Last month’s UFC 193 event from Australia will go down as one of the biggest events in UFC history, bringing a UFC record attendance to Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium, and over a million buys on pay-per-view.
According to Dave Meltzer at MMAFighting.com, the current estimates for the show are between one and 1.1 million buys, with Meltzer stating it’s expected to be closer to the higher end. The historic card, headlined by Ronda Rousey’s upset loss to Holly Holm, sits as one of the top four buyrates in UFC history, and is far and away the biggest buyrate for any card headlined by a women’s bout.
It’s the first million plus buyrate event since UFC 168 in December of 2013, a card which also featured Rousey in the co-main event. Her mainstream pull continued to bring in an audience of non-UFC fans in 2015, with a major number tuning in for her UFC 190 title defense over Bethe Correia. Her performance there only boosted her status, and even more tuned in for what was supposed to be another feature performance. Instead, it ended in one of the most stunning upsets in UFC history.
Penick’s Analysis: There were rumblings that the card did even better than these numbers, but it coming in lower than those lofty figures is far from a disappointment. This is a huge number for the UFC on pay-per-view, and it’s possible UFC 194 comes in with similar figures. It’s nigh impossible for the UFC to get back to the number pulled by UFC 100 in 2009, but to hit he major numbers they hit in 2015 is a significant positive.
[Photo (c) Matt Roberts via USA Today Sports]
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