(Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports)

For those disgusted at the UFC's matchmaking decision to give Chael Sonnen a shot at Jon Jones's light heavyweight title, this news is going to be quite unwelcoming - UFC 159 put up some solid pay-per-view sales numbers.  Dave Meltzer reports the event is the second-highest selling of 2013 for the company, with estimated sales in the 520,000-550,000 range.

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Dana White has vehemently denied that the man pictured above, Mr. Brock Lesnar, was the UFC's  best pay-per-view draw of all-time.  White claims that title belongs to Georges St-Pierre.  While it is true that GSP is the company's best draw currently, the facts just don't support White's claim that GSP sold better than Lesnar (but, then again, White never lets facts get in the way of an argument).  How else can you explain why Lesnar, not GSP, is the headliner on four out of the top six selling UFC cards of all-time?  A coincidence?!

Here are the top 20 selling UFC PPV cards of all-time.  This list will be constantly updated, so check back often.

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Nick Diaz didn't just send Georges St-Pierre to his "dark place" at UFC 158 - he also propelled GSP to a personal sales record.  Dave Meltzer is reporting that UFC 158 is trending to top 800,000 in pay-per-view buys, which makes it the top selling PPV headlined by St-Pierre.

800,000+ buys for UFC 158 would place it 11th on our all-time top selling UFC PPV list.  It also is the company's best selling pay-per-view since last summer's Anderson Silva-Chael Sonnen rematch.  GSP's "dark place" = $2 million plus in PPV bonuses for him.  Not a bad tradeoff.

 

 

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There's a lot of smiling faces around Zuffa headquarters today.  The early UFC 157 pay-per-view buyrate estimates are in, and they are almost double what the company was hoping for.  Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer reports that the show did in the 400,000-450,000 sales range, proving that Ronda Rousey is indeed a legitimate star.

 

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The Wrestling Observer has released the early estimates for UFC 154's pay-per-view buyrate, and the number are very strong.  Welterweight god Georges St-Pierre's return to the Octagon to face Carlos Condit pulled in between 680,000-700,000 PPV buys.  Selling 700,000 pay-per-views, leaves UFC 154 ranked as the 17th best selling UFC PPV of all-time.  Welcome back GSP!

 

Big up: Bloody Elbow

 

 

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Early pay-per-view buyrate estimates for UFC 153 are in, and they are solid.  Dave Meltzer reports over at MMA Fighting that the event, headlined by Anderson Silva vs Stephan Bonnar, did in the ballpark of 340,000-410,000 sales.  He notes that this would make it the best selling UFC PPV to emanate from Brazil.  Not bad for an event with a main event everyone knew the result of before it even took place.

 

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The early pay-per-view buyrate estimates for UFC 152 are in, and the results are encouraging for the UFC.  The event, which was headlined by Jon Jones vs Vitor Belfort, sold a respectable 450,000 PPVs, according to Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer.

This makes UFC 152 the fourth best-selling UFC PPV in 2012.  Considering the main event was put together last minute and made no real sense or carried much heat, these numbers are outstanding.  Especially when considered that the previous main event, Joseph Benavidez vs Demetrious Johnson, wouldn’t have drawn flies.

 

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The UFC took another body blow at the pay-per-view box office, as Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer reports the very, very early estimates for UFC 150's PPV buyrate is in the 190,000 range.  A couple of factors lead to that low number (which could end up being a bit higher as more accurate estimates become available) - millions of eyeballs were glued to the London Olympics still last weekend, and a problem at DirecTV left many viewers unable to order the event.  However, this poor PPV sales number, added with the dismal $650,000 gate the event pulled in (which Dana White partially blamed on the Aurora Dark Knight shootings - unfortunately I kid you not), makes the event an unmitigated failure.

 

Big up: Bloody Elbow

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Wrestling Oberver's Dave Meltzer reports that the brutally-weak UFC 147 pay-per-view has done some record-breaking action at the box office.  The event sold approximately 140,000 pay-per-views, making it the worst-selling UFC event since UFC 55 way back in October of 2005.  He also notes that UFC 148 looks to have done more than 900,000 buys, but less than 1 million as previously reported.





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The early estimates are in for UFC 149's pay-per-view buyrate, as Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer reports the event sold in the 235,000 range.  The injury-ravaged card, which emanated out of Calgary, was headlined by Renan Barao beating Urijah Faber for the UFC's interim bantamweight strap.

Considering the way this card got decimated by injuries, and considering this was the third UFC PPV in the past four weeks, the number isn't all that bad.

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