While we will never know the truth of the matter, the lone source for UFC pay-per-view figures has and always will be, Mr. Dave Meltzer.
When people talk of buys, stating this PPV did this amount and this one did that, it is all based on his industry intelligence. The UFC never confirms figures, nor do the broadcasters, however, Meltzer’s time in the PPV business has gone on way before the UFC existed and therefore his estimates and contacts are widely considered as valid and on point.
With that being said, here is what he said via his subscription based newsletter about UFC 142: Aldo vs. Mendes.
“Very early numbers for UFC 142 look to be around 225,000 buys (although there have been wide variations in the estimates, some significantly higher believe it or not, but generally they are above what probably would have been expected). It’s appearing to be just slightly below where UFC 136 (Edgar vs. Maynard III) ended up and would be one of the lowest numbers in years, but all of that was expected, given it was not a strong marquee card and shows that emanate from outside North America generally do a lot worse. This would appear to be the UFC’s current baseline number, since this show was from Brazil and was going against the Broncos playoff game. It did better in Canada and Australia. It’s possible the late controversy regarding Anthony Johnson’s weight called some late attention to the show and may have helped it slightly. Best cities were London (ONT), Halifax, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Las Vegas, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Phoenix, San Diego, Dallas, Seattle, San Francisco, Houston, Chicago and Charlotte. With the start time being moved back an hour, the West Coast skew seems even stronger. 2/4 will be interesting because there’s three weeks of build on FX, and Super Bowl Saturday is a traditional big drawing show, but Nick Diaz didn’t draw good on PPV against B.J. Penn, and Carlos Condit is hardly Penn, and there isn’t a lot of support. They’ll probably be pushing the fight hard on the 1/28 FOX show, so that in theory should help.â€
