Boxing batters mixed martial arts at the gate

[zbolt]

UFC 106 last weekend featured Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin before an audience of 10,529 at Mandalay Bay for a $3 million gate. Of that total, however, 3,898 of those tickets were comps, or giveaways (valued at $2.3 million).

By comparison, Manny Pacquiao's 12th-round knockout of Miguel Cotto on Nov. 14 generated an $8.84 million gate with 15,470 tickets sold. No tickets were sold below face value for the bout and just 46 were comps.

Floyd Mayweather's Sept. 18 decision win against Juan Manuel Marquez wasn't quite the same caliber of fight as Pacquiao-Cotto, but it sold almost twice as many tickets at face value than UFC 106 and pulled in a $6.89 million gate.



source: No contest: Boxing batters mixed martial arts at the gate - USATODAY.com

[blegit]

UFC 106 last weekend featured Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin before an audience of 10,529 at Mandalay Bay for a $3 million gate. Of that total, however, 3,898 of those tickets were comps, or giveaways (valued at $2.3 million).

By comparison, Manny Pacquiao's 12th-round knockout of Miguel Cotto on Nov. 14 generated an $8.84 million gate with 15,470 tickets sold. No tickets were sold below face value for the bout and just 46 were comps.

Floyd Mayweather's Sept. 18 decision win against Juan Manuel Marquez wasn't quite the same caliber of fight as Pacquiao-Cotto, but it sold almost twice as many tickets at face value than UFC 106 and pulled in a $6.89 million gate.



source: No contest: Boxing batters mixed martial arts at the gate - USATODAY.com

Not to mention that Mayweather/Marquez went head to head with a supposedly better UFC PPV card and blew it out by double the buys when it was suppose to be the other way around.

[JazMerkin]

UFC 106 last weekend featured Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin before an audience of 10,529 at Mandalay Bay for a $3 million gate. Of that total, however, 3,898 of those tickets were comps, or giveaways (valued at $2.3 million).

By comparison, Manny Pacquiao's 12th-round knockout of Miguel Cotto on Nov. 14 generated an $8.84 million gate with 15,470 tickets sold. No tickets were sold below face value for the bout and just 46 were comps.

Floyd Mayweather's Sept. 18 decision win against Juan Manuel Marquez wasn't quite the same caliber of fight as Pacquiao-Cotto, but it sold almost twice as many tickets at face value than UFC 106 and pulled in a $6.89 million gate.



source: No contest: Boxing batters mixed martial arts at the gate - USATODAY.com

Not to mention that Mayweather/Marquez went head to head with a supposedly better UFC PPV card and blew it out by double the buys when it was suppose to be the other way around.

I heard it was way more than double. That the UFC event did like 220,000 to PBF/JMM's 1.05m.

Hopefully this means there will be a few less 'boxing is dead' articles.

[zbolt]

In a comparison of both sports' biggest shows of the year at the gate, Pacquiao-Cotto still easily outdistances UFC 100 held in July at Mandalay Bay. There were 9,793 paid attendees for a $5.1 million gate (second all-time for the organization), with the Brock Lesnar-Frank Mir heavyweight championship rematch headlining a stellar card.

UFC president Dana White has said that event sold 1.5 million on PPV, though the organization is a private company and doesn't release official numbers. There doesn't appear to be any unofficial figures from UFC 106 yet.

UFC 100 drew $312,800 in additional revenue from 6,256 fans who bought closed circuit tickets for the event in Las Vegas and New York.

By comparison, the closed circuit viewing parties for Pacquiao-Cotto in Las Vegas alone brought in $899,100 with more than 24,000 tickets sold.

[HattonTheHammer]

Why are we still doing this?

UFC want boxing fans to be comparing PPV numbers etc because they genuinely believe our sport is on the fall and theres is on the rise.

mixed martial arts is a passing fad, its been going for a good 20 years but its only recently that our fast food culture has acknowleged it as a genuine player.

Come 10years time boxing will be in the exact same situation it is now and another form of UFC will come rolling along and the same questions will be asked once again.....

[VictorCharlie]

I don't know anyone that suggests that even the best MMA card is going to challenge Boxing when it puts its best foot forward; that being said comparing a UFC card that completely lacked much "wow" appeal with one of the most highly anticipated boxing matches of the year proves very little. Kind of like comparing the popularity of a sport with 200+years of tradition with a sport that has been available on PPV in the US for not quite 20 years.

[HattonTheHammer]

I don't know anyone that suggests that even the best MMA card is going to challenge Boxing when it puts its best foot forward; that being said comparing a UFC card that completely lacked much "wow" appeal with one of the most highly anticipated boxing matches of the year proves very little. Kind of like comparing the popularity of a sport with 200+years of tradition with a sport that has been available on PPV in the US for not quite 20 years.

To be fair to UFC what they do do, they do perfectly

Stack the card with your main guys, throw in loud music, sexy women and high pitched commentary. Its WWE esque but it works

With boxing due to the nature of the beast theres always that serious working ethic towards it. Even the biggest PPV fights contain mid to low standard undercard fighters and the crowd present dont get the encore a UFC fight fan will get.

I hope to god the day never comes where we have to sell out the way ufc has done to scantily clad women and firework entrances. But at the same time it would do no harm to see better stacked PPV cards in terms of the fighters on show and more effort put towards the actual night than just the main event!

[Myk_Myk]

I hope to god the day never comes where we have to sell out the way ufc has done to scantily clad women and firework entrances. But at the same time it would do no harm to see better stacked PPV cards in terms of the fighters on show and more effort put towards the actual night than just the main event!

What are you talking about? Boxing has ring girls wearing as little or less, and has had just as extravagant entrances. Besides, what's wrong with scantily clad women? I find myself wishing they'd show more of the ring girls on TV!

[Taeth]

Its not fair to compare UFC's last few cards to the two most popular boxers in the world. Let's see how Kessler-Ward did. I like boxing way more, but overall UFC has had a lot of 800k+ppv buys over the last couple of years while Boxing hasn't. They put a lot more intriguing fights on their cards then even most big boxing events. Boxing honestly needs to start putting a lot of top end prospects in with known, valid stepping stones as undercards because it shines a light on prospects while making the undercard a lot more entertaining, and it builds the future of the sport through the prospects. I thought on the Pacquiao-ODLH undercard they had the right talent against the wrong opposition on the undercard.

[blegit]

Its not fair to compare UFC's last few cards to the two most popular boxers in the world. Let's see how Kessler-Ward did. I like boxing way more, but overall UFC has had a lot of 800k+ppv buys over the last couple of years while Boxing hasn't. They put a lot more intriguing fights on their cards then even most big boxing events. Boxing honestly needs to start putting a lot of top end prospects in with known, valid stepping stones as undercards because it shines a light on prospects while making the undercard a lot more entertaining, and it builds the future of the sport through the prospects. I thought on the Pacquiao-ODLH undercard they had the right talent against the wrong opposition on the undercard.

I agree with a lot of what you say Taeth but to be fair Dana White asked for this feud to continue when he said the UFC PPV would smash PBF/Marquez. And the UFC will always do a better job of putting their better fighters against each other in a card because their fighters are a lot cheaper to pay. The top fighters in boxing get millions. Floyd, Pac, Cotto, DLH, and some others have to get paid more individually to fight in a major fight than a whole UFC card of fighters combined. The payroll in boxing is just too high to compete with the UFC in matching PPV card for card. That is why the UFC can put on a major card every few weeks and have more PPV buys throughout the year. But the best of boxing versus the best of UFC is always going to go to boxing. But the UFC works its quantity angle and will sell more throughout the year. The UFC cards are good for the customer but not good for the fighters. Many of them have been quite outspoken about this.

[Kirkland Laing]

Its not fair to compare UFC's last few cards to the two most popular boxers in the world. Let's see how Kessler-Ward did. I like boxing way more, but overall UFC has had a lot of 800k+ppv buys over the last couple of years while Boxing hasn't. They put a lot more intriguing fights on their cards then even most big boxing events. Boxing honestly needs to start putting a lot of top end prospects in with known, valid stepping stones as undercards because it shines a light on prospects while making the undercard a lot more entertaining, and it builds the future of the sport through the prospects. I thought on the Pacquiao-ODLH undercard they had the right talent against the wrong opposition on the undercard.

I agree with a lot of what you say Taeth but to be fair Dana White asked for this feud to continue when he said the UFC PPV would smash PBF/Marquez. And the UFC will always do a better job of putting their better fighters against each other in a card because their fighters are a lot cheaper to pay. The top fighters in boxing get millions. Floyd, Pac, Cotto, DLH, and some others have to get paid more individually to fight in a major fight than a whole UFC card of fighters combined. The payroll in boxing is just too high to compete with the UFC in matching PPV card for card. That is why the UFC can put on a major card every few weeks and have more PPV buys throughout the year. But the best of boxing versus the best of UFC is always going to go to boxing. But the UFC works its quantity angle and will sell more throughout the year. The UFC cards are good for the customer but not good for the fighters. Many of them have been quite outspoken about this.

Yep, the UFC wins because it controls all the players and can just about pay them and match them how and how often it wants. Boxing has endless rival belts, promoters, managers, who all make a UFC-style card impossible because they're all working for their own interests. For boxing to ever get a UFC-style level of competition on its cards it would have to decline in popularity far more than it has to the point where it's rinky dink promotional outfits running the show paying the top boxers peanuts. That would allow some big money player to come in and buy up all the best boxers. In the long run that would be the best thing that could happen to professional boxing.

[Jimanuel Boogustus]

Iv'e said it before... I can't understand why someone like the WBC (for example) hasn't taken up promoting thier own sanctioned fights, struck up a deal with a major network and gained a monopoly in this industry.

[zbolt]

UFC 106 last weekend featured Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin before an audience of 10,529 at Mandalay Bay for a $3 million gate. Of that total, however, 3,898 of those tickets were comps, or giveaways (valued at $2.3 million).

By comparison, Manny Pacquiao's 12th-round knockout of Miguel Cotto on Nov. 14 generated an $8.84 million gate with 15,470 tickets sold. No tickets were sold below face value for the bout and just 46 were comps.

Floyd Mayweather's Sept. 18 decision win against Juan Manuel Marquez wasn't quite the same caliber of fight as Pacquiao-Cotto, but it sold almost twice as many tickets at face value than UFC 106 and pulled in a $6.89 million gate.



source: No contest: Boxing batters mixed martial arts at the gate - USATODAY.com

Not to mention that Mayweather/Marquez went head to head with a supposedly better UFC PPV card and blew it out by double the buys when it was suppose to be the other way around.

pacquiao-cotto was on the same night with a ufc event held in uk. that ufc card headlined by randy couture and brandon vera.

[Preme]

No way were there only 46 comped tickets in the pac Cotto fight, don't believe that for one second, there would of been way more than that

[jon09]

God bless HBO's 24/7.