Exploring the Keys to the UFC’s Biggest Events

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The unique elements outlined here are varied but cannot be ignored. With UFC 91, Couture-Lesnar was going to be a big fight either way. However, Couture returning after a yearlong promotional dispute to face the relative newcomer Lesnar, who was fighting for the title in his third UFC bout, created a dynamic of MMA fans supporting the legend against pro-wrestling fans tuning in for the World Wrestling Entertainment superstar. It is something that has never been fully replicated since.

The other unique elements are generally easier to explain. St. Pierre-B.J. Penn had the hook of two dominant champions in different weight divisions squaring off. UFC 100 had the milestone number as a significant selling point. UFC 101 piggybacked off the success of UFC 100 and also had Anderson Silva moving up in weight to fight a popular former light heavyweight champion. UFC 129 took place at the Rogers Centre in front of what was by far the UFC’s biggest live audience. UFC 168 featured Anderson Silva returning to try and avenge the loss that ended the longest reign of dominance in UFC history. UFC 189 had a nearly unprecedented advertising budget, with a bombardment of promotional hype that took the event to a different level. UFC 190 featured Rousey riding an incredible crest of mainstream notoriety, from a Sports Illustrated cover and book to a role in two different major motion pictures, including one of the highest-grossing films of all-time.

It is very hard to explain the success of those shows without getting into those additional factors. Thus, they bear mentioning compared to other shows where the appeal was much more straightforward. With that explanation, here are the top pay-per-view events in UFC history, along with the factors that they had or did not have going for them:

Event	Top Fight(s)	Mega Star	Unique Attraction	Stacked Card	Grudge Match
UFC 61	Ortiz vs. Shamrock Sylvia vs. Arlovski	X			X
UFC 66	Liddell vs. Ortiz	X			X
UFC 91	Couture vs. Lesnar	X	X
UFC 92	Griffin vs. Evans Nogueira vs. Mir W. Silva vs. Jackson			X	X
UFC 94	St. Pierre vs. Penn	X	X
UFC 100	Lesnar vs. Mir St. Pierre vs. Alves Henderson vs. Bisping	X	X	X	X
UFC 101	A. Silva vs. Griffin Penn vs. Florian		X
UFC 111	St. Pierre vs. Hardy Mir vs. Carwin	X
UFC 114	Evans vs. Jackson				X
UFC 116	Lesnar vs. Carwin	X
UFC 121	Lesnar vs. Velasquez	X
UFC 124	St. Pierre vs. Koscheck	X			X
UFC 129	St. Pierre vs. Shields Aldo vs. Hominick Machida vs. Couture	X	X	X
UFC 148	A. Silva vs. Sonnen Griffin vs. Ortiz	X			X
UFC 158	St. Pierre vs. Diaz	X			X
UFC 168	Weidman vs. A. Silva Rousey vs. Tate	X	X	X	X
UFC 182	Jones vs. Cormier				X
UFC 189	McGregor vs. Mendes Lawler vs. MacDonald	X	X
UFC 190	Rousey vs. Correia	X	X		X

The biggest take-home point is that to draw a massive buy rate, you need a really big star. That ought to be fairly self-evident to begin with, but the numbers hammer the point home. Of the 19 MMA events to gross more than 750,000 buys, 15 had a transcendent superstar. The other four were not exactly bereft of star power, either, featuring the likes Griffin, Jackson, Evans, Jones, Penn and Anderson Silva right as he was turning into an elite drawing card.

With Rousey and McGregor breaking through as major attractions, it becomes imperative for the UFC to capitalize on their success while it lasts. With the exception of St. Pierre, few MMA mega stars have been able to retain their status for long. Rousey might be an exception from a competitive standpoint, but she could also choose to leave the sport to pursue other endeavors more quickly than others. If McGregor loses to Aldo decisively, he will remain a star but may never again reach the heights of UFC 189 and what is likely to occur at UFC 194.

The second most common trend in MMA’s biggest fights has been a grudge component, featured in 11 of the biggest 19 buy rates. A personal angle has been played up in others, too, just to a lesser degree. St. Pierre-Penn featured some personal sniping, even if it was primarily marketed as a competitive rivalry. McGregor-Chad Mendes had a definite personal component, but the short timeframe for promotion did not allow that to be hammered home; that show was promoted more squarely on the back of McGregor’s personal charisma.

Manufacturing a grudge is a lot easier than manufacturing a big star, making it an easy way to take big fights to another level. That is something many of MMA’s biggest stars have recognized over the years and is something that is likely to continue for as long as MMA itself does.

A sizeable minority -- eight of 19 -- of the biggest UFC cards have had some sort of unique dynamic. Even when you have a huge star or a big rivalry, it is still difficult to approach a seven-figure buy rate. Thus, every extra hook can help. The UFC is not oblivious to this, which is why you see the company repeating some of the unique angles that have helped in the past.

UFC 200 will be marketed as a particularly special event, just like UFC 100. The hope is that a major stadium event in Melbourne, Australia, like the one in Toronto, will sell UFC 193 beyond the level of most UFC pay-per-view events that take place overseas. Champion-versus-champion fights have been under consideration many times over the years since the success of St. Pierre-Penn. It seems likely that UFC 194 will feature a promotional blitz comparable to that of UFC 189. There is plenty of additional room for the UFC to think outside the box and make individual shows stand out from others.

The least common recurring theme among the biggest UFC events has been stacked cards. However, that should not serve as an argument against the UFC running loaded shows more often, because all four were smashing successes, even relative to the overall top 19 of all-time. UFC 92, UFC 100 and UFC 168 all did more than a million buys. UFC 100 was the biggest pay-per-view success in history, while UFC 92 was probably the most surprisingly high; it was the easy leader until UFC 190. UFC 129 had severe limitations -- Shields was a relatively unmarketable challenger and Aldo was a relatively unmarketable champion -- but still struck it big.

Given the volume of events the UFC runs, it is exceedingly difficult to put a bunch of big fights all on the same show. However, whenever the UFC has been able to do so, it has paid big dividends. That is why the UFC continues to try to do that, even as injuries frequently derail such plans.

On the heels of the success of UFC 189 and UFC 190, there are always new lessons to be learned about capturing the public’s imagination. The path to promotional success will continue to evolve over the years. However, looking at the past history of the UFC’s biggest triumphs offers clear trends as to what has tended to sell in the past and what is likely to sell in the future. The UFC’s near future looks bright because of the commonalities between what has drawn big in the past and what is on tap in the coming months.