UFC 254 was on track to becoming one of the most-watched UFC events of all time. Dana White had said that the social media numbers around the show heading into fight weekend were breaking records. Khabib Nurmagomedov was on the marquee and taking on another champion in Justin Gaethje.
However, the card took place at a time which suited the Middle Eastern audiences more than American audiences. This has affected the PPV numbers with the show, as the PPV model isn’t big in the Middle East. While that did skew the numbers against the PPV, this number is quite low.
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The prelims were the least-watched out of all UFC PPVs this year, generating under 500,000 buys. This is the lowest for any UFC PPV since UFC 242, another Khabib Nurmagomedov card for the Middle Eastern time-zone last year.
Sports Business Journal reports 675K buys for #ufc254 pic.twitter.com/5ggnGyxBe4
— Jason Cruz (@dilletaunt) October 29, 2020
UFC 254 was the fifth-best selling card this year. It came behind UFC 251, UFC 246, UFC 253, and UFC 249. Despite its timing, 256 beat out cards like UFC 252, which featured the third fight in the Stipe Miocic-Daniel Cormier trilogy. It also beat UFC 248, which had two title fights including Israel Adesanya and Joanna Jędrzejczyk.
UFC 254 numbers disappoint
Considering how Dana White had hyped this card up, one would expect a better showing. However, there is no doubt that this would have generated over a million buys in the US if it was in an American friendly time-zone. The middle of the day isn’t the best time for people to watch brutal UFC fights. That would also explain why the prelim numbers were as low as they were.
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ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – OCTOBER 25: (L-R) Khabib Nurmagomedov of Russia celebrates his victory over Justin Gaethje in their lightweight title bout during the UFC 254 event on October 25, 2020 on UFC Fight Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
The metric for judging UFC events internationally isn’t governed by PPV sales. The fights appear on cable networks for some, or behind a different form of paywall. Those numbers aren’t easy to collate, but it’s safe to say that the card did very well in countries where it aligned with the time zone.
Khabib has already been one-half of the highest-selling UFC PPV of all time, so his drawing power is very well established. However, this will be the last PPV for Khabib, who retired after defending his title in the main event.
