We’re a little over a week removed from UFC 153 in Brazil and the first estimates for the pay-per-view buy rate is now in.
According to The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer, initial indications are that around 340,000 – 410,000 people bought the event which featured Anderson Silva and Stephan Bonnar as the headline fight.
It’s not a huge number, but it’s actually the best the UFC has managed so far from their events held in Brazil, and considering that it was relying primarily on a hastily arranged mismatch between Silva Vs Bonnar that’s pretty good going.
To be honest, if the UFC had been able to stick to their original plan of having Jose Aldo Vs Erik Koch in the main event I think it may have done worse (given that Aldo’s last title defense in Brazil earlier in the year only drew 235,000 buys), though the overall card would have been stronger if Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson Vs Glover Teixeira had gone ahead in the co-main event slot.
It’s an indication that regardless of who he is fighting Silva is somewhat of a draw, but he needs a major opponent like Chael Sonnen to really send his numbers skyrocketing (their rematch drew around 1 million PPV buys back in July).
