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UFC 157 Tickets Not Selling Well

7K views 79 replies 30 participants last post by  EVERLOST 
#1 ·
Ronda Rousey isn't a box office knockout for UFC 157 tickets


While Ronda Rousey was the most talked about new star in mixed martial arts in 2012, it was considered a major risk when it was announced she would have her first match in the UFC as a pay-per-view headliner.

While major women's matches have done well as far as television ratings are concerned, only one MMA fight, the 2009 battle with Gina Carano vs. Cris "Cyborg" Santos, was a big ticket seller in a major arena as the main event. And no women's fight had been on, let alone headlined, a successful MMA pay-per-view show.

Furthering the risk is that Rousey's first opponent in defense of her UFC women's bantamweight title, essentially the former Strikeforce title belt being brought over, Liz Carmouche (7-2), was a name only known to hardcore MMA fans.

The location, the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., was also a risk. While Rousey is from Southern California, the Los Angeles/Anaheim market has never been an easy one after the immediate sellout of the company's debut show there in 2006. Generally speaking, the more a city is run, outside of Las Vegas which is a strong casino market, the harder it is to sell tickets.

While the 2010 Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez heavyweight title fight at the Honda Center got off to a strong start even that wasn't an instant sellout. But most shows at the Honda Center or Staples Center in Los Angeles have in recent years done more in the range of 6,000 to 7,000 tickets over he first week of sales.

With tickets having gone on sale the week before Christmas, less than 5,000 tickets have been sold for the Feb. 23 date and the ticket gross is in the $600,000 range. That's slightly less tickets, and slightly more dollars, than the company's previous major event in the market, the Aug. 4 FOX show, headlined by Mauricio "Shogun" Rua vs. Brandon Vera, at the same point in time.


http://www.mmafighting.com/2013/1/2...snt-a-box-office-knockout-for-ufc-157-tickets
 
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#2 ·
No surprise there.

I wonder if Hendo-Machida was the main event, would there be any difference in ticket sales?

I'm interested to see how Invicta's online PPV sales do.
 
#5 ·
The simple answer is no!

Ufc 151, had 3000 tickets sold leading up to the cancellation.

Hendo is a great fighter, but his name alone combined with Jon Jones couldn't bring in the fans to Vegas of all places..

I was a little surprised to hear that the Ufc was going back to Anaheim after the dismal attendance of Ufc on Fox 1
 
#4 ·
The UFC needs to get into marketing mode, one fighter does not sell a fight and the UFC has rolled out the red carpet for Rousey and done nothing for Liz Carmouche which basically sums up like this. If one fighter in the UFC is well known and he is fighting somebody people know nothing about then they expect a blow out and don't care. They are also giving Carmouche who hasn't had to do all the media tours that Rhonda has an opportunity to kill womens MMA in the UFC before it starts.
 
#6 ·
Toxic,
Can you please explain to me how Carmouche pulling off the underdog victory would be 'killing woman's MMA before it has a chance to start in the UFC'? I guess I don't understand why Liz Carmouche is catching so much hate, she may not be as pumped up by the media, but she is a solid fighter and I think she will give Ronda a run for her money.
 
#7 ·
Toxic,
Can you please explain to me how Carmouche pulling off the underdog victory would be 'killing woman's MMA before it has a chance'? I guess I don't understand why Liz Carmouche is catching so much hate, she may not be as pumped up by the media, but she is a solid fighter and I think she will give Ronda a run for her money.
I agree, in reality Carmouche winning is the best thing for WMMA.
 
#8 ·
The title of this thread is completely misleading. If you actually read the article it says that ticket sales are basically selling at a normal pace compared to other events in that venue. The only conclusion is that this card isn't any different from other cards, in either a positive way or a negative way.
The real indicator will be PPV sales. Tickets will always sell and it's not that hard to fill a venue with an established brand like the UFC. PPV, however, has no limit to buys and cannot be "filled up". PPV is also sold at a set price, so it will be interesting to see who will dish out the money to watch this card. I know I won't.
 
#10 ·
I think it'll do well, it's the first time Women fight in the UFC so I think that'll draw some interest, they're doing a primetime to promote it, Ronda can speak and Liz is very easy to promote, I've got it doing similar numbers to Silva/Bonnar.

