...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
With early estimates for Saturday's UFC 157 pay-per-view event coming in around 450,000 buys - and other reports suggesting it could wind up even higher - it's worth taking a look at where she stands amongst the UFC's pay-per-view draws after one event. UFC President Dana White said before the event that she was getting the most media they've ever gotten for a fight, basing it on the numerous outlets who covered her in the lead up to the first women's bout in UFC history. However, that didn't translate to her being one of the top pay-per-view stars in the company.
That's not a slight against Rousey, either, because she still managed some historic numbers. They weren't UFC records, but they put her in her own league in a certain subset of the UFC. But before we get there, let's take a look at the UFC's numbers (WEC 48 included for this analysis as well) on pay-per-view since 2006 (all pay-per-view numbers via the MMAPayout.com Blue Book):
UFC 100 Lesnar v. Mir 1600000
UFC 116 Lesnar vs. Carwin 1060000
UFC 66 Liddell v. Ortiz II 1050000
UFC 91 Lesnar v. Couture 1010000
UFC 92 Griffin v. Evans 1000000
UFC 114 Evans vs. Jackson 1000000
UFC 148 Silva vs. Sonnen II 925000
UFC 94 GSP v. Penn II 920000
UFC 121 Lesnar vs. Velasquez 900000
UFC 101 Penn v. Florian 850000
UFC 129 GSP vs. Shields 800000
UFC 124 GSP vs. Koscheck 785000
UFC 61 Ortiz v. Shamrock 775000
UFC 111 GSP vs. Hardy 770000
UFC 126 Silva vs. Belfort 725000
UFC 145 Jones vs. Evans 700000
UFC 154 GSP vs. Condit 700000
UFC 71 Liddell v. Jackson II 675000
UFC 79 GSP v. Hughes III 650000
UFC 97 Silva v. Leites 650000
UFC 98 Evans v. Machida 635000
UFC 87 GSP / Lesnar 625000
UFC 60 Hughes v. Gracie 620000
UFC 107 Penn v. Sanchez 620000
UFC 81 Sylvia/Nog, 600000
UFC 117 Silva vs. Sonnen 600000
UFC 155 JDS vs. Velasquez II 590000
UFC 146 Dos Santos vs. Mir 560000
UFC 68 Sylvia v. Couture 540000
UFC 86 Griffin v. Jackson 540000
UFC 118 Edgar vs. Penn 2 535000
UFC 141 Lesnar vs. Overeem 535000
UFC 83 GSP v. Serra 530000
UFC 115 Liddell vs. Franklin 525000
UFC 74 Couture v. Gonzaga 520000
UFC 113 Machida vs. Rua 520000
UFC 135 Jones vs. Rampage 520000
UFC 62 Liddell v. Sobral 500000
UFC 65 Hughes v. GSP II 500000
UFC 104 Machida v. Rua 500000
UFC 112 Silva vs. Maia 500000
UFC 123 Jackson vs. Machida 500000
UFC 128 Shogun vs. Jones 490000
UFC 88 Liddell v. Evans 480000
UFC 140 Jones vs. Machida 480000
UFC 76 Liddel v. Jardine 475000
UFC 84 Ortiz v. Machida 475000
UFC 152 Jones vs. Belfort 450000 UFC 157 Rousey vs Carmouche 450000
UFC 102 Couture v. Nogueira 435000
UFC 59 Ortiz v. Griffin 425000
UFC 73 Ortiz v. Evans 425000
UFC 153 Silva vs. Bonnar 410000
UFC 57 Couture v. Liddell III 400000
UFC 63 Hughes v. Penn 400000
UFC 67 Silva v. Lutter 400000
UFC 69 GSP v. Serra 400000
UFC 143 Condit vs. Diaz 400000
UFC 103 Franklin v. Belfort 375000
UFC 106 Ortiz v. Griffin II 375000
UFC 99 Franklin v. Silva 360000
UFC 93 Franklin v. Hendo 350000
UFC 96 Jackson v. Jardine 350000
UFC 134 Silva vs. Okami 335000
UFC 131 JDS vs. Carwin 330000
UFC 156 Aldo vs Edgar 330000
UFC 77 Franklin v. Silva II 325000
UFC 78 Evans v. Bisbing 325000
UFC 82 Silva v. Henderson 325000
UFC 130 Rampage vs. Hamill 325000
UFC 144 Edgar vs. Henderson 325000
UFC 132 Cruz vs. Faber 320000
UFC 133 Evans vs. Ortiz 310000
UFC 58 Franklin v. Loiseau 300000
UFC 64 Franklin v. Silva 300000
UFC 90 Silva v. Cote 300000
UFC 108 Evans vs. Silva 300000
UFC 119 Mir vs. Cro Cop 295000
UFC 139 Henderson vs. Rua 290000
UFC 137 Penn vs. Diaz 280000
UFC 109 Couture vs. Coleman 275000
UFC 125 Edgar vs. Maynard II 260000
UFC 127 Penn vs. Fitch 260000
