UFC 117 Trending at 1 Million PPV Buys for “Silva vs. Sonnen”
Saturday’s UFC 117 event, headlined by middleweight champ Anderson Silva vs. trash-talking challenger Chael Sonnen, outperformed estimates and is trending towards 1 million pay-per-view buys, making it one of the most-watched events in the company’s history and on track with May’s UFC 114, which featured Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Rashad Evans.
From the Wrestling Observer:
“UFC 117 is trending just slightly under the Quinton Jackson vs. Rashad Evans show, which did about 1 million buys. Dana White on Saturday night said his early trending info had him ecstatic and was pointing to the biggest Anderson Silva fight of all time. Keep in mind the previous biggest Anderson fight was versus Forrest Griffin, which did about 900,000. The feeling from the UFC side Monday was that it’s likely going to finish at around a million buys or maybe just underneath that. Two months ago, Sonnen vs. Silva would have been lucky to do 300,000 to 350,000 buys.”
Do the impressive PPV numbers mean Sonnen, who dominated Silva before being submitted in the final minutes, deserves an immediate rematch or should the next title shot go to fellow contender Vitor Belfort?
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Pictured: Chael Sonnen
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This is what Chael did, all by himself. Say you hate the talk all you want, it’s the only reason anyone REALLY tuned in.
And thats probably why I spend more time with my dog than I do with people…
Or it was one HELL of a card, just sayin….. But ya Chael sold the ****t out of the main event
hey Dana Thank Chael. If it was not for him I would never have ordered this one.
Duffee is that you?
If Chael doesn’t get upset in his next match u can bet the rematch will bring more sales and Cheal won’t even have to open his mouth. that performance did all the talking.
From a business stand point it makes sense to do the rematch and fans would want to see it so there’s no harm in doing it. It will however be argued that Sonnen doesn’t deserve it since he was finished.
I also personally find that Belfort has lost some of his hype coming off Affliction wins and Franklin, I think Belfort vs Silva has lost some steam at this point and I think he needs another impressive win.
This is what Chael did all by himself?????
Chael did a great job promoting this fight but I don’t remember him getting much praise for his promo while he was doing it..Thats great that he backed up some of what he said BUT………….
Lets not forget that Anderson Silva was his opponent (No one wants to acknowledge that..SHOCKER)…The most dominant fighter the UFC has ever seen vs the best sh*t talker the UFC has ever seen….that is why the sales did so well
If Chael was fighting any other MW then no one gives a damn so once again ppl give Anderson Silva his props
“The most dominant fighter the UFC has ever seen”……are you serious? Did you already forget the dancing and running? Also it was Chael who super pressed the fight otherwise I bet it woould be another repetation of Silva vs Leites or Silva vs Maia.
Yeah TC..Im serious and its actually not even that close..he has been dominate in the new era which is very impressive
How absurd of me to say that about a guy who has defended his belt more than anyone else and has never lost a fight in the UFC
I think you are mixing things up between the word “dominant” and “unbeaten champ in UFC”?
Like for UFC117 who dominated the match? Chael Sonnen. Who won the match? A. Silva
Nope I didn’t mix the two up..The Spider is the most dominant fighter in UFC history and yes also an “unbeaten champ”..Thats good that you can at least admit that
Silva can’t carry a main event. He doesn’t have the personality or the presence. Chael made it interesting. He wasn’t supposed to have a chance, He was supposed to be brutally KOed in the first because of his talk. That talk is the only reason anyone gave a s#it about Silva’s fight after the last 2.
After Kalib Starnesing the end of the Maia fight, Silva deserved undercard for his next one. Chael pushed it to main event with his talk.
Yes. Chael did that.
Oh I see what your saying…
So if a guy who had more personality like say Nate “The Great” would have fought Sonnen in the main event then this PPV would have done even better…I never really looked at it that way..Anderson Silva brought the ratings down due to poor personality and presence
“The most dominant fighter the UFC has ever seen”
GSP didnt fight on that card
@Brent
Neither did Matt Serra..that guy that TKO’d GSP and made him look silly in his prime
Dan i dont know of any other fighter who has destoyed all his opponents, shut down all of there offenses, and has won 26 rounds in a row before. Sure Anderson is undefeated in the UFC but that doesnt mean he had dominated his opponents or did you forget about Maia, Cote, Leites and most recently Sonnen?
