UFC 146 "Dos Santos vs. Mir" pay-per-view estimate reportedly as high as 580,000 buys

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Last month's UFC 146 pay-per-view event suffered a big hit two months before the card, as Alistair Overeem failed a drug test that ultimately took him out of the event. However, the all-heavyweight event still performed well on pay-per-view, as Dave Meltzer reports in the latest Wrestling Observer (subscription required) that estimates for the event have it between 560,000 and 580,000 buys.

That's a dip from April's UFC 145 event, but still above what the UFC had been garnering for several events over the last year. And with the change to the main event and all of the fights being different than initially planned, it's understandable for a drop off from expectations for dos Santos-Overeem.

There's one caveat to the number, however, as Meltzer reports that it is the worldwide buyrate, whereas their initially reported estimates for most events are the North American buyrate. That means the North American number for this card was lower than this, but still the majority of purchases for the card.

Penick's Analysis: Considering it was Memorial Day weekend, not to mention the change in main event and the multiple shifts to the main card, this is a really solid number for the event. The UFC is going to see a massive drop off from this card to UFC 147 later this month, but the July 7 UFC 148 event is going to be a massive bounce back, and likely the biggest drawing event thus far this year. Still, considering the string of poor buyrates that hit them in 2011, this is two very good numbers in a row with UFC 145 and UFC 146.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_13537.shtml

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