UFC 119 Pay-Per-View Buy Rate Estimated At 275,000
A new report from The Wrestling Observer pegs the [UFC 119] PPV buy rate at just 275,000. If accurate that would bring an end to a remarkable run of successful events from UFC 111 in March to UFC 118 in August in which they never fell below 500,000 buys, and even pushed beyond the 1,000,000 barrier with events like UFC 114: Rampage Vs Evans and UFC 116: Lesnar Vs Carwin.
I don't think you're likely to find too many people who are surprised to hear this news. Frank Mir vs. Mirko Filipovic was not exactly a main event that was going to drive the fans wild. Despite his recent dramatic win over Pat Barry, Cro Cop has never been a guy who has proven he could hang with top talent in the UFC. And, as the bout with Frank Mir showed, the days of Mirko's killer instinct are well past gone. Frank Mir can still talk a good game but the way that he was brutalized by Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin have no doubt put a dent in fan interest when it comes to watching him in the main event.
Add a relevant but not deeply interesting to the casual fan co-main event between Ryan Bader and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and you have the makings of a show that will do far less buys than any card in recent memory.
Of course, there is the good news for the UFC and that is that they're heading into a period of huge cards such as UFC 121 which is headlined by Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez. As long as this is a one-off dip in the buy rate of event, it really means very little in terms of the UFC's placement in the world of sports.
