It feels like 2009 all over again.
At least in terms of mixed martial arts rivalries, nothing is seemingly bigger than the upcoming Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen rematch which will headline UFC 148 in two weeks (July 7, 2012) in Las Vegas, Nevada.
UFC President Dana White, speaking today on the UFC 148 conference call, is extremely optimistic about the fight's buyrate for pay-per-view.
"There's no doubt that we expect over 1 million buys here. We expect UFC 100 numbers."
If the event were to break 1,000,000 pay-per-view buys, that would be quite the accomplishment considering how down the UFC's pay-per-views have been as of late due to an incredible amount of unlucky injuries, the retirement of its biggest star and other factors.
There's no doubt that this event has the casuals talking.
The last event to ever go over one million pay-per-view buys was UFC 121, which featured a heavyweight title bout between Brock Lesnar and challenger Cain Velasquez. Lesnar would fail to crack one million over a year later against Alistair Overeem when he was again stopped via strikes in the first round.
Top stars like Georges St. Pierre and Jon Jones have yet to reach one million buys on their own, although they've been close, but Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen 2 might just have the perfect recipe.
It's got:
1. The best fighter in the world
2. Bad blood (always helps)
3. A rematch against the toughest opponent in his UFC career
4. Lots of trash talk (did you hear Anderson Silva today?)
UFC 100 did around 1.6 million buys, by far the most by any event in UFC history. It also featured Brock Lesnar and George St. Pierre defending their titles.
Is Dana overly optimistic, or do you think UFC 148 has a shot to bring back some of the former glory in terms of PPV buys?
What are you predictions, Maniacs?