Hell, if people paid to watch Silva/Bonnar I have no idea why they're complaining about Rousey/Carmouche, Silva/Bonnar was the definition of a lamb being led to the slaughter.
 
#16 ·
I'm taking UFC 157 off. The Card is just weak when you compare it to 155, 156 and 158.... Since I pay for the fights myself and I watch them in my home, i'm skipping 157. Hendo v Machida doesn't do it for me. And I have zero interest in the Rousey fight. I hardly doubt I'll even go to a bar or my buddies house for the fight either....I really don't like watching chicks fight... Maybe it's because of my job, I dunno...
 
#17 ·
Everlast,

There are a few more things that need clarifying after your last post. Could you explain to me please how the WNBA is surviving only because of the NBA? Also, could you tell me what the maximum salary of any player, regardless of their gender has to due with any level of success? I get that they are paid partly from the revenue and that would be an indicator, however, the fact that they play it and make any money means that they are passionate about the sport and there is enough of a fan base to keep them playing. As for the other sports you mentioned, most of those have huge loyal followings, making your statement inherently false. It is one thing to say that you are only a fan of these sports at certain times, but quite another to say that no one likes them. Women's MMA will be around for a year or two and then die off? It has been around for some time already and is showing no signs of slowing down. Please, keep your mouth as closed as you keep your mind. :)
 
#19 ·
Making enough niche fans to have a small loyal following and the female players being passionate is nice, but so the same can be said for professional scrabble or croquet players.

Yet you don't see mainstream sports with viewership of millions being dumb enough to try to HEADLINE their event with such niche endeavors.

You can open your mind all you want, but in the end you're not gonna force open people's wallets with what is basically a niche and inferior product.
 
#18 ·
It could be all economical, after the holiday season some people not be able to justify buying a PPV with fighters they're maybe not familiar with headlining the show. Maybe the UFC should have tagged the Rousey/Carmouche fight onto another PPV with another title fight, and made this the Co-Main Event.

It's untested waters, but that should not take away the fact that Carmouche will give Ronda, and the fans, a hell of a scrap.
 
#20 ·
If this fight was headlining an Invicta card, it would do immensely well for Invicta and could set up the company for big things, for the UFC I can see/understand it struggling to sell.

Not to say the UFC shouldn't have a womens division, but do they even have a division? Interesting to see where they go with dipping their toes into WMMA waters.
 
#23 ·
But back on topic, the UFC still has time to push the promoting of the event, PPV buys and ticket sales could still increase in the week leading up to it so lets just see how the final figures pan out.

Still a lot of time left to get numbers up on the rise.
 
#24 ·
liddell is right, also in case you haven't noticed the flyweight division with former bantamweight tile contenders and whatnot with more depth and well known fighters is getting lambasted by most of the fans so now we're adding the element of different gender fighters in a shallow division without even the invicta fighters to be accepted when flyweight can't. Dodson/johnson will probably get a barely better reception than rousey/carmouche, also the fight will be over in 1 minute by armbar
 
#26 ·
Full 12 bout card

Main Card

Womens Bantamweight title bout: Ronda Rousey vs. Liz Carmouche
Light Heavyweight bout: Dan Henderson vs. Lyoto Machida
Bantamweight bout: Urijah Faber vs. Ivan Menjivar
Welterweight bout: Josh Koscheck vs. Robbie Lawler
Featherweight bout: Manny Gamburyan vs. Chad Mendes

Heavyweight bout: Lavar Johnson vs. Brendan Schaub
Welterweight bout: Court McGee vs. Josh Neer
Lightweight bout: Caros Fodor vs. Sam Stout
Lightweight bout: Mike Chiesa vs. Anton Kuivanen
Featherweight bout: Dennis Bermudez vs. Matt Grice
Welterweight bout: Brock Jardine vs. Kenny Robertson
Welterweight bout: Neil Magny vs. Jon Manley
 
#32 ·
The girls shouldn't be headlining. I say that not because they arn't talented, but because they are being pushed ahead of Henderson and Machida - two fighters who have built their names using their talents over many years.

The girls should have been the opening main card fight, from there they would have their chance to build they names and get people to be genuinely interested to buy their PPVs based on their actual talents not the fact they are women.
 
#35 ·
That's ridiculous, Ronda has a belt. Machida and Henderson don't. The belt takes precendence over a fight that might not even determine a top contender with the way Dana flip flops these days.
 
#40 ·
**** that.

