D. Mandel/Sherdog.com
A series of downward-trending UFC pay-per-view returns ended with UFC 107 on Dec. 12, which attracted at least 620,000 buys, according to estimates reported by The Wrestling Observer.
The card -- headlined by B.J. Penn vs. Diego Sanchez and Frank Mir's pitch-perfect trash-talking campaign against Cheick Kongo -- exceeded expectations coming off four underwhelming numbers for UFC 102, 103, 104 and 106. All of those cards looked to have come in under 475,000 buys according to the latest estimates, despite the participation of stars like Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, Forrest Griffin and returning former top name Vitor Belfort.
The slump came after UFC 100 and 101 looked to usher in a higher plateau for pay-per-view, drawing a reported 1.6 million and 850,000 buys respectively. The Observer reported that the UFC 107 number, coupled with the UFC 101 number, has given Penn the reputation inside Zuffa as one of the company's top draws. Penn defended against Kenny Florian at UFC 101.
The number also means the UFC set, as was expected, the record in 2009 for most pay-per-view buys that a single company has drawn in one year, beating the mark it set in 2008.
The company drew an estimated 7.7 million pay-per-view buys in 2009, according to The Wrestling Observer, topping last year's 6.4 million buys. The UFC 100 number was far and away the company's all-time high, with only three boxing fights in history doing more pay-per-view buys. The other two top numbers were for UFC 101 and UFC 94 (Georges St. Pierre vs. B.J. Penn II, estimated 925,000 buys). UFC 93 in January set the record (320,000) for the most-bought pay-per-view the UFC has promoted in Europe. The UFC staged 13 pay-per-view events in 2009.