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Over/under on UFC 104 PPV buy rate — 325,000?
By Zach Arnold | October 23, 2009
Dana White is on a media tear in Southern California right now, trying to get as many asses in the seats as possible at the Staples Center on Saturday night. I’ve never seen UFC in the last couple of years make as big of a push to do ticket giveaways as I have for this show. Don’t get me wrong — on the promoting side of the equation, tickets are currency… but even currency can get devalued over time (like the US dollar is now) when too much is printed and you have hyperinflation. End result? People in the local market might consider showing up if they get a freebie, but they wouldn’t consider paying for a ticket.
Tough sell on Saturday night. Cain Velasquez is being pushed hard as UFC’s next Latino sensation, but he’s not a draw yet and it will take some time.
Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort at UFC 103 drew around 400,000 PPV buys but that’s because Rich Franklin is Rich Franklin. Will people pay to watch Lyoto Machida at UFC 104? Dana White valiantly tries to make the hard sell:
INTERVIEWER: “Let’s quickly talk about the main event. How difficult is it for you as the promoter to sell a fight when both of the main event fighters don’t speak English?”
DANA WHITE: “You know what? People ask me that all the time. We are having no problem at all. The reality is, you don’t show up to hear people talk, OK? When you’re a fight fan, you show up to see great fights. I don’t care if the guy is a mute, OK, I’m not there to hear him talk. If you can find a fighter who has you know he’s a good looking guy, he’s got incredible charisma, he speaks really well, and he’s one of the best fighters in the world, OK, homerun, you know you win. But reality is, people are going to tune in Saturday night to see two of arguably the best strikers in the business, you’re not going to see any wrestling, you’re not going to see any jiu-jitsu, they’re going to see punches, knees, elbows, kicks, it’s going to be a I expect fireworks between those two on Saturday night.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 51 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
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