UFC 110 Nog v. Velasquez 240000
UFC 149 Faber vs. Barao 230000
UFC 80 Penn v. Stevenson 225000
UFC 136 Edgar vs. Maynard III 225000
UFC 85 Hughes v. Alves 215000
UFC 142 Aldo vs Mendes 215000
UFC 72 Franklin v. Okami 200000
UFC 150 Henderson v. Edgar II190000
WEC 48 Aldo vs. Faber 175000
UFC 147 Silva vs. Franklin II 140000
That puts UFC 157 and Rousey firmly in the middle of the pack. That in and of itself is a very big deal, but as far as the very best draws in the UFC on pay-per-view, Rousey's got work to do. Here are the top UFC draws on pay-per-view since 2006 (includes events where fighter served as main event or featured co-main event, rounded to the nearest hundred):
Turning back to Rousey for a minute here. It's clear that 450,000 is a significant number. It's her first ever pay-per-view headlining slot, and she drew a larger number than many of these big names have on their worst days. But it's not necessarily fair to compare her numbers to the historically top draws in the sport, because fans have always come out in bigger numbers for the bigger weight classes. Where Rousey's numbers really stand out are in comparison to the lighter weight classes, those at 155 lbs. and below.
The outlier there is B.J. Penn, who has been a solid to excellent draw for a long time. His overall average as a headliner - which includes his run as a welterweight - is 506,500 buys, but in his run as UFC Lightweight Champion, he averaged even better at 534,100 buys. But outside of Penn, no one in the lightweight division or below has come close to the numbers that Rousey drew last weekend.
Here are the numbers for every pay-per-view event headlined by a Championship bout in the Lightweight, Featherweight, or Bantamweight divisions (without B.J. Penn):
UFC 156 Aldo vs. Edgar 330,000
UFC 144 Edgar vs. Henderson 325,000
UFC 132 Cruz vs. Faber 320,000
UFC 125 Edgar vs. Maynard 2 260,000
UFC 149 Faber vs. Barao 230,000
UFC 136 Edgar vs. Maynard 3 225,000
UFC 142 Aldo vs. Mendes 215,000
UFC 150 Bendo vs. Edgar 2 190,000
WEC 48 Aldo vs. Faber 175,000
That works out to an average of just over 252,000 buys per event. Rousey bested that by 200,000 buys, and possibly more when more numbers come in. But it's more than that, as Rousey out-drew the best non-B.J. Penn fights in these lower weight classes by over 100,000 buys.
All of this is significant - if she can follow it up. As you can see with all of these fighters, these buys can fluctuate from event to event, depending on the fighter, the opponent, and any other number of factors, but given Rousey was the draw in this fight, and Carmouche was just another name for all intents and purposes coming in, this is a very encouraging start.
Now, the UFC could have helped themselves more by putting that fight on free TV first, and having a massive audience tune in to see her fight like that for free. It could have made her eventual pay-per-view comparable to those top draws. But that's not the route they took, and they'll have to see if they can keep those who bought this event interested in Rousey's next fight, and the next fight after that as well.
With that said, this first event is absolutely a success; and though Rousey's allegedly unprecedented mainstream media attention didn't translate into record numbers for the UFC, her performance in comparison to her counterparts at 155 and below is a clear sign of her star power. At the very least, it shows the UFC's ability to pique the curiosity of fans for this first fight more than any of their other up and coming weight classes.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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