UFC
Early estimates have UFC 129 close to a million pay-per-view buys
May 4, 2011 - 5:50:25 PM Early estimates have UFC 129 close to a million pay-per-view buys

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Though Saturday's UFC 129 main event left a lot to be desired, the show as a whole was still very much a success. Bringing in a record gate of over $12 million and a record attendance of near 56,000 fans at the Rogers Centre, the show was the UFC's biggest ever live event, and though it won't be the biggest pay-per-view event in the company's history, early numbers suggest it fared very well.

According to Dave Meltzer's WrestlingObserver.com, early trending numbers for the event have the buyrate coming in slightly below one million buys.

That early number is very likely to change and fluctuate as a more accurate estimate is able to come in, but based on the numbers WO typically looks at to help determine a show's buyrate, that's where the initial target is.

If it stays in this range near a million buys it's another big selling show from UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre, and that's made even more impressive considering he was taking on a fighter in Jake Shields most were not giving any chance at all.

Link to WrestlingObserver.com report

Penick's Analysis: Though the main event was a dud, the rest of the card delivered in a big way, and with that many people tuning in on pay-per-view, more fans will be familiar with some of the guys that got featured on the card, most notably UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo, who will get a major benefit from being under GSP on this card. This was the largest audience that had tuned to see him fight, and even though he wasn't at his best, fans should still want to see him compete again the next time out, and now that at least four times the people that watched his fight with Urijah Faber having seen him, it will make him an easier sell in a headlining capacity if the UFC tries to do that with him in his next fight.