Brent…
I don’t know of any fighter who has done that either..Did you have someone in mind when you made that statement? :)
“destroyed all of his opponents”…never gets old
You guys are messed up…Anderson Silva is the most dominant fighter. You say look at Cote Maia and Leites yeah he didn’t finish them but look at Maia’s face and Leites at the end of their fights. He dominated them. Dominate doesn’t mean he had to finish them. Leites only fought once after his fight with Anderson. Silva broke him. Maia’s face was all busted up. And Cote was getting whooped too. And then look at his finishes against Franklin, Leben, Henderson, and Griffin. He DOMINATED those guys. Yeah Hendo took him down but did nothing. Second round Silva rocked him hard! Yeah GSP is dominate but he hasn’t finished someone since UFC 94 so you can’t use that remark. Just cuz Silva gets bored of his comp and toys with his opponents doesn’t make him any less dominate…
ha ha sorry but the most dominant fighter in the ufc is silva because he hasnt lost one fight and has defende the belt more times than anyone so facts dont lie ponder that one silva haters……
ANDERSON SILVA IS THE SINGLE GREATEST FIGHTER OF ALL TIME WE SHOULD ALL BE GRATEFULL HE IS IN OUR ERA AND WE GET TO WATCH A FREAK OF AN ATHLETE SHOW SOME RESPECT…..ALL CHAEL IS……IS A GOOD WRESTLER
You are so right on! Silva is the best! And next time Silva will dominate Chael.
I’m glad I bought this card because all the fights were great. I would just like to say “good job” to all of the fighters of UFC 117.
Silvas stats are very impressive inside the octagon but you also have to throw in the variables.. the people that anderson silva has defended his title against are either a tier 3 fighter or pretty much 1 dimensional I.E. lietes maia lutter cote. His fights at 205 were a step up you could say. James irvin..bleh.. he has knock out power but silva is arguably the best striker in the world. Griffin is like Jekyl/Hyde very impressive some nights. the others..i don’t even wanna watch, but none the less silva put a clinic on him and was a joy to watch.
the opponents that GSP will face & has faced in WW are far more well rounded and more likely to pull off an upset rather than those at MW.
Matt hughes was also defending his belt against some of the top athletes in world at his time as well.
Brock Lesner is on his way to becoming the most feared man in the history of MMA.
Pretty much what i am getting at is something that every UFC MMA fan knows.. The MW division is at a very low point right now. For Silva to convince me he is the most dominant fighter in UFC history he will have to make a run at the LHW title. Mainly b/c i want to see those bad a$$ matches!
The MW division is not anywhere near its “low point” right now..in fact with Vitor & now Sonnen there is an argument that can be made that this is the best UFC MW division ever
Lesnar, who was extremely close to being TKO’d rd 1 vs Carwin has work to do and a resume still to build..That was a gutsy comeback win for Brock..Why isn’t everyone screaming for an immediate Lesnar vs Carwin rematch?..I know why..because he submitted Carwin and definitively won the fight..wierd
Matt Hughes beat some of the “top atheletes in the world”…really?..I mean I know he submitted the greatest ever GSP but wow
So you add 2 fighters (1 who hasn’t fought at 185) to a division on top of a champion and you have a stacked weight class? WEIRD. Heck i’ll even throw in Nate the Great. so now we have 4 fighters total in this stacked division…
ummm yeah lesnar is no where near to becoming the final product.. he is still growing as a fighter and will continue to get better. Silva is a very very very good fighter, but does he really get better each fight? i don’t think so.
Anderson silva has “beaten” pure BJJ guys in his stacked division. so Matt hughes has beaten GSP, BJ PENN (world BJJ Champion), Royce GRACIE, ENTIRE RENZO GRACIE CAMP, an 03′ Sean Sherk, and eh Frank Trigg. so yeah i guess you could possibly say those are not world class fighters..
sorry but there is no way you can prove that the MW division is more stacked than any other division in UFC, might have a case for LW..
I think that post is more reasonable…
I never said “stacked” so bring it back to earth
I agree w/ Lesnar
Yeah Hughes did beat those guys..he had a great run..and a very impressive win the other night as well..props to the country boy
Totally agree with you again…MW division is very solid. Leben, Wandy, Bisping, Maia, Nate the Great, Okami, Palhares, Sonnen, Vitor, Cote, Belcher…That equals out to be a pretty solid division if you ask me. People are just hating on Silva idk why but it is pretty ridiculous. GSP fights one dimensional fighters too. Fitch can only wrestle, Alves can only stand up, Penn weighs like 20 Ibs. lighter than GSP, and Hardy can only box so where the heck do you get Silva only fights one dimensional guys? Come on be real here and look at what your posting before you post it. Rich Franklin is a very good boxer and has an excellent ground game. Dan Hendo has awesome knock out power and one of the MMA best wrestlers. Nate was a King of Pancrase and has crazy power in his hands… And Silva has pounded both 205 fighters as well. When GSP goes up to 185 and starts poutting those guys away then you can start this argument.
“Anderson silva has “beaten” pure BJJ guys”
Silva has “beaten” strikers & wrestlers also..you might want to Wikipedia the guy
i know who all silva has fought and not fought.
i was comparing how silva completely dominated lietes, maia, and lutter. to how matt hughes completey dominated the BJJ guys mentioned above…
your argument is that silva is the most dominant fighter ever. when most of his fights is more like dancing with the stars..
i’m argueing that GSP is the more dominant and might eventually be brock if he doesn’t get too old too fast.
