Dana White Says Business Has Never Been Better, Estimates $5 Million Live Gate For UFC 175
UFC fans around the world welcomed Fight Pass with an even measure of excitement and scepticism when it was announced on the eve of UFC 168, although it has since proved to be quite the hit. Some thought that the online platform for MMA would pale in comparison the more traditional draw of the PPV, but the tables have turned somewhat this year.
In fact, I can say that Fight Pass has provided a lot of entertaining fights and events to my laptop, and also that there have been a fair few crappy PPVs thus far. In light of the recent poor numbers, a lot of people have been talking about 2014 as a downside for the UFC, but Dana White isn’t one of them. Check out what he said to Yahoo:
“After the two shows this weekend, we’ll have put on six shows in four weeks and held a Fan Expo,” White said. “Who else does that? Who else could do that? Last weekend, we put two fight cards on on opposite sides of the world. The show in New Zealand was a huge success and the people there went crazy for it. We had a [$913,000] gate there, and on the same day in San Antonio, we did a [$728,358] gate. Do you realize how significant that is?”
The two Fight Night events this past weekend were definitely a lot more entertaining than the recent UFC 174 card, but the fact is that money doesn’t discern between fun and boring. Another question that springs to mind is that of fighter pay, or alleged lack thereof. White continued:
“This kind of [expletive] is stuff I’ve heard for years and I’m just sick of listening to it, because it’s so [expletive] stupid and wrong. People are [expletive] without any facts. We built this business in the U.S. and everyone kept telling us we couldn’t. This is how you invest and build your business to make it strong for the long haul. We put the fights on Fight Pass so that the hard core people who might want to watch them have a way to see them. This has nothing to do with us trying to sell those fights to the fans here. If you want to watch them, great, it’s 10 bucks a month. We have Roy Nelson and Mark Hunt fighting in Japan coming up. That’s going to be an unreal fight. If you want to see it, it’s 10 bucks and you can cancel it after a month. If you don’t want to see those cards, we don’t give a [expletive] because we’re not doing the shows for anybody but the country’s we’re doing them in. “This business has never been bigger and never been crazier,” White said. ” … I hear all this [expletive] about the Fight Pass cards, but Americans can’t wrap their heads around the fact we’re not doing those cards for them. “
The fact remains that as long as there is global interest in the sport, the UFC is going to be making a killing. How do you feel about the year so far in 2014 and, be honest, did you think that the UFC was having a profitable year before reading this? It’s also worth noting that White said an analyst has estimated a $175 million impact on Las Vegas this weekend, and also that he believes the show will beat $5 million in the live gate.
