The UFC has enjoyed some big-time pay-per-view buy rates since the start of the year, but it seems that the recent UFC 262 event was not one of them, with the latest word being that delivered 300,000 sales for the May 15th show from Houston, Texas.
That pales in comparison to other recent shows like UFC 257: Poirer vs. McGregor II, which did 1.2 million buys, UFC 259: Blachowicz vs. Adesanya, which raked in 800,000 buys, or UFC 261: Usman vs. Masvidal II, which delivered 700,000 sales.
It’s perhaps not too surprising however when you consider that there was less star-power on show for UFC 262, with the main event featuring a fight for the vacant lightweight belt between Charles Oliveira and Michael Chandler.
There undoubtedly should have been a lot of fan interest here as both highly entertaining fighters and delivered a thriller of a main event, but the reality is that they simply don’t yet have a big following on PPV.
In fact, it was evident in the week leading up to the fight, and on the night itself, that co-main event fighter Tony Ferguson was the fan favorite on the card, but though his UFC 249 headlining spot opposite Justin Gaethje in the summer of last year did do 700,000 buys, he’s not historically been a guaranteed box-office draw, and that fight proved to be the start of what’s now a tough three-fight losing streak for him.
While UFC 262’s PPV numbers weren’t anything special, the UFC brass will no doubt have been pleased to have been able to pack 16,000 fans into the venue, delivering an extra $4 million in revenue, and they now have some big pay-per-view events lined up in the near future, with UFC 263 finding Israel Adesanya back defending his middleweight crown against Marvin Vettori, while UFC 264: Poirier vs. McGregor III is guaranteed to be a summer blockbuster.
