Sad numbers compared to what MMA used to be at a few years ago
It's crazy that 2.5 million viewers is being celebrated.. on Fox, of all things, network TV
Just as an example, Fedor vs Rogers on CBS had nearly 6 million viewers watching the main event. Fedor had never fought on cable or network TV in the US before that fight. His biggest PPV did 100k buys.
However MMA was so hot, and promoting someone like Fedor was so easy, they turned that show into a gigantic success. Alexander Gustafson, who has been on Fox before and gave Jones his toughest fight, should be a gigantic star in the US. But as usual, the UFC would rather promote themselves than their fighters.
It's crazy to me that in 2015, Fox shows are pulling less than half, sometimes 1/3 of what Spike's big UFC shows did (Hendo vs Rampage for example). When the UFC announced they'd sign with Fox, everyone thought it was going to be so huge, and we'd have gigantic fights on TV bringing in huge ratings
Instead, they headlined most Fox shows with Mighty Mouse and Ben Henderson, two of the least liked champions at the time who were known to always go to decision in fights that are not appealing at all to the casual fan (you know, the fan you are trying to reach by being on Fox). Why in the fuck they employed that business strategy I have no idea.
It's crazy to see how things have gotten. TUF ratings doing 5-600k, FS1 shows averaging well under a million (when even the weak fight night shows on Spike did 2-3 easy), buy rates just around the brink of 100k, 2 cancelled shows in the last 2 years (with 176 being very close to cancelled as well).
It's just honestly really, really weird. Makes you wonder about the direction things are going in. It's clearly that outside of a few key people like McGregor, Rousey, Jones, etc, that the UFC can no longer generate massive numbers in ratings or buyrates. Nobody wants to pay money just to see the UFC anymore, they want to see fighters who they are emotionally invested in, who they know the backstory of - in other words, fighters they want to root for.
Nobody is going to keep paying $60 or sit in on their Saturday night to watch random fighter x VS random fighter Y in a sloppy kickboxing/sloppy wrestling match. Whatever happened to "We'll never be like boxing, where you're only paying for one big fight on the whole show. Every fight from top to bottom on our PPVs are with superstars and big name guys"?
Sorry for the rant, but yeah, looking at the downward trend of literally every aspect of the UFC in the last 3-4 years (PPV buys, tickets, ratings, everything) makes you wonder, and makes you worry. This sport looked like it had the most momentum in the world and it could only continue to grow. Why they continue watering things down I will never know, but I'm hoping they figure shit out before it becomes even more fringe. NOBODY I know, even people I've trained with, gives a shit about the UFC anymore and they will maybe watch 5-6 fights a year.