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[jhell]

Wrestlemania is definitely huge and imo will do bigger numbers. With that being said, my money will contribute to the UFC numbers for sure.

[joeyP]

Gosh, I miss the time when it was worth it to keep up with both MMA and WWE

[The_Mab69]

Guys ofcourse wrestlemania will beat out this UFC ppv. Its WRESTLEMANIA! the super bowl of wwe ppv's, ppl who do not even watch wrestling order wrestlemania as a tradition.

I hate wwe nowadays after the attitude era, but in my opinion UFC will never surpass wwe in ppv buys until they continuously start putting on excellent cards from top to bottom and more title defenses, not just 2 big fights, and then some no namers.

This is like comparing apples and oranges, wwe is mainstream, wrestlemania is big and has been well known for close to 30 years, while the UFC and MMA in general is still on the cusp of breaking into the mainstream and being accepted as a "legitimate" sport. It is a very young sport that is still evolving. But you can gurantee as soon as the UFC starts doing WWE numbers and WWE money, like on ppv's and their flagship RAW, you'll see big tv stations jump on the MMA bandwagon, and be more supportive of MMA in general.

[Sakara=Excitement]

Originally Posted by The_Mab69

I hate wwe nowadays after the attitude era, but in my opinion UFC will never surpass wwe in ppv buys until they continuously start putting on excellent cards from top to bottom and more title defenses, not just 2 big fights, and then some no namers.

http://www.mmanews.com/forums/genera...-dominate.html

Top 10 North American PPV buy rates, 2008
1. Boxing: Oscar De La Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao, Dec. 6, 1,250,000
2. UFC: Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Couture, Nov. 15, 1,010,000
3. Wrestling: WrestleMania, Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Paul “Big Show” Wight, March 30, 670,000
4. UFC: Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch/Lesnar vs. Heath Herring, Aug. 9, 625,000
5. UFC: Lesnar vs. Frank Mir, Feb. 2, 600,000
6. UFC: Quinton Jackson vs. Forrest Griffin, July 5, 540,000
7. UFC: St. Pierre vs. Matt Serra, April 19, 530,000
8. Boxing: Felix Trinidad vs. Roy Jones Jr., Jan. 19, 500,000
9. UFC: Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans, Sept. 6, 480,000
10. UFC: B.J. Penn vs. Sean Sherk/Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida, May 24, 475,000

With 12 pay-per-view events in 2008, UFC has a good shot at breaking the all-time record for pay-per-view revenue set by any organization during a calendar year. The World Wrestling Federation, now known as World Wrestling Entertainment, did approximately $260 million on pay-per-view during its heyday fueled headliners by “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, in 2001. Boxing’s biggest year was 2007, with HBO estimating $255 million on eight shows, carried by the Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr., fight, which drew pay-per-view’s all-time record of 2.4 million buys.

UFC remains king of PPV hill - UFC - Yahoo! Sports

UFC remains king of PPV hill

Top 10 PPV buy rates, 2009
1. UFC 100: Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir, July 11, 1.6 million
2. Boxing: Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto, Nov. 14, 1.25 million
3. Boxing: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Juan Manuel Marquez, Sept. 19, 1.05 millon
4. UFC 94: Georges St. Pierre vs. B.J. Penn, Jan. 31, 920,000 buys
5. UFC 101: Penn vs. Kenny Florian/Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin, Aug. 8, 850,000
6. Boxing: Pacquiao vs. Ricky Hatton, May 2, 825,000
7t. UFC 107: Penn vs. Diego Sanchez, Dec. 12, 650,000
7t. UFC 97: Silva vs. Thales Leites/Chuck Liddell vs. Mauricio Rua, April 18, 650,000
9. UFC 99: Lyoto Machida vs. Rashad Evans/Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra, May 23, 635,000
10. Wrestling: WWE WrestleMania 25, April 5, 582,000 buys

After setting pay-per-view industry records in 2009, the Ultimate Fighting Championship faces opposition from boxing and wrestling over the next several months as it attempts to maintain last year’s levels.

It’s estimated that UFC, which didn’t publicly release figures, did nearly 8 million buys in the United States and Canada on 13 pay-per-view events this past year. That includes six of the year’s top 10 buyrates and 11 of the top 15.

UFC’s numbers are even more impressive when one considers that several of the company’s biggest drawing cards missed most of the second half of the year for various reasons.

Heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar fought only once in 2009, since he was sidelined with an illness eventually diagnosed as Diverticulitis. But Lesnar stayed on his perch as the king of PPV, headlining the year’s biggest event, UFC 100, which drew 1.6 million buys. Lesnar’s win over Frank Mir trailed only three events in PPV history, all boxing matches: the 2007 Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather fight, and Mike Tyson’s 2002 match with Lennox Lewis and 1997 fight with Evander Holyfield.

Welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre, who appears to be the company’s second-biggest draw, also didn’t fight after July due to an abductor muscle tear in his victory over Thiago Alves. Middleweight champion Anderson Silva didn’t right after Aug. 8 due to elbow surgery. And what was expected to be the company’s biggest fight of the second half of 2009, a Quinton Jackson-Rashad Evans grudge match built off “The Ultimate Fighter” reality show, won’t be taking place until May due to Jackson getting the part of B.A. Baracus in “The A-Team” movie which was being filmed at the end of this past year.

There are no obvious 2010 blockbusters on the horizon. The Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather boxing match, which could have broken every PPV record in the book, fell apart over a battle on the subject of drug testing. UFC is still feeling the effects of its rash of injuries, as except for B.J. Penn, all of its champions were simultaneously out of action for a five-month period that doesn’t end until late March.

UFC’s biggest potential fight looks to be a trilogy fight between Lesnar and former champ Mir, who have split their first two matches. But that will only happen if Mir beats Shane Carwin on March 27 in Newark, N.J. St. Pierre and Penn both emerged off their match at UFC 94 as bigger stars than ever before, but neither has an opponent on the horizon in their own division ready to push them to record box office numbers. A rematch between the two is difficult because St. Pierre won in one-sided fashion last year.

The last weekend of March will be a big one for the pay-per-view industry. Mir vs. Carwin for the interim heavyweight title, with the winner getting Lesnar in the summer, will be a co-feature with the return of St. Pierre, defending against England’s Dan Hardy. That would be expected to do UFC’s best numbers since August, if not UFC 100.

The next day, World Wrestling Entertainment presents its biggest event of the year, WrestleMania 26, from the University of Phoenix Stadium. Pro wrestling events generally fare poorly on the day after UFC cards, as the bulk of pay-per-view purchases are made by friends who gather to watch the fights, but generally speaking, people aren’t going to do that twice on the same weekend. WrestleMania could be the exception, since it’s the one annual event that people who no longer follow wrestling still buy. While most WWE monthly PPV’s do less than 150,000 buys in North America, WrestleMania last year did an estimated 582,000 buys.

HBO Boxing, which had a 2009 strategy of putting more major fights on HBO instead of PPV, with the idea it would pay dividends in the future by building more of a younger base audience for the sport, only had three major pay-per-view events. But all were major successes, doing a combined estimated 3,125,000 buys. All three events finished top six for the year and in hindsight, holding fewer events made the individual events come across as more special.

Even though UFC has outpaced boxing over the course of the year for the past several years, boxing still has the capability with the right fight to do bigger numbers than even the best UFC event.

WWE, which as a pay-per-view company is more international in scope than the others, held 14 events over the past year, doing an estimated 4,600,000 worldwide buys and of that, roughly 2,850,000 buys were from North America. The company has had a steady decline in pay–per-view numbers, particularly in North America, since the emergence of UFC as a television entity in 2005. Its strategy for 2010 has been to raise its price from $39.95 to $44.95, putting it in line with UFC pricing, and cut from 14 to 13 events.

While all mixed martial arts, boxing and pro wrestling are obviously three different products, there is enough of a crossover audience to makes them competitors. After the September 19 Mayweather vs. Juan Manuel Marquez boxing match did monster numbers opposite a UFC show headlined by Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort, which did one of the company’s lowest numbers of the year, UFC president Dana White avoided head-to-head confrontations. When Mayweather vs. Shane Mosley was announced for May 1, White moved his scheduled Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua light heavyweight title rematch in Montreal back a week to May 8.

Since HBO and WWE are both public companies, their PPV numbers are publicly released. However, with the rise in success of UFC, boxing promoter Bob Arum, who promoted the Manny Pacquiao vs. Ricky Hatton fight, would not allow HBO to publicly release the figures for that fight. UFC, a private company, generally doesn’t release numbers and information on the Pacquiao-Hatton fight and UFC numbers are garnered from a variety of industry sources.

Obviously you have no clue what you are talking about.

Originally Posted by MixtapeCeaser204

I can almost guarantee WrestleMania out draws this PPV. The Royal Rumble buyrate increased from last year so the interest is there. WM did 960,000 last year, 1 mil in 2009, 1 mil in 2008, and 1.2 mil in 2007. Even if it drops the UFC card will have to get at least 800,000 to have a chance but given the awesome WM card with Taker/HBK II an Bret/Vince it should hit 1 million. Just cant see GSP/Hardy coming even close, I see 5-600,000 buys for the UFC. Im hittin up a sportsbar for UFC an ordering WM at home.

