It’s official, Ronda Rousey is the UFC’s biggest star and Dana White has the stats to prove it.
In a new Twitter message White congratulates the woman’s bantamweight champion, “on all your success”, along with a series of impressive stats that demonstrate how Rousey is now officially a mainstream superstar.
- Three time ESPY winner
- 3 million new followers and 6 billion impressions on social media
- No.1 UFC PPV of 2015
- No.1 in Nielson twitter TV ratings for sports events during fight week
The fact that it’s now been confirmed that UFC 190 was the biggest pay-per-view event for the promotion this year is particularly impressive as it comes just weeks after the far more heavily hyped UFC 189 event featuring Conor McGregor which is believed to have produced close to one million buys.
Let’s also not forget that earlier this year there were other blockbuster shows like UFC 182: Jones Vs Cormier and UFC 183: Silva Vs Diaz.
Yet, with little fan-fare, competing beyond North America (which generally leads to a drop, not rise in PPV sales), taking on a fighter everyone expected to beat and with a main card beneath her that no-one was all that interested in, Rousey has managed to eclipse all of the UFC’s other major shows.
it’s a true testament to Rousey’s star power that the PPV numbers have exceeded all expectations, and the reaction all over the world on social media and beyond afterwards was truly remarkable and unprecedented in the sport.
The UFC suffered a huge dent in their PPV drawing power when Brock Lesnar left in 2011, as did GSP’s withdrawal at the end of 2013, and there was a time when it looked like we may never see there likes again.
Suddenly however we have two huge stars in Rousey and McGregor that have the opportunity to re-energize the sport and potentially take it to the next level.
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Congrats on all your success @rondarousey #ufc pic.twitter.com/K9zv0UAdt7
— Dana White (@danawhite) August 7, 2015
