UFC
Early estimates for UFC 142 higher than expected with 225,000 pay-per-view buys
Jan 26, 2012 - 1:30:53 PM Early estimates for UFC 142 higher than expected with 225,000 pay-per-view buys

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

UFC 142 was expected to bomb on pay-per-view. With it heading up against the NFL playoffs, including a monster game between the New England Patriots and Denver Broncos (with at-the-time media darling Tim Tebow) - not to mention it taking place in Brazil with an unproven draw in Featherweight Champ Jose Aldo - many felt it would be lucky to hit 175,000 buys. Projections were even significantly lower than that, especially when 30,000 fans were given free access to the card through Xbox Live.

Despite all of that, however, early estimates for the event have come in with a very respectable number, as Dave Meltzer reports in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that it drew 225,000 buys. That's the early estimate, and the range is wide with some numbers coming in much higher than that.

Ultimately, Meltzer expects the numbers to settle in slightly below October's UFC 136 event, which featured Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard III as well as Aldo's title defense over Kenny Florian.

Penick's Analysis: Though the number is still quite low compared to the numbers the UFC was drawing in 2010, this is still a very good number compared to expectations and considering everything that they were up against. I'm very surprised it came in this high, and that could be a good sign for the organization that it hasn't dropped its basement numbers below 200,000.