MMA Paper Trail: Ratings Game

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Statistics & Data

UFC on Fox 4 “Shogun vs. Vera”
Aug. 4 (Fox) | Staples Center, Los Angeles
Marquee Fight(s): Mauricio Rua vs. Brandon Vera, Lyoto Machida vs. Ryan Bader

• 14,725: Attendance (10,151 sold, 4,574 comped)
• 16,347: Available arena capacity for the event
• $1,440,453: Gate
• 1.4: Average overall household television rating
• 2,240,000: Average viewers for the broadcast
• 1.79: Peak viewership (during “Shogun” Rua vs. Vera)
• 1.9: Average rating among males, ages 18 to 34
• 194,000: Average viewers for preliminary fights on Fuel TV
• $240,000: Highest disclosed purse (“Shogun” Rua)
• $50,000: Value of post-fight bonus awards, which went to Mike Swick for “Knockout of the Night,” Jamie Varner for “Fight of the Night” and Joe Lauzon for “Fight of the Night” and “Submission of the Night”

Notes: Lowest rating to date for an MMA event on U.S. network television, a hair below the May 5 Fox rating. The show performed well in the face of competition from the Summer Olympics and showed healthy gains among males, ages 18 to 34 from May. Lowest gate of the three UFC events at the Staples Center, behind UFC 104 ($1.9 million) and UFC 60 ($2.9 million). Most viewers to date for a Fuel TV prelims show.

UFC 150 “Henderson vs. Edgar 2”
Aug. 11 (Pay-Per-View) | Pepsi Center, Denver
Marquee Fight(s): Benson Henderson vs. Frankie Edgar

• 13,027: Attendance (8,224 paid, 4,803 comped)
• $619,955: Gate
• 190,000: Estimated pay-per-view buys
• 974,000: Average viewers for FX preliminary fights
• $60,000: Value of post-fight bonuses, won by Donald Cerrone for “Knockout of the Night” and “Fight of the Night,” Melvin Guillard for “Fight of the Night” and Dennis Bermudez for “Submission of the Night”

Notes: PPV numbers affected by several reported technological issues with certain types of DirecTV orders. Besides UFC 147 (140K), lowest number of buys for a UFC pay-per-view since 2005. Lowest gate for a UFC PPV event since UFC 55. Rating for prelims down from 1.8 million for UFC 148, about even with UFC 149, but remained highest rated show on cable in time slot among males, ages 18 to 34.

Strikeforce “Rousey vs. Kaufman”
Aug. 18 (Showtime) | Valley View Casino Center, San Diego
Marquee Fight(s): Ronda Rousey vs. Sarah Kaufman

• 3,122: Attendance (1,638 sold, 1,484 comped)
• $145,510: Gate
• 1.43: Average household television rating
• 529,000: Average viewers for overall broadcast
• 1.9: Peak rating (during Rousey vs. Kaufman)
• 676,000: Peak viewers (during Rousey vs. Kaufman)
• $94,000: Highest disclosed purse (Ronaldo Souza)

Notes: Highest-rated MMA or boxing event on Showtime since July 2011 event headlined by Dan Henderson vs. Fedor Emelianenko, according to The Wrestling Observer. In the male, ages 18 to 49 demo, rating for Rousey vs. Kaufman topped everything in the past 20 months on Showtime except the February 2011 fight between Emelianenko and Antonio Silva. Sunday morning replay did 332,000 viewers. Last Strikeforce event, headlined by Luke Rockhold vs. Tim Kennedy on July 14, averaged 420,000 viewers.

Bellator 73
Aug. 24 (MTV2) | Harrah’s Tunica Hotel and Casino, Tunica Resorts, Miss.
Marquee Fight(s): Travis Wiuff vs. Attila Vegh, Marcos Galvao vs. Luis Alberto Nogueira

• 1,600: Estimated attendance
• 167,000: Average viewers

Notes: Audience drops from 193,000 for last Bellator event in July, featuring Paul Daley. Slightly up over most recent Bellator season average. Event hurt by loss of Pat Curran vs. Patricio Freire title fight due to injury, as Wiuff vs. Vegh light heavyweight tournament final moved into headline spot.