you might not want to take the criticism of Dana White personally,unless your a close friend or relative otherwise your just a fan with to much of an attachment to an MMA promoter.
you were comparing the two, no? if they didn’t want to be the next big thing, why didn’t they start off slow and build up to paying a couple million in signing bonuses and over paying EVERY fighter on their first card? I don’t think they are in the same league as the UFC, but their HW division is better!
by the way, I do agree that strikeforce is smart!
What I’m saying is go ask a random person on the street do you know what the UFC is chances are they’ll know then ask them do you know about Affliction MMA and they’ll look at you like your speaking Chinese. Of course the UFC is going to do bigger PPV numbers.
agreed, but why strt off paying huge salaries to unknowns (fedor isn’t well known in the states yet, neither is barnett), why not use baby steps!?
go ask someone on the street who john fitch is, they won’t have a clue.
then ask who tito is, they’ll know! yet fitch was the only hold out on the video game! go figure!
who said it was 800,000 anyway… the article says “slightly below UFC66 (1,050,000). Apparently slightly means 250,000 to some people. I suspect its around 900k to 950k if not more.
Anderson Silva VS George St. Pierre (if it happens) will be the biggest ever!
“It will sell 1.2 million….oops” lol – Dana
“were all about the fighters”-Gary Shaw.LOL. bigger OOOPS!. RIP ELITE XC.
lol…that’s random.
Dana – “We care alot about these guys”……”Fitch, sign the video game deal or you’re fired.”
Bring the price down to a more reasonable $35.99 and you’ll be breaking records left and right.
Dana is a smart businessman. The economy is in the toilet. People can’t afford $50 PPV buys. He needs to let his business savvy override his ego and knock the price down a bit.
Until then, plenty of people will just keep streaming it for free live on the internet. Not nice to say, but it’s true.
Agreed, everyone forgets we weren’t paying $50 for UFC66. If it was $35-$40 it could have broken the record.
Agreed,but I believe 92 should get the same amount of buys,I am more excited about those fights then I am about watching GSP beat up on Penn
Any way you slice it, the event was a success. That is one of the largest gates (if not the largest gate) the collected. Then consider the third largest PPV numbers, that is impressive. They hype the day lights out of that card, and it was solid. I think the next few cards will do well also. Looks like Dana and the UFC is picking up speed, and should have a great beginning to the new year with what they have in store.
The event was a success yes but it wasn’t the biggest event in UFC history and that’s what it was billed as for weeks.I read at another site the event was the 4th largest in UFC history.If it wasn’t for Brock’s appeal in the WWE fanbase Randy’s comeback to the UFC would have drawn far less appeal.
Dude? Surely you understand marketing? Do you expect Affliction to come out and say, “we might do okay, but we’ll probably stink it up with the ppv buys and have to close shop”. No way! They will come out with all kinds of hyperbole, in the hopes that people will buy the darn thing. This is not rocket science, but I would venture to say that you have some other deep rooted reasons for hating on the UFC. That’s cool, people have their reasons. However, you don’t always have to check your logic at the door to make that point.
Glad to see the UFC going from strength to strength! Hope Bj vs Gsp does better though cus tht fight deserves to be watched by millions. Does any1 have the PPV numbers for the recent boxing matches? Id like to see how 91 did against Calzaghe vs RJJ and Hatton vs Mali, they where both big fights here in Britian but how were they recieved in America? Got a feeling that the only fighters that can compete with UFC are DLH, PBF and maybe Hatton. MMA is clearly taking over, which is good!!
I think that ppv will shatter all records!!
AGreed again….your 2 for 2 today haha
what was the first?
the one about UFC 91
SPARROW. jones/calzaghe did 225k and hopkins/pavlik did 190k per maxboxing.com. im not sure about hatton/malinaggi, it just happened this weekend and im not sure if it was even on ppv or live hbo.
Cheers b.w. MMA doing better then which is all that matters. Boxing is getting so boring, you pay ur money for only one decent fight, which is normally a mismatch and just for the cash ie calzaghe/jones. But did any of you see hatton/malinaggi? The hitmans back! Hes coming for you Mayweather, lol i hope not!
dana once again is hyping his ass off…i hope there would come a time when mma fans would just not listen to him at all.like the story the boy who cried wolf…the fact is station casinos is going to close in febuary.and dana is desperate to hype ufc in order to sell it…i think they should have sold it a couple of months ago
I think if the station casiono’s were closing, people in vegas would already be buzzing about it. I could see them selling, but having to close all 4 or 5 of your casino’s? Come on. I just stayed at the sunset station in henderson
about a month ago for my firends wedding, and i could hardly reserve a room. So please shed some light on them closing please!
read the standard and Poor ratings on station casinos.theyre in debt by 5 billion.and with the economic crisis..the banks are strict with them…station would declare bancruptcy and ufc would be the one they would sell
the UFC hits its limit on pay-per-view sales unfortunately.
not good news
Yeh but if they can consistantly achieve those number for the big events ie 92, 94 then the UFC is in a very strong position. And as the promotion grows more and more casual fans will start to tune in for the big fights so i dont think they have reached there limit just yet. Because im in the UK where no1 really watches UFC i can only compare it to boxing, alot of very casual fans have recently started to watch Hatton and Calzaghe fights just because the main stream media has told them its a big fight.
Not bad. Hopefully GPS / PENN will draw similar # or better.