The first pay-per-view buyrate estimate for UFC 125 are in, and the results aren’t good. It is being estimated that the event sold in the neighbourhood of 270000-300000 PPVs, which makes it a historical event, but for the wrong reason. UFC 125 is the lowest-selling UFC PPV that had a title fight on the card since B.J. Penn beat Joe Stevenson for the lightweight title at UFC 80, three years ago.
But this doesn’t come as a huge shock – any event with a co-main event of Brian Stann vs Chris Leben isn’t going to be a big seller. Plus, Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard haven’t proved themselves to be big PPV sellers in the past. Which all adds up to a stinker at the box office, even worse than expected. Which isn’t encouraging news for the UFC, considering Edgar vs Maynard III is on tap for UFC 130 in May. So the UFC has taken steps to ensure that that card topped by Edgar vs Maynard will be a big moneymaker, stocking the dance card with names like Frank Mir, Roy Nelson, Rampage Jackson and Thiago Alves. However, with the lightweight gold around the waist of either Edgar or Maynard going forward, the UFC will have to continue that practice of stacking fight cards that they appear on or run the risk of breaking more sales records, but once again for the wrong reasons.
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