Aug 21, 2008 - Here's the latest installment of ESPN's MMA Live:
I was particularly interested in the portion of the program that addressed the UFC's pay-per-view buys. Below are the number of pay-per-view buys that each of this year's UFC shows have gotten, according to MMA Live.
UFC 80: 225,000
UFC 81: 650,000
UFC 82: 325,000
UFC 83: 525,000
UFC 84: 475,000
UFC 85: 225,000
UFC 86: 520,000
The two shows in England did by far the worst pay-per-view numbers, but I actually think it's pretty impressive that UFC can get more than 200,000 people to plunk down $50 apiece to watch a card like UFC 85 on a Saturday afternoon. It's a reminder of how much more popular UFC is than the other MMA organizations -- Affliction: Banned was a much better card than UFC 85 but didn't get nearly as many buys.
UFC 87 isn't listed but is believed to have done somewhere between 500,000 and 600,000 buys. If it was more than 525,000, that means the two shows featuring Brock Lesnar were the two most lucrative shows UFC had this year.
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