Like i said Silva is more than likely the best striker in the world.
and yes he beat henderson and chael, but didn’t really out wrestle them.
Ok well you can say that Matt Hughes didn’t ever really “outstrike” his opponents but he was the best wrestler…You can’t say if he da\idn’t do this or that that he isn’t the most dominant fighter. Anderson has beaten and i mean BEATEN everyone he has faced. yeah he didn’t finish Maia but he busted him up pretty bad. He whoops everyone. Period. GSP is dominant yes but he doesn’t finish guys anymore either. So it’s unfair to say it only for Silva when you can’t say it for anyone else. Look at what happened to Lesnar…he got outstriked HARD his last fight out. Why does he qualify for being dominant? Your argument is stupid and doesn’t make any sense. Dan you the man. These other peeps are just haters. Don’t worry bout it. There arguments make no sense.
FightMetric UFC 117 stats: Chael Sonnen outstrikes Anderson Silva 320-64 – http://www.mmamania.com/2010/8/8/1612015/fightmetric-ufc-117-stats-chael
The Frenzy “mods” let ppl post links to other MMA news sites?
What did they say about the submission stats?
@Dan82523 – actually both the mods and the rest of us appreciate people linking the informational sources of their posts, which tends to add weight and validity to them, as opposed to just throwing “ANDERSON SILVA [or whoever] IS DA ALL TIME BESTEST MMA FIGHTA IN THE HISTORY OF EVA!!!!!!” or some ridiculous noise like that up at the frenZy.
And I’m not saying that YOU posted that, I was just offering an example…
1 million pay per views and you lot says chael shonnen does not deserve a rematch, dana white is not stupid he wont risk sonnen losing the next fight so he will make them coaches on the ultimate fighter, theres a chance the same amount of people will payper view it again so sonnen wont fight till silva fit has its about money at the end of day so you people where wrong saying he doesnt deserve a rematch
i think dana white and the money men have already made the rematch .
anderson silva has lost 4 times the performance he put on was a FLUKE hes LUCKY to still be champion
carwin his a 5 mins fighter brock can fight for 5 rounds ,brock is the best in the world at the moment hes just too big a rematch would have been stupid if carwin cant finish him in 1 st round hes too tired carwin is a 1 round fighter
Well done Chael. I’m sure Dana and the Fertitas are very impressed with his ability to sell a fight, and his ability to beat on the best fighter in the world.
For everyone arguing whether or not Sonnen will get/deserves a rematch, I think this bit of info regarding PPV buys will have a strong influence on Dana White’s decision. He is not stupid. Everyone who purchased this PPV, and all of the people one one side of the fence or the other regarding a rematch- all of us will be tuning in should Dana and Joe Silva make it happen. And I think it’s a safe bet that it will come close to a million buys or more on the next one.
We can all argue whether Sonnen deserves it or not. But I think with these numbers, you can bet that the UFC will be looking closely at trying to make it happen again.
How can you not call Silva the most dominant champ? Just looking solely at his UFC record. He is undefeated 12-0. No one has done that. 7 T(KO)s 3 Subs and only 2 decisions. He has beaten Rich Franklin (former Middleweight champ) Forrest Griffin (former Light Heavyweight champ) Dan Henderson (former champ) Nate Marquardt (top contender) Demian Maia (who beat Sonnen in less than a minute).
Then you have St. Pierre, 15-2 in the UFC. That’s a great record, but it’s not undefeated. Half his wins are decisions and he has two losses. St. Pierre is great, but no way is P4P the best.
And Silva was tapped by Ryo Chonan – cut 1 1/2 years ago for non-performance by the UFC (losses to KAro, Brad Blackburn and TJ Grant. Any of them still in the UFC? Just saying.). Sorry. That’s a bigger resume hole than anyone wants to admit.
Real classy..Yeah back in 2004..you are reaching big time..this is about the UFC
At least Silva has Pride on his resume
@dan82523 – just curious, but what does classy have to do with it?
Its not like dbiz questioned Anderson Silva’s integrity or sexuality, he simply pointed out that Silva isn’t walking on water, as some of his supporters would like us to believe…
Jcohl- IMO that was an unfair/biased statement (I know you think that I have made a few of those you dick..haha just playin)
It just does not relate to the present at all..Anderson became great when he joined the UFC..that is what the discussion was about (the UFC)
Dana White is no dummy, but his champ is out for 6 months, so I do think he’s going to put together a contender fight between sonnen and vitor, and I think he should. If Sonnen wins, and when he starts promoting the rematch, this fight could go down in the record books for PPV buys. Anderson Silva IMO no question is the best fighter in the UFC, yes even above GSP who lays on people like Jon Fitch. I haven’t forgot his Silva’s antics, but in his defense, that division until now has had nothing to offer Silva. He smoked Franklin twice who had previously walked through that division and nobody knocks Franklin. Now he’s got some competition with Sonnen and Vitor and I think Silva will now be forced to step up his game even more. But he is without question the bet fighter in the UFC and maybe the best the UFC has ever seen but that’s debatable.
