Weighing Up the UFC's Greatest Pay-Per-Views | FIGHTLAND
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The combat sports community is gearing up for one of the biggest mixed martial arts events the world has ever seen as the UFC finally rolls into New York City for UFC 205 on Saturday night.
It is actually the second time the UFC has held a show in New York State with UFC 7 being contested in Buffalo before the long, arduous professional MMA ban imposed on the state—which was eventually revoked earlier this year.
The fight card produced for this historic event is appropriate given the magnitude of UFC 205, featuring three title fights, some huge names in MMA and a string of contests which have significant implications in their respective weight classes. It's only the second time a UFC event has three titles put on the line in one night; the first being UFC 33, an event considered among the worst of all time by fans and MMA figureheads alike—including UFC President Dana White. I have all the confidence in the world UFC 205 will top that one.
By now, you will all know what fights are set to materialise on Saturday night in a fight card deemed to be among the best in UFC history. But, how does it stack up compared to five other UFC pay-per-view (PPV) events considered among the promotion's greatest? Fightland takes you down memory lane for you to decide.
UFC 52: Couture vs. Liddell
Riding off the high enjoyed following the first season of The Ultimate Fighter and its epic finale between Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar, the season's coaches Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell fought for the former's light heavyweight championship at UFC 52 on April 16, 2005, with Liddell knocking out the champion inside the first round.
This event also saw Matt Hughes secure his stirring comeback submission victory to defend his welterweight championship against Frank Trigg—a fight so good it was the first contest to be inducted in the UFC Hall of Fame in 2015.
It was only an eight-fight card, but six of those fights were finishes (including five submission wins) and featured a young Georges St-Pierre, who comfortably dealt with the challenge posed by Jason "Mayhem" Miller.
The PPV had a modest buy rate of 280,000 compared to modern figures, though this was a marked improvement in the fortunes of the Zuffa-owned UFC in that era's infancy. The event, however, did break the promotion's financial records and was the highest-grossing UFC event at the live gate, garnering over $2.5million in ticket sales at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
UFC 189: Mendes vs. McGregor
The impact this event had in creating this MMA landscape we're experiencing today is largely due to this bumper event which went down in 2015's mid-summer International Fight Week.
Taking place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, the event and its numbers were not affected by a last-minute fighter replacement which saw Chad Mendes take the place of Jose Aldo after the Brazilian then-featherweight champion of the world pulled out of the main event against Conor McGregor with a rib injury. UFC 189 garnered a total gate of $7.2million and a bumper PPV buy rate of 825,000.
It was now a contest for the UFC's interim featherweight belt, but the lustre lost with Aldo's injury didn't dampen the event and that's largely in thanks due to a top fight card. It was another event with two title fights—the aforementioned tilt between McGregor and Mendes as well as a welterweight championship bout between Robbie Lawler and Rory MacDonald.
The latter fight, which saw Lawler coming from behind to finish the fight in the fifth round to retain his title, will go down as one of the greatest in UFC history and contributed to an exhilarating main card which all five fights finished in impressive fashion—including Jeremy Stephens' flying knee TKO win over the tough Dennis Bermudez, another flying knee knockout courtesy of Thomas Almeida against Brad Pickett, a Brazilian jiu jitsu masterclass which saw Gunnar Nelson submit the larger Brandon Thatch and, finally, McGregor knocking out Mendes in the second round to cement his name as the UFC's biggest star.
UFC 129: St-Pierre vs. Shields
Like with New York, MMA was long banned in the province of Ontario, Canada. And like with UFC 205, the UFC entered the Ontario market with a massive event to mark the occasion appropriately. UFC 129 took place in Rogers Centre in Toronto, home of the city's Blue Jays, and had an attendance of over 55,000 and a live gate of over $12million, smashing both records for MMA in North America.
To pack out a baseball stadium like that, you need a top tier fight card to boot and the UFC produced just that. April 30, 2011, saw two titles defended that night once again—Canadian superhero St. Pierre defending his welterweight crown against Jake Shields in the main event and Jose Aldo defending the UFC featherweight championship against another Canadian in Mark Hominick. The latter was a back-and-forth bout which saw the now-glittering 145lbs division displayed on the UFC stage for the first time since the WEC's lower weight classes merged with the promotion.
UFC 129 also featured a contest between Lyoto Machida and Randy Couture—a fight which featured a jump-front kick knockout from Machida which retired his opponent from the sport altogether. Meanwhile, various former UFC headliners in Vladimir Matyushenko, Benson Henderson, Rory MacDonald, Nate Diaz and Jake Ellenberger were spread across the 12-fight show—and that's not to mention John Makdessi's beautiful spinning back fist knockout over Kyle Watson in the preliminary fights.
UFC 194: Aldo vs. McGregor
I was reluctant to include this event in the list due to its relative immediacy. It's hard not to, though, as McGregor and Aldo finally got to lay their hands on each other after months of tough trash talk, injury and draining worldwide media tours.
With the featherweight title up for grabs, UFC 194 also had Chris Weidman's middleweight belt on the line, defending against Luke Rockhold. In this event, both challengers dethrone their respective division's champions in impressive fashion.
In addition to two top-class title fights, there was a top contender bout between Yoel Romero and Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza, a clash of two fantastic grapplers in Demian Maia and Gunnar Nelson, as well as a fascinating featherweight tilt between Max Holloway and Jeremy Stephens. The fact that a popular name in Court McGee fought on the opening fight of the event and Urijah Faber competed on the televised undercard showcases how strong a card this was from top to bottom.
As a result, the event garnered a live gate of over $10million at the MGM Grand and over 1.2million PPV buys.
UFC 100
July 11th, 2009, saw the UFC descend on Las Vegas once again—this time holding event at the smaller Mandalay Bay Events Center. UFC 100 is considered to be a fight card which will never be topped. UFC 200 tried and failed, but the promotion's centenary PPV event still stands the test of time and will take some beating to best.
It was another bumper UFC show to feature two UFC title fights, complimented by a fight card which had a consistent quality throughout. WWE superstar and former UFC champion Brock Lesnar successfully defended his title against arch nemesis Frank Mir in the main event, while another big draw in St-Pierre retained his welterweight championship against the scrappy Thiago Alves.
UFC 100 also provided a combat sports moment which will forever be used in highlight reels—Dan Henderson landing his fabled "H-Bomb" on Michael Bisping and delivering one of the most devastating knockouts fighting has ever seen.
In addition, the undercard featured Jon Jones in a submission win over Jake O'Brien and also saw UFC and Pride veteran Mark Coleman defeat Stephan Bonnar—and that's not to mention the UFC debut of Yoshihiro "Sexyama" Akiyama, who defeated Alan Belcher on the first fight of the main card. As a result, this event was the most bought UFC PPV of all time, accruing 1.6million buys—a record which was only broken earlier this year in McGregor's rematch against Nate Diaz at UFC 202.
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