Early estimates for UFC 149 at 235,000 pay-per-view buys

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Injuries destroyed the card that the UFC originally put together for their debut in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, last week at UFC 149, and with it coming just weeks after the very successful UFC 148 event earlier in the month, no one expected much from it's pay-per-view performance.

Because of that, the early estimates for the event's pay-per-view buyrate and surprising at all. According to Dave Meltzer in the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer (Subscription Required), early estimates for the card have it coming in at 235,000 pay-per-view buys.

The card was sold on Urijah Faber and Renan Barao's unbeaten streak, along with the debut of Hector Lombard, and wound up being one of more universally derided cards in recent memory. The buyrate is in line with several of the other events of the last year featuring lesser headliners as well.

Penick's Analysis: The UFC has to be happy with that number after all the turmoil the card went through. Not to mention the fact that the lower viewership means a much lower number of unhappy customers after such a poor pay-per-view card. The UFC hopes to bounce back with 150, but it will be UFC 151 that gets the next major bump for Jon Jones and Dan Henderson.

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