Why does it say it is the biggest Anderson Silva PPV buy? because i am sure ppl bought this because of Chael talking smack and then Backing it up. One thing i learned from this fight is that GSP def has more then a chance to beat Anderson Silva. Which i always hoped he will do one day. and i also think Sonnen should get a re-match
Na GSP is way smaller a guy than Sonnen so he would have a harder time taking him down and he isn’t as strong so he wouldn’t be able to just bully his way out like Sonnen did. That’s my opinion on why GSP wouldn’t beat Silva.
no question chael sold this ppv for everybody. I would’ve bought anyway, but he even got me pumped for this fight and he backed it up. GSP is quite a bit smaller than Silva, and yes he’s a great wrestler, and yes I think he has a chance, but we saw what Serra did when he cracked GSP and I think not only is Silva faster than Serra, but more accurate, and Silva punches harder IMO, I think GSP gets knocked out if they fight. I’m a big fan of gsp, but I don’t think he wins that fight, but I do hope to see it.
I think the way to determine dominant is this, GSP hasn’t lost a round in like 23 rounds or more, how many has Silva dominated, I think he’s lost plenty of rounds and he lost the last fight (if it went to the cards of course so let’s be real). The only way we’re going to know who the top dog is, is to have them fight! GSP has seen the biggest hole in the Spiders game and it’s right up GSP’s alley, wrestling. GSP would put the spider on his back and either dominate him there or submit him, if he can.
i think that this will influence Dana alot if this one got that many buys then what do you think the rematch will do.
and as far as you guys saying anderson hasnt defending against anyone or the Mw division is weak
he went thru Nate the great,Hendo,Rich franklin 2x when he was dominating the division, destroyed Leben only man to KO him, went up a weight class and took out two ppl including a former champ.
he fought Maia because everyone thought that would be his weakness he woudl get subbed, Laites sucked because laites made it suck he laid on the ground the whole fight
Gsp has faced alot of one dimensional fighters too Hardy,Alves,HUghes(limited striking),koscheck when he had limited striking
he is great im deff not downing him but u cant down silva either
You shouldn’t discredit all the other good fighters on this card
that made it such a successful event like Dos Santos, Nelson, Hughes,
Fitch, Alves, Guida, and the list goes on.
Give Chael the rematch if you want but Silva will beat him again,
especially at 100% health.
I personally would like too see Chael vs Vitor first though.
Anderson should be thanking the sh** out of Chael considering he gets a cut of the pay per view buys. All the selling the Chael did for this fight probably made Anderson another $500,000.00 dollars. Thats the only thing that sucks about Chael is he only gets a gauranteed amount that he is paid even though he is the only reason people bought this fight.
I don’t think that gsp can finish silva is all I’m saying. He’s gone to decision in 3 of last 4 fights, against the toughest guys he’s faced in fitch, alves, and Hardy. Prior yes he beat Hughes, which i think we all know they are in a different class, and BJ flat out quit that other fight. He finished BJ but he has a good size advantage on him and bj gassed as always. I believe that Silva can and should’ve not toyed with Maia, and Cote, but Silva finishes fights plain and simple. And he has shown he can finish the fight from anywhere. But i do want to see that fight, that’s the only way we’ll know. But first Chael vs Vitor, then go fight Silva in April or May.
agreed Chael vs vitor that way either winner will be totally deserving of the shot
because alot of ppl feel vitor dont deserve it any ways so thats the way to go!
Yea, he made some noise but am I alone in finding it got boring to listen to after a while. mostly, I don’t have a problem with it as I guess it’s also a tactic but it just got boring,but , to be honest the punch a hole in his face stuff was in bad taste – and a turn off.
@ larry “lets be real” it didnt go to the cards b/c silva (winner) made sonenn (loser) TAP. I dont care about your def. of dominance. Facts are A.Silva has a UFC RECORD 12 wins. So if ufc is the majors and the rest is minors, then who would be the most dominant fighter to date? heres a clue….. his last name is silva ;)
i pray this last fight gave dw some faith that gsp could win b/c b4 this i think he was protecting gsp. i cant wait to hear gsp huggers cry after the fight. well if this or that blah blah, same song and dance as sonnen’s overnight fans. GSP is great, anderson silva is the best fighter outside of heavyweight division. thats not saying he is invincible, b/c no one is. as far as pure talent goes there isnt a logical argument.
Disclaimer: in two or so years jon jones may change my mind