UFC 230 may have been a financial success for the UFC at the box office, but the MMA brand leader would fall short of projections for pay-per-view buys.

The event headlined by Daniel Cormier’s heavyweight title defense against Derrick Lewis at Madison Square Garden, is currently estimated at 250,000 buys on Pay-Per-View, 150,000 less than Cormier’s UFC 226 win over Stipe Miocic.

Numerous factors may play into the lower than expected estimate, beginning with issues surrounding a main event for the card, which would see multiple changes prior to settling on Cormier vs. Lewis. The initial main event a women’s flyweight title fight between top contenders Valentina Shevchenko and Sijara Eubanks would be scrapped entirely less than a week after it was announced, plus a potential main event fight between Dustin Poirier and Nate Diaz being pulled due to an injury to Poirier.

Initial Report: MMA Fighting