UFC 207 Trending to be PPV Success

Ronda Rousey may have skipped out on media ahead of her unsuccessful comeback against Amanda Nunes, but it appears that UFC 207 was still an overwhelming success for the promotion. The prelim ratings were some of the highest of the year, and the pay-per-view looks to have broken a million buys.

Dave Meltzer of MMAFighting and the Wrestling Observer reported that the UFC 207 prelims, headlined by Johnny Hendricks vs. Neil Magny, did 1,511,00 viewers.

That figure puts UFC 207 in the top five shows of the year for prelim performance, behind only the undercards of UFC 196, UFC 200 and UFC 205. Two of those three shows led into pay-per-views headlined by Conor McGregor, while UFC 200 was a monumental show and therefore more stacked than the usual card.

Those shows all sold more than 1 million pay-per-views, and early figures are suggesting that UFC 207: Rousey vs. Nunes broke the seven-figure mark as well.

According to Meltzer’s newsletter, UFC 207 is trending around $1.1 million PPVS:

While high numbers are expected for a highly-anticipated show like the return of Ronda Rousey, there were several details ahead of the fight that led some to expect more modest figures. First, the fight took place on a Friday to avoid going up against New Years Eve, and the last time that happened the promotion underperformed.

Then of course there was Rousey’s refusal to promote the fight. She did not speak with MMA media at all in the weeks ahead of UFC 207, and her only public appearances came in the form of carefully conducted interviews on late-night programs like The Ellen Show and Conan.

It appears the interest was still high to see Rousey return, though the nature of her loss does not bode well for her fighting future, either in the cage or as a pay-per-view attraction.