I publicly spoke before UFC 129 about not whether it was big, but if it was the biggest UFC event ever. It certainly was not, but one had to expect this event would nevertheless do well given its size and given its profile in Canada. Canada has several top ppv markets so even if attention is slightly muted in the U.S. by NFL draft coverage, the Canadian enthusiasm can buoy the results. Now early pay-per-view numbers are coming in and they appear to be excellent. Dave Meltzer has early trends:
UFC 129 Trending Toward One Million Pay-Per-View Buys
The UFC Prelims on Spike this weekend did 1.5 million viewers, tied for fourth place in Prelims history. Dave will have more in the Observer but early trending numbers are putting the show slightly below 1 million buys. Of course, anything this early is tough to take too seriously.
We also thought UFC 117 was going to pull one million pay-per-view buys before it eventually pulled in half of early projections. We are right to take heed of the disclaimer here that it’s tough to take this projection seriously this early. Still, I suspect given just how rallied and galvanized the Canadian media/people were behind this event the final ppv tally will be no less than 750,000 buys.
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