This past weekend was the UFC 225 pay-per-view, which was headlined by a non-title bout as UFC Middleweight Champion Robert Whittaker picked up a decision win over Yoel Romero.
A report has surfaced from the Los Angeles Times stating that the pay-per-view, which also had an interim welterweight title fight between Colby Covington and former UFC Lightweight Champion Rafael Dos Anjos, brought in less than 150,000 buys in the early estimates. The other three bouts on the pay-per-view card saw Mike Jackson defeat CM Punk, Holly Holm defeat Megan Anderson and Tai Tuivasa defeat Andrei Arlovski.
It should be noted that the UFC isn’t a publicly traded organization, so they do not have to release their pay-per-view numbers to the public.
The numbers could prove to be troubling for the UFC, which also saw the four fight preliminary card on Fox Sports 1 bring in less than stellar ratings.
Hunter Campbell is an attorney representing the UFC and he sent a brief statement to the LA Times, saying the estimated pay-per-view numbers are a "material misrepresentation" of the buyrate and that the number of buys were "something in excess of six figures," no actual numbers were provided by the lawyer.
If the trend continues to go downhill, it could prove to be troubling for the promotion, which has an even bigger event scheduled for July. The UFC’s return to pay-per-view in July is going to be UFC 226, with UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic defending against UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier in the main event, while Max Holloway defends the featherweight strap against Brian Ortega in the co-main event.
Several days after the first numbers were reported, a new report has come out from MMA Fighting stating that UFC 225 has done an estimated 250,000 buys. So far, no legal representation from the UFC has spoken out against these newly reported numbers.
