Huge Numbers for UFC 59

From this week's Observer , preliminary estimates for UFC 59 are coming in at 400,000 buys. That is ahead the pace of Liddell/Couture III. And the way the PPV industry works, those numbers always end up increasing over time from initial estimates. Remember that just a few years ago 80,000 was a very good number, and average shows would do around 40,000 buys. Obviously, things have exploded, and UFC PPV events have quickly become an enormous cash cow. Liddell-Couture did very well obviously, and Franklin-Loiseau/Penn-GSP also did very good preliminary numbers (I heard estimates over 200,000-250,000 for that). The revenue for UFC 59 is in the neighborhood of $18 million and could top $20 million. If this trend continues, the speculation of when UFC will surpass boxing's popularity may prove to be moot. It may be on the verge of doing so already.

I've said for a long time now that MMA does a better job providing what I used to love about pro wrestling. It seems like a lot of people are picking up on this, and MMA has finally blown up. It's about time.