Israel Adesanya defeated former UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva by unanimous decision in the main event of UFC 234, which was also the promotion?s first pay-per-view of 2019.
The show has brought in an estimated 175,000 buys according to a report from MMA Fighting. The event was hampered by a change to the main event on the day of the card, as UFC Middleweight Champion Robert Whittaker was forced to withdrawal from a title defense against Kelvin Gastelum due to a severe abdominal injury that would need emergency surgery to repair.
Other fights on the pay-per-view portion of the card saw Lando Vannata defeat Marcos Mariano, Jim Crute defeat Sam Alvey, Montana De La Rosa defeat Nadia Kassem and Ricky Simon defeat Rani Yahya.
There was a four fight preliminary card that aired on ESPN prior to the pay-per-view and that brought in over a million viewers, but that high number wasn?t able to translate to a great amount of pay-per-view buys.
Up next for the UFC?s pay-per-view offerings is UFC 235, which features UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones facing Anthony Smith in the main event, plus UFC Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley faces Kamaru Usman in the co-main event.