The fight between Khabib and Gaichi became a financial failure of the UFC

The bout, which was supposed to break a record for profitability and become the biggest event in UFC history, saw unexpectedly low pay-to-stream sales, making the numbered show only the fifth most successful event this year.

UFC 254, which featured the lightweight unification fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaizi, sold just 675,000 PPV, behind UFC 251: Usman – Masvidal (1.3 million PPV), UFC 246: McGregor, according to a Sports Business Journal report. – Cerrone (1 million PPV), UFC 249: Ferguson – Gaizi (700,000 PPV), and UFC 253: Adesanya – Costa (700,000 PPV). Smaller sales this year were shown by UFC 252: Miocic – Cormier 3, which managed to sell only 500,000 paid broadcasts.

At the same time, 343,000 viewers watched the preliminary card for UFC 254, which is the lowest figure for a numbered event this year.

Recall that a few days before the event, the president of the UFC, Dana White, announced that the UFC 254 tournament should break the record of 2.4 million paid broadcasts, which two years ago set the UFC 229 tournament with the participation of Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov. According to the head of the organization, this was indicated by numerous preliminary calculations and excitement around the title fight.

Chris Weidman explained why his fight with Khamzat Chimaev failed

Former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman, who agreed to fight Khamzat Chimayev, explained why in the next fight the Chechen fighter is not fighting with him, but with Briton Leon Edwards, who is the third in the UFC welterweight ranking.

“They offered me a fight with Chimaev, and I agreed,” the American said in an interview with Submission Radio. “Actually, I was delighted with this fight, but then I injured my rib and said that I would not be able to return until mid-January. I really wanted to fight Chimayev, because everything looks like everyone is afraid of him, and I always wanted to fight the best. If everyone thinks he’s so good, let’s check it out. “

“All my defeats were not dominant victories of rivals – they were fights that I won up to a certain point, so I was really interested in the fight with Chimayev, but then I found out that he was fighting with the third number in welterweight, which was rather strange. Thus, our fight with Chimaev will not take place in the near future “

Weidman made it clear that he would lose interest in the fight with Chimaev if he lost to Edwards.

“Probably yes. If he loses his next fight, my interest in fighting him will dwindle. The fight with him is interesting to me only because of the hype that was inflated around him, and if he loses, the hype will disappear, and he has nothing else “

Recall that the fight between Khamzat Chimaev and Leon Edwards will become the main event of the UFC tournament, which will take place on December 19 in Las Vegas.