Dave Metzler at F4Wonline.com is reporting that the UFC is returning its PPVs back to the 7pm/10pm start time starting with December 30th’s UFC 141. The UFC moved up the start time starting with UFC 129 in Toronto to accommodate its east coast viewers.

As we noted when the announcement to move the PPVs up one hour, it would hurt west coast viewership. Considering the fact that prelim fights on Facebook would start mid-afternoon for west coast viewers, most west coasters would still be out and about. The theory was that the 6pm move made sense from the perspective that the UFC wanted as many east coast viewers to see the PPVs. Now, it appears that the UFC’s experiment is over.

Payout Perspective:

The sagging PPV buys are the likely reason why the UFC is moving back the start times. It would be interesting to know if the breakdown in PPV buys this year led the UFC to conclude that the 6pm start time did not influence PPV buys. Certainly, the UFC is hoping for a big spike in buys for 141 considering its PPV bell cow, Brock Lesnar, is on the card.