This project identified some of the factors most relevant to UFC pay per view sales.

Result highlights:

People decide whether to buy a UFC card based almost entirely on the quality of the main event. Champions with high fighting output sell more cards. Specifically, this means they do the folowing in their fights:

  • Land a high amount of strikes per minute
  • Knock down their opponents
  • Gain control time of their opponent

Aside from these fighting attributes of the champion, the following also lead to more pay per view sales:

  • More title defenses for a champion
  • A challenger who has won title fights before
  • Three title fights stakced on a card (cards with 2 did not see much of an increase)

Fans are more likely to buy cards with main events in these weight classes:

  • Lightweight
  • Welterweight
  • Women’s Bantamweight

A light heavyweight main event has lead to the worst pay per view sales

Read Full Paper