The initial pay-per-view buy rate estimate is in for last month’s UFC 152: Jones Vs Belfort event are in and suggests that around 450,000-460,000 people purchased the show.
That’s a decent number, but if accurate it’s the lowest drawing Jon Jones title fight on PPV to date, albeit not by a great distance.
It’s a little disappointing as a number of factors pre-fight had suggested that perhaps it was going to do a bigger overall number than that.
For one, this was the first UFC PPV in six weeks due to the cancellation of UFC 151 a few weeks earlier which you would have thought would have encouraged more people to break open their wallets.
Also, headliner Jon Jones last main event appearance against Rashad Evans had pulled in 700,000 PPV buys, and the fallout from UFC 151 had ensured that he was the most talked about fighter on the roster in the lead-in to his bout at UFC 152, including being all over ESPN during fight-week.
On the other hand, not many people were backing his short-notice opponent Vitor Belfort much of a chance of pulling off an upset, while the co-main event, the first ever flyweight title fight between Demetrious Johnson and Joseph Benavidez, didn’t appear to be an anticipated bout amongst fans.
Overall it shows that Jones is a solid draw for the UFC, but not a spectacular one despite his stellar performances inside the Octagon, leaving Georges St.Pierre as the undisputed king of the UFC ratings for now.
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Jon Jones PPV Numbers:
UFC 145: Jones Vs Evans – 700,000
UFC 135: Jones Vs Rampage: 520,000
UFC 128: Jones Vs Shogun: 490,000
UFC 140: Jones Vs Machida – 485,000
UFC 152: Jones Vs Belfort – 450,000-460,000
