If I were to tell you that the UFC is having a strong year with its pay per view business you would think that someone sponsored this post. However, the UFC is set to improve over its 2011-2012 PPV averages.

Through 12 PPVs it is averaging approximately 423K PPV buys for 2013. Even if UFC 168 hits 1 million PPV buys, a benchmark it has not hit since 2010, it would average 467K PPV buys for 2013. While this sounds bad for the UFC, it’s likely that the company will eclipse its 2012 PPV average of 448K PPV buys (over 13 events) and 2011 PPV buy average of 413K (over 14 events).

Expectations for these events may have overshot the actual PPV buy rates. UFC 167’s buy rate of 625K has to be a disappointment considering GSP is a reliable PPV star for the company, there was much buildup for the event and the rumors that 167 would be GSP’s last. Yet, the 625K PPV buys is one of GSP’s lowest since being a headliner. The GSP-Diaz 950K PPV buys earlier this year has to be attributed to Nick Diaz and “wolf tickets”. It also shows that UFC events sell much better when there is some animosity between the main event competitors.

Jon Jones has seemingly not produced as expected as a main eventer. A heated rivalry between Jones and Chael Sonnen did not occur on TUF and while their fight at UFC 159 drew 550K, Jones’ follow up fight against Alexander Gustafsson only drew 325K PPV buys.

Anderson Silva, another fighter that has contributed to UFC PPV success drew 550K in his only fight of the year so far at UFC 162 against Chris Weidman. The UFC should expect a better PPV average for this Saturday in their rematch. But with a loss, this could be the downturn for the Spider on PPV.

Ronda Rousey should be another fighter to be on the lookout for in 2014. She headlined (along with Liz Carmouche) UFC 157 over Lyoto Machida and Dan Henderson. In the end, UFC 157 drew a respectable 450K PPV buys and a lot of mainstream attention. Will Rousey be a fighter that will attract the PPV crowd?

UFC PPV Buys 2013

Event PPV Buy Rate Main Event UFC 168 ???? Weidman-Silva II UFC167 625,000 GSP-Hendricks UFC 166 330,000 Velasquez-JDS III UFC 165 325,000 Jones-Gus UFC 164 270,000 Henderson-Pettis UFC 163 170,000 Aldo-Zombie UFC 162 550,000 Silva-Weidman I UFC 161 150,000 Evans-Hendo UFC 160 380,000 Cain-Bigfoot II UFC 159 550,000 Jones-Sonnen UFC 158 950,000 GSP-Diaz UFC 157 450,000 Rousey-Carmouche UFC 156 330,000 Aldo-Edgar

Some interesting notes from the PPV buys this year. Jose Aldo headlined two PPVs. Although Benson Henderson does well with Fox ratings, it does not translate to PPV buys. His rematch with Anthony Pettis only drew 270K PPV buys. UFC 161 had to revamp its main event due to an injury to Renan Barao but it definitely was a PPV event that UFC fans chose to skip. The UFC heavyweights did not produce buy rates this year as reflected by UFC 160 and 166. This is surprising considering that Cain Velasquez going into UFC 160 had averaged 733K PPV buys (over 3 PPV fights) since defeating Brock Lesnar at UFC 121.

All PPV buy rates from MMA Payout’s Blue Book and thanks to Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer.