MMAPayout.com calculated the promotional worth of Anthony Pettis' "Showtime Kick"
Posted on December 19, 2010, 06:39 AM by Anton GurevichNewly crowned WEC Lightweight Champion Anthony "Showtime" Pettis shocked (and shook) the world last weekend with a jaw-dropping Matrix Kick, seconds before winning the title against Ben Henderson at WEC 53. Thanks to the kick, Pettis turned into one of the most popular MMA fighters overnight (kick video generated more than 1.5m views on YouTube), also solidifying himself as a legit challenger for the UFC Lightweight title.
MMA Business-related website MMAPayout.com calculated the value of Anthony Pettis' highlight moment, from both UFC and fighter standpoint. Here's a short quote from the article (You can read the full thing on MMAPayout.com).
The promotional value of this kick to the UFC will be determined by a number of things: increased interest in the UFC, its PPVs, its live events, it’s television events, and its merchandise. However, for simplicity’s sake let’s just look at the number of people influenced by Pettis to watch his next fight. In this case the short term is far easier to estimate than the long term (just know that the more success Pettis comes to have, the more this kick will continue to add value to the UFC in the future).
I’ll start with asking a simple question: how many people were watching the fight last night? We’ll know in a few days, but the peak viewership was likely in the 500,000 to 750,000 range. Now let’s make two assumptions:
1. Nearly everyone that saw last night’s event has been motivated to watch Pettis his next fight.
2. The UFC will get 1 PPV buy from every 10 of those fans (this is consistent with the notion of 10 fans per viewing party)
This gives us 50,000 to 75,000 PPV buys as the result of Pettis’ performance (the kick being the last thing that most fans remember is very influential here). The calculations then are as follows:
- 50,000 x $49.99/2 = $1.25 million
- 75,000 x $49.99/2 = $1.9 million
Anthony Pettis will turn 24 this January, holding a professional Mixed Martial Arts record of 13-1. "Showtime" currently trains in Milwaukee under the patronage of Kickboxing legend Duke Roufus, alongside the likes of Pat Barry, Matt Mitrione, Alan Belcher. Pettis will fight in a WEC-UFC Lightweight title unification bout against the winner of Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard fight. The bout is set to take place approximately in the second quarter of 2011.
Comments
Pettis is gonna make the UFC some do-ray-me!
@ Jamie
That is one ugly and tough division, man. No wonder BJ wants to stay at 170. It's probably safer. If Aldo decides to come up, it will only get uglier.
@ Wing Chun
Yeah, I agree the lightweight division is arguably the most stacked division in the UFC, and with the WEC guys coming over it's only going to add to the depth of the div.
BJ's future at WW is touch and go though.... if he can't get past Fitch I see him moving back down to LW. I would love to see Aldo @ 155lb, but I still think he has unfinished business @ 145lb. The UFC have just signed Omigawa and Kid and I think they could cause problems for him, I don't think he's cleaned out 145lb just yet, but Jose is still young and his move to LW is inevitable.... maybe in a year or two!
I agree that something as simple as a kick can draw in a crowd. Kimbo had the appearance, now Pettis is a youtube sensation with the Tommy Jaa move. Excited to see him in the UFC!
Tony Jaa**
I have watched every day now since it happened lol
That was a great fight and that kick, was just the icing on it.
It belongs on a short list of incredible moves seen in MMA.
My "IMO" Top 3 Moves, Sequences or Moments list:
1. Ryo Chonan - Flying scissor hook submission / Anderson Silva
2. Toby Imada - Inverted Standing Triangle Choke / Jorge Masvidal
3. Anthony Pettis - Flying Matrix Kick / Ben Henderson
Honorable Mention:
Fedor - Kimura / Kevin Randleman (4 surviving the throw & reversing)
Scott Smith - KO / Pete Sell
Mike Russow - KO / Todd Duffee
@wingchun don't forgot to mention AS's elbow upercut on that list
@ mma
No - I thought of it and as great as it was and it was great, it didn't make "my" list and that's all it is, "my" list; it's purely subjective. If it's on your list, top 3, I can / could appreciate that.
As great as that elbow was / is and I've never seen one since...it didn't rank (IMO) as being either freaky, weird or unbelievable. If I was going to pick an Anderson moment or sequence, I'd want to pick his whole fight with Sonnen; certainly the triangle armbar, at the end.
The other thing about that elbow, is that it's like a lot of other great "one shot" moments in MMA...there are a lot of them. I picked the ones that I did, because I thought they were remarkable and beyond the norm.
And I picked my HM's because - I thought Fedor was either going to be dead, paralyzed or out after that throw and then for him to reverse it and sub KR was mind blowing. I picked SS, because he won and finished his opponent with his last punch, when and before, he himself was finished. It was amazing. And Mike Russow - I've never seen a guy take a beating for three rounds, do nothing and then throw one punch and win, by KO. Even Rogan said he had never seen anything like it.
@ Wing Chun
The Randleplex! was Epic... even after re watching it, I still don't know how Fedor wasn't dead/paralysed, never mind still conscious and able to come back and win the fight. Randleman is still one of my fav. fighters, he was/is a better fighter than his record suggests and has been in there with the best of them!
hahahaha the Randleplex come back from Fedor was great but i still think the Sapp power bomb come back from BigNog was better
I like Loiseau's spinning body kick to McCarthy. For some reason that sticks out in my head.
Yeah that elbow was EPIC! i cant belive he missed that out.
Awesome kick