2008 WM - 3. Wrestling: WrestleMania, Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Paul “Big Show” Wight, March 30, 670,000

2009 WM - 10. Wrestling: WWE WrestleMania 25, April 5, 582,000 buys

Pro wrestling events generally fare poorly on the day after UFC cards, as the bulk of pay-per-view purchases are made by friends who gather to watch the fights, but generally speaking, people aren’t going to do that twice on the same weekend. WrestleMania could be the exception, since it’s the one annual event that people who no longer follow wrestling still buy. While most WWE monthly PPV’s do less than 150,000 buys in North America, WrestleMania last year did an estimated 582,000 buys.

And you too obviously have no idea what you are talking about.

[mmawolverine]

wrestling in general is not what it used to be, its not fair to compare the 52 year old bret hart who has suffered career ending concussion and a follow up stroke to the champion in his prime that is GSP,
i have great respect for both but i dont see much in this years wrestlemania, cen v batista is going to bore, unlike last years undertaker v hbk match we already know hbk is atleast taking an extended break and possilby is retiring and undetkaer is hurt more than usual right now not to mention the burns he suffered resently 2nd and 3rd degree burns, there is no benoit or angle to actually put on a wrestling clinic, bret hart is not a wrestler anymore nor is he facing a wrestler it is a gimic match, i am only going to watch because it is one more moment to see childhood spectaculs it is likely the final performances of three of the greatest hart hbk and undertaker at wrestlemania the granddaddy of them all, these are true performers, among some really really bad wrestlers and performers, on the flip side gsp is going to put on another mma clinic on hardy who is tough enough to give gsp atleast two rounds to look amazing, oh yeah and mir and carwin will be fireworks, somehow ill still take wrestlemania over ufc 111 because of the nostalgia factor of hart once more and hbk for a final time, wrestlemania is special gsp dominating is typical

[The_Mab69]

yeah thats alot of shit to copy and paste, good job man,

But look at what suckie cards the ufc has had this year thus far, they are not consistent enough YET to do any significant damage to the wwe, especially defeat wrestlemania. Wrestlemania rarely does under 1 million buys, that big show mayweather WM was relatively low for them. UFC ppv's will never consistently do one million buys.

Bottom line the UFC does not have WWE money yet, therefore cannot put on a show with production values and creativity etc. and most importantly star power, like wrestlemania or even RAW.

And it is too early to tell if MMA is a fad sport or is here to stay and do real money consistently.

[Sakara=Excitement]

Originally Posted by The_Mab69

yeah thats all well and good, but look at what suckie cards the ufc has had this year thus far, they are not consistent enough YET to do any significant damage to the wwe, especially defeat wrestlemania. Wrestlemania rarely does under 1 million buys, that big show mayweather WM was relatively low for them. UFC ppv's will never consistently do one million buys.

Bottom line the UFC does not have WWE money yet, therefore cannot put on a show with production values and creativity etc. and most importantly star power, like wrestlemania or even RAW.

And it is too early to tell if MMA is a fad sport or is here to stay and do real money consistently.

Did you not read anything that I just posted? WM hasn't cracked 1 mil in buys in a very long time. Just look up about 2 or 3 posts and the article cuts through all the bullshit that is coming out of your mouth.

[James Deuce]

Originally Posted by Sakara=Excitement

Did you not read the article at all?

Alright? Cool bro.

I'm not going to change my opinion because stats are thrown in my face. I still think Mania will get more buys than the UFC PPV. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong.

[The_Mab69]

yeah dude your the best poster ever, you rock, copy and paste some more stuff.

You can google all the shit you want man, and spend as much time as you want on these boards, which is a ton. But theirs no way ufc will beat wrestlemania in buys.

Wrestlemania 23 and 24 ('07 and '08) both surpassed 1 million buys, I can use a google search bar too man! I havent quiet figured that copy paste thing out yet though.

[Sakara=Excitement]

Originally Posted by The_Mab69

yeah dude your the best poster ever, you rock, copy and paste some more stuff.

I'll gladly keep copying and pasting articles that make you look like you have zero ability to think. Anything else you want to make up that will be shot down by actual facts?

Originally Posted by James Deuce

Alright? Cool bro.
I'm not going to change my opinion because stats are thrown in my face.

So you are going to continue to believe basically whatever you make up in your head and ignore facts? Interesting.

And The Mab, it's really cute how you keep editing your posts after I respond to them. As long as you make up things that aren't true, I'll gladly correct you. Now you can spend some less time on this board and it would be a better place.

Originally Posted by The_Mab69

Wrestlemania 23 and 24 ('07 and '08) both surpassed 1 million buys, I can use a google search bar too man! I havent quiet figured that copy paste thing out yet though.

2008 did roughly 650 k in PPV buys, nowhere close to a mil. You say you can Google search but can you read?