Dana White
HAS THE UFC HIT IT’S ZENITH?
San Francisco, CA– According to Dave Meltzer of the WrestlingObserver.com weekly newsletter, the UFC have had falling numbers for a couple of years now. They did record the biggest live gate of 2011 when Georges St. Pierre defended the UFC welterweight (170 lbs) against Jake Shields in Toronto, Canada on April 3, 2011. The live gate totaled $12,075,000. Those who are experts in Pay Per View say that St. Pierre is worth about 500,000 homes on PPV fighting anybody. The UFC did 15 PPV events in 2011, the same as 2010. But the 2010 PPV numbers were at 8,970,000 buys, only to see the 2011 numbers fall to 5,950,000.
DOES THIS MEAN THE UFC IS LOSING IT?
No, I don’t think so. The PPV money in 2011 was $43,839,517, up from $40,841,489. I’m also of the opinion that the new FOX TV contract took a little bit away from the UFC PPV crowd. That being said, in time this will be the opposite as the FOX fights will compel people to buy the big cards on Pay Per View. The UFC is averaging 397,000 buys per event, this too was down from the 2010 numbers that topped out at 598,000. UFC President Dana White who is pictured above, I can tell you that he’s not fretting any.
THE UFC PPV SCHEDULE DECIMATED BY INJURIES
There were a slew of injuries, topped by the UFC’s biggest PPV star Georges St. Pierre who suffered a torn ACL, champions Anderson Silva, Dominick Cruz, Cain Velasquez, Phil Davis missed a PPV main event in August. Brock Lesnar, who retired last week almost died from Diverticulitis, and had part of his intestines removed. Frankie Edgar missed a fight because of injuries. The list could continue, but I think you get the point that UFC “stars” suffered more than their share of physical woes.
PEOPLE GETTING DRENCHED BY TOO MUCH MMA?
With MMA on almost nightly, be it Comcast, Showtime, Fuel TV, Spike TV, FOX Sports, MTV2, and a big card later this month on FOX TV, is it too much? I am of the opinion that people who are to become MMA or UFC fans will find themselves on these lower echelon cards. People will realize the talent levels of the various promotions and will in turn realize that the UFC, Strikeforce and their only competition, the fledging Bellator Fighting Championships that will be leaving MTV2 at the end of this year for Spike TV, where their audience will be millions more than MTV2. Bottom line is that the UFC had a rough year because of injuries. Still, I see the sport of MMA, and the UFC as a whole growing in 2012 and 2013.
Pedro Fernandez