The fact a belt takes precendence over the actual combatants is from the same school of ridiculous thought that sees two relative unknowns competeing in 157's main card.

I'm all for women's MMA, part of me loves that we're getting the girls to main event - but it's unearned and tainted, i can't support it this way.

:thumbsdown:
How is it unearned? It's no different than when Cruz/Faber headlined 132.


Sent from my iPhone using Verticalsports.com Free App
 
#42 ·
How is it unearned? It's no different than when Cruz/Faber headlined 132.


Sent from my iPhone using Verticalsports.com Free App
You're Sort of right.

Looking at the 132 card, i think at that time there could be an argument for it not being the Main Event. That said Faber-Cruz were much more well known than Rousey-Carmouche are right now.

Rousey-Carmouche have 15 fights between them.. Cruz and Faber both had more fights individually going into that fight.

We just need to be fair and objective here, the girls are not the biggest draw - they are not the most well known nor have they put as much time in as Henderson-Machida, they should not be main eventing.
 
#33 ·
Yeah I think the whole female fighters thing has been handled badly, and it's something that would have needed perfection to have succeded.

I would have signed a few more female fighters. Really to non elite fans, like me, there are only like 3 or 4 female fighters, Cyborg, Tate, Rousey and Carano. There were things that made signing all of them an issue, so really it would have been a group of unknowns that had to be signed. Signing 4 BW fighters, with Rousey being one of them, and having a tournament would have been the best way to arrange things to me. They could have been on the main card of two different events for the first round, which would have shown woman's MMA without forcing it to be something it isn't, a main event, by making it a title fight. Then, with Rousey most likley winning with ease, the UFC fans would have got to see her in the biggest stage and would get behind her (which I wouldnt mind doing myself).

Even at that, it wouldn't have been big enough to main event for at least 1 year. It could have been like the UFC did when they introduced the smaller weight classes, making it the co-main event to actual title fights.
 
#37 ·
The thing is though is that Carmouche is tough, Ronda won't be able to walk through her, it's just the way the media is portraying things. To refer back to an earlier post about blowouts, very very few people expected anything other than complete and utter domination of Bonnar by Silva, yet they all still bought. I guess in that regard, their names saved them though.
 
#41 ·
This fight is a clearly just an attempt to set up gimmicky cash-in fight between Cyborg and Ronda. Dana basically admitted it.

WMMA is a joke. At least in other women's sports, like women's basketball, they have good fundamentals to make up for the fact that they are athletically inferior.
 
#47 · (Edited)
This card is as weak as UFC 151, its an injury away from another possible cancellation. A guaranteed cancellation if Dana's girlfriend Rousey is the one that manages to drop. He did all of this for her after all.

Most people expect Rousey to just plod in, eat shots, grab opponent, judo toss, armbar. Keep trying if it didnt work. She is as one dimensional as they come, the thing is that her opponents arent at the level where they can avoid this simple thing or at least drop Rousey with a powerful punch. Only Cyborg Santos can come in and smash Rousey within 15 seconds. She is only getting this fame because Dana props her up so much.
 
#48 ·
Not even close.

Machida/Hendo
Faber/Menjivar
Mendes/Gamburyan
Koscheck/Lawler
Schaub/Johnson

157 is a badass card and I didn't even bring up Bermudez, the future of the Featherweight division, that guy is an animal.
 
#55 ·
The only problem I have with them taking the main event spot is I don't get Machida vs. Hendo 5 rounds. I am having potentially 5 rounds of greatness reduced to 3 because a no-name is going to get arm barred by an average at best fighter in the first round.

As for them main eventing outside of that, it's a championship fight and champions fight in the main event, that's just how that works and I'm not upset about it beyond what I mentioned.

As for it not selling well, we will see what the final numbers.
 
#56 ·
I understand your logic behind Machida/Hendo getting 25 minutes but I think people's expectations for this fight are pretty high, I'm under the impression many see this as a possible Shogun/Henderson type fight when there's no chance it turns out like that at all.

If this goes the distance I have a feeling it won't be competitive, and more likely one sided in Machida's favor. He's just too crafty to get caught by the H-Bomb, he got dropped by an overhand right from Shogun but he fought out of character, he was too aggressive and that's not the way his style works, if he remains patient and is comfortable with picking Dan apart then I think he'll take it comfortably.
 
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