So I just started going back to school recently, meaning my income has gone from a meager something to a significant nothing.  I've thought a lot about how to cut down on costs due to my lack of bacon-bringing and made some tough decisions along the way.  Along with taking the bus and eating out less, I've obviously had to cut down on ordering pay-per-views, going to a bar instead and drinking bottomless sodas much to the chagrin of the waitress (I'm sure to tip well, though).  I've wondered about how much I've been saving since the change of venue from my living room to the bar which I finally decided to sit down and figure out. Basically this led to more questions asked by me to myself and answered out loud to my wife and dog.   How much have we been spending on fights?  How many fights have I watched (and made my wife watch)?  How much are we paying per fight?  Is it worth saving this money to go watch these at the bar with that drunk guy that likes passing out on the fussball table instead of watching the main event... then shouts out horribly wrong facts when he occasionally wakes from his beastly slumber?

Whether you're feeling the tough economy, attending school, or paying for your free-loading buddies to watch the fights on your couch, maybe you will find this info useful.  It's a breakdown of various statistics mainly involving the cost of watching the UFC and how much Spike TV and facebook.com has lessened the price per fight for us.  A couple of points - I did a comparison of 2010 in its entirety and 2011 so far and only with Zuffa-owned organizations, the UFC and the now-absorbed WEC. All of the calculations have been based upon fights promised to be shown, not fights that were on the undercard and shown when there was time.  Also, in adding up the fight counts, I included all fights on TUF except for fights to get in the house.

• In 2010, Zuffa put on 32 events made up of 17 "full on" UFC's (two of them being free), 8 WEC's (one ppv), three Ultimate Fight Nights, two seasons of The Ultimate Fighter and two UFC on Versus - totaling 196 fights.  If you ordered all of the pay-per-views, it would have cost $720 to watch in SD and $880 to view in HD.  That comes out to $3.67 per bout in standard definition and $4.48 in HD.
  
• The first card that broadcast on Spike TV was UFC 103: Franklin vs Belfort.  Before this date, the average cost of fights was $4.76 (SD) or $5.82 (HD).  They started showing fights on Spike TV on most cards after that and brought the average cost of fights in 2010 to $3.56 (SD) and $4.35 (HD).
• In 2011, the UFC has put on 11 events and one season of TUF.  They have thus far promised to show 118 fights, 23 more than this time last year.  If you ordered all of the PPV's, you will have paid $315 (SD) or 385 (HD) so far.
  
• They started broadcasting not only on Spike but also on facebook.com, starting with Fight For The Troops 2 on January 22nd, 201.  They have varied on the number of bouts shown on Facebook until UFC 129: St Pierre vs. Shields when they showed the remaining bouts not shown on Spike TV or PPV.  They have shown every fight on every card since.
• In 2011, the average cost of fights has dropped to $2.69 in (SD) and $3.26 (HD).  If you only counted the fights since UFC 129 when every fight has been shown, the cost average goes to $3.00 and $3.66 although this price will drop significantly for the rest of the year - there have only been four events that have shown all fights and only one of those was totally free.
• If you just order the PPV's without watching Spike or Facebook and don't care about up-and-coming fighters, great fights, or life itself, then you're paying 9-11 bucks a fight like a goober.

So there it is.  Some stats to think about and show your friends that forgot bring over a measly five dollars to put into a jar at the end of the night.  I think we all have to be grateful that the cost is continuously dropping thanks to Spike TV and Facebook.  If you're someone who has been watching everything that you can, then you've seen about a 43% savings per fight from early 2010 compared to now thanks to some new avenues to watch the fights.  Also, if you're not watching the fights on Facebook, you need to.  Some of the best fights on recent cards have been shown on there.  More views means more sponsorship money for the fighters and could lead to more fights on a card.  So watch.  If you have anything to add or would like to know anymore stats, let me know. 

@dogbyday