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[kickass32]

Upcoming UFC Cards and Their Box Office Potential | Five Ounces of Pain

Upcoming UFC Cards and Their Box Office Potential
Posted by T E Halterman on Thursday, October 7, 2010 at 4:48 pm·


UFC 120: This one will be free, and it’s pretty likely to draw somewhere between 2.5 and 3 million viewers on Spike. I’m a Dan Hardy fan, so I’ll like this, but the rest of the card is missing big time star power.

UFC 121: It’s Broctober, that means the pent-up demand for big stars will find an expression among fans here. It’s time to “release the hounds,” and love him or hate him, Brock Lesnar is a drawing card like no other in MMA. Expect something like 1 to 1.1 million PPV buys for this one. Cain Velasquez isn’t of the same magnitude when it comes to star power among casual MMA fans, but the cognoscenti know what kind of talent he has, and they’ll open their wallets in hopes of seeing Lesnar toppled.

UFC 122: Another free card, this one will fall flat on it’s ratings ass. With Nate Marquardt taking on Yushin Okami in a non-title fight as the headline event, fans will take care of last-second Christmas shopping and ignore this like they would an ugly girl at the bar early in the evening.

UFC 123: Lyoto Machida and Rampage Jackson are still big time draws, and the styles the fighters bring to this fight are intriguing enought to justify something approaching 1 million PPV sales. Fans will want to know if either of these fighters are at the end of the string, and this bout will go a long way toward demonstrating where each of them stands.

UFC 124: Georges St-Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck in Montreal will enjoy a bump from the completion of TUF, and you can bet your bottom dollar this on will go way over 1 million PPV buys on the GSP’s name alone. Expect the hype to turn uglier as the fight draws near, and that will add buys from casual fans and Canadian Koscheck-haters.

UFC 125: Lightweight Champ Frankie Edgar will headline this event against Gray Maynard in a title fight, and neither of them have a ton of appeal to the mainstream. As much as I’ll enjoy Shane Carwin taking on Roy Nelson, that bout doesn’t have a ton of juice with PPV buyers either. The rest of the card, Thiago Silva vs. Brandon Vera, Chris Leben vs. Brian Stann and Antonio McKee vs. Jacob Volkmann, certainly won’t open a lot off wallets, so expect this on to possibly approach 400,000 PPV sales.

[IceCold48]

i think this isnt really that on key. im not sure why they think gsp vs kos will be such a huge draw since gsp beat him already and it looks like nothings changed.

also 122 is an amazing card as far as excitment and awesome matchups are concerned im sure a lot of hardcores and people like me who understand how great this card could be willl not miss this for the world.

[kickass32]

Originally Posted by IceCold48

i think this isnt really that on key. im not sure why they think gsp vs kos will be such a huge draw since gsp beat him already and it looks like nothings changed.

also 122 is an amazing card as far as excitment and awesome matchups are concerned im sure a lot of hardcores and people like me who understand how great this card could be willl not miss this for the world.

Yeah, I was thinking the same with the GSP/Kos card..... I was gonna say maybe around the 700,000 mark???

[goodtimes]

GSP can sell 700k on his name alone imo, and TUF can help push it over 1 million. I think most of the ratings listed are high estimates, but not too bad.

[Tallulah Belle]

Looking forward to 121 and 123. Will be interesting to see if Rampage still has his heart set on fighting after the movie stuff and continuing talk.

[W.Silva>C.Norris]

Originally Posted by kickass32

Yeah, I was thinking the same with the GSP/Kos card..... I was gonna say maybe around the 700,000 mark???

He(halterman) is right about the gsp/kos card... especially because its in canada.. Im canadian, and take it from an inside source... As much as americans are patriotic, Canadian fans are absolutely RABID when it comes to Can-con in sporting events. Even my casual-fan friends root for the canadian fighters by default.. 1m buys isnt out of the question here.

[Frasedog]

I bet this guy is pretty close with his numbers. And GSP vs Koz will be hyped to the nines by TUF. I'm in VT I may just have to go see that live.

[iced]

Originally Posted by IceCold48

i think this isnt really that on key. im not sure why they think gsp vs kos will be such a huge draw since gsp beat him already and it looks like nothings changed.

also 122 is an amazing card as far as excitment and awesome matchups are concerned im sure a lot of hardcores and people like me who understand how great this card could be willl not miss this for the world.

i agree, i am actually more stoked about 122 than i am for 120. plus, its free!

121 is absolutely stacked. cant wait for that one either

[end it with a left]

wow i think its pretty ridiculous to compare 122 to a ugly girl early in the night. Ill be avoiding these fights like a free cold beer on a hot summers day. I don't know how many guys go shopping saturday nights and im pretty sure the ones that do probably don't watch fights they go out shopping with their boyfriends. ill be taking the money i saved not renting the fights and putting that towards exra beers