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Not looking good when Jones, Spider & GSP is gone
The estimated pay-per-view totals for the last two UFC pay-per-views are in, and neither one of them hit the 300,000 mark. UFC 185, headlined by Anthony Pettis vs. Rafael dos Anjos and also featuring Joanna Jedrzejczyk's destruction of Carla Esparza, pulled in around 275,000 buys. According to Dave Meltzer, UFC 186: Johnson vs. Horiguchi in Montreal was in line with UFC 174: (Via Wrestling Observer, subscription required)
"The 3/14 show with Anthony Pettis vs. Rafael dos Anjos is estimated at 275,000 buys and the 4/25 show with Demetrious Johnson vs. Kyoji Horiguchi is estimated at 100,000 to 125,000, which is the same baseline figure that UFC did for Johnson headlined shows last year. If you include Canada, you probably would get a 10-20 percent higher number."
That UFC 185 line is just about consistent with the only other pay-per-view Pettis has ever headlined, which was his title fight win Ben Henderson at UFC 164 in 2013. The Milwaukee-based PPV pulled in a reported 270,000 buys and was supported by a co-main event of Frank Mir versus Josh Barnett. UFC 185 had notables such as Johny Hendricks, Alistair Overeem, and Roy Nelson on the card.
As for UFC 186, it stands to be the second Mighty Mouse pay-per-view to come in at the 100k-125k range, with his UFC 174 main event vs. Ali Bagautinov attracting similar numbers. UFC 174, which was also in Canada, stands to date as the lowest selling PPV in the past 10 years. Since Georges St-Pierre's win over Nick Diaz in Montreal, which generated a reported 950,000 buys, these are the buyrates for the subsequent Canadian-based PPVs:
UFC 161: Evans vs. Henderson - 140,000
UFC 165: Jones vs. Gustafsson - 310,000
UFC 174: Johnson vs. Bagautinov - 115,000
UFC 186: Johnson vs. Horiguchi - 100,000-125,000
Total: 665,000-690,000 buys (not counting Canadian purchases)
On one final note, Meltzer also added that numbers for UFC 184, headlined by Ronda Rousey and Cat Zingano, are trending towards 590,000 buys, which is still a very impressive number considering the complete lack of a supporting cast below Rousey.Pay-per-view estimates: UFC 185 at 275,000 buys, UFC 186 between 100,000-125,000 - Bloody Elbow
