Was Jon Jones a big draw? He averaged 525 000 buys.

Based on that number, I'd call him just a decent draw. Jones-DC was his biggest ppv with 800 000 while his 2 ppv before that, Glover and Gus, did 300 000.

It's important to factor in that Jones PPV have had very weak co-main events with fighters such as Alan Belcher, Eddie Wineland (twice), Che Mills and Phil Davis.

GSP averaged 750 000 with terrible co-mains too (Sean McCorkle).

Ronda's last fight did 1.1M, Conor's 1.2M. (lol if you think UFC/PPV model is dying).

Conclusion: Jones isn't a big draw, he needs grudge matches to be a good draw unlike GSP, Ronda and Conor. Agree/disagree?


Sean McCorkle for those who don't know who he is:

 

What we all agree on is that Jones is a better fighter than all of the names you mentioned.

 

fhat's off-topic, son.

 

it's not that black and white... or is it

 

Yeah, he might not be as well known in the main-stream as Ronda,Conor or even GSP. But he's still the GOAT.

I think maybe a move to HW and just simply being more active, will raise the interest in Jones.

 

his fans like to spin it that way, but still, 500k is good, but big draw, no

his comeback from prison will do big numbers, though

 

GSP is debatable, but agree with the rest.

 

I think it's bc he's had weak cars and people don't like him but don't hate him enough to tune in just to see if he loses. He's a big draw just needs a little love from the rest of the card.

 

Of course it is. Demographics always matter.

I can't speak for the rest of the world but there is data that does suggest there is a correlation between the demographics of MMA/Boxing and race in the U.S.


This study was done on Americans in 2013 but in general, Boxing has been dominated mostly by Blacks/Hispanics for the last couple decades. The demographics of the sport reflects that, not a lot of white American boxing fans but many black/hispanic Boxing fans. In MMA, you have a lot of diversity amongst the top fighters including many white American fighters, and surprise surprise, the demographics of the sport reflects that as well. Most of MMA's fanbase in the U.S. is white americans. There are also a lot of other interesting statistics from the age of fans, sex, income, even how educated they are.

I hope they do another study like this in a couple years, would be interesting to see how things have changed. No doubt in my mind there would be much more female MMA fans than Boxing because of Ronda. We try to pretend race is not a factor but it is, it always has been and it always will. But realizing and admitting that race is a factor is not to say we are all a bunch of racists. Sure, some of it is racism, but overall, it has more to do with the fact that at our core, humans are tribal. Our subconscious is constantly bombarded with cues that identify who is “us” and “them." If an "Insert race" guy is about to watch a fight, but he knows nothing about the two fighters involved other than he sees one is of the same race and the other is not, he is more likely to root for the guy who has something in common with him. That is the casual fanbase in a nutshell.

 

Big draw? no.Good draw? yes.Saying that he is still the 3rd or 4th best draw in the ufc at present

 

His complexion doesn't make the same connection that GSP, Brock and Conor have working for them.
Ronda has that soccer mom fanbase working for her and similar complexion advantage also.

 

How are you basing the Conor ppv drawing ln his own ? Both his main events had Great comains and we're great events overall, one was a grudge match and one was supposed to be a grudge match but turned out to be a high level replacement at the last two weeks. of course he was a huge reason for high sales but we haven't seen him draw on ppv by himself without a banging ass card.

 

What anout the others jones PPVs ? belfort, machida, rashad, rampage ? besides, he last PPV was his biggest, maybe he's now a bigger draw than he was, Silva wasn't that big in his beginnings either. And since ronda lost, if connor loses (and that's not so big of an if), jones will be the last one left with that invincible aura, ufc will push him even more

 

I'm guessing his fight with Cormier will do good numbers, the point though is when your as dominant as Jones was you only have the demographics of Jones fans, Jones, haters, and hard cores watching, unfortunately for Zuffa that's not a huge portion of the MMA fan base. Most casuals think when Jones fights that it's just going to be a one sided mauling, they don't pay the $60 for lopsided beat downs. Also consider the cards that Jones has been the main on haven't had spectacularly strong undercard fights, actually really meh under cards.

 

MMA/UFC is a growing sport.

It only makes sense that once big numbers get topped. Fight cards are getting more depth top to
bottom which also helps numbers grow.

Royce was a big draw, however, now you can not compare his numbers to the numbers of today.

 

He isn't a huge draw, but he isn't an awful draw too.

He is an amazing fighter though.

 

Speak for yourself noob

 

A better topic.

 

True but you can't argue with 1.2M, that's an insane number regardless of the context.