Updated throughout the day with quick takes from staff.
Dave Meltzer is reporting that the early estimate of PPV buys for last Saturdays UFC 114 is somewhere in the neighborhood of 925,000. If this as of yet rough estimate holds, it would make UFC 114 the fourth most purchased event in the history of the promotion, topped only by UFC 100 (1.6 million), Liddell vs. Ortiz 2 (1.05 million), and the triple main event at UFC 92 with one million buys.
...Most impressive is that it was a one-match show as far as marquee value. Had Griffin not pulled out of his fight with Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, adding Griffin, one of the company's top draws, would have probably pushed it past the 1 million mark. Without him, I thought it would fall a little short.
Before the show, Dana White's prediction was 850,000. He claimed it was based on advanced orders that other details that usually give the company a pretty good idea how the show will do. That would rank it No. 6 or No. 7 on the company's all-time list. The record going into this show for a non-title match main event would have been 775,000 for the Ken Shamrock vs. Tito Ortiz grudge match in 2006 (technically that show had a Tim Sylvia vs. Andrei Arlovski heavyweight title match billed as the main event). For a show that didn't have a title match of any kind, no UFC event historically has topped 600,000 buys (Royce Gracie vs. Matt Hughes in 2006), so if nothing else, this blew away that record, probably by a wide margin.
Evans got $410,000 of disclosed money, but with his PPV bonus, should get well into the seven figures. Jackson got $250,000 disclosed. He has a PPV bonus written into his contract. If the show did 800,000 buys, and it probably did more, Jackson will end up with a figure probably around $2 million.
Kid Nate mentioned on Bloody Elbow that:
It's notable that the Light Heavyweight title fight held only two weeks early did about half this much business. Clearly the American fan base prefers to see two American fighters in the headliner rather than two Brazilians, even if one of those Brazilians has the belt.
Recognizing that fact, Zuffa did considerably more marketing for UFC 114 than they did for UFC 113.
This really speaks to the selling power of the two guys in the main event. While it had some other notable names such as Bisping, Sanchez, and Lil' Nog, this card was primarily sold on the strength of the main event. Rampage is likely one of these fighters who will continue to command huge numbers even in the twilight of his career, a la Liddell, Ortiz, and Couture. His star power is one of his biggest assets and having him appear in summer blockbusters won't hurt Dana's business. Rashad could eventually get there, but he's got a ways to go. Another headkick KO here, another Chuck KO there.
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