With UFC 149 looming, Boxing rep says one PPV a month is too much

Too much, too soon?

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is quickly approaching its UFC 149: "Faber vs. Barao" pay-per-view event on Saturday night (July 21, 2012) at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

It's been a tough sell for jaded mixed martial arts (MMA) fans, who must decide whether or not the injury-riddled fight card is worth another 50 clams, just two weeks after UFC 148: "Silva vs. Sonnen 2" went down in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, thinks the top combat sports organization may be asking for too much in the current down economy:

"The UFC has certainly been able to connect with the fans in a very short period of time and sort of captured that younger audience. They were one of the first to embrace social media and so they've done a good job there. But it's interesting if you actually look at the pay-per-view numbers, the boxing pay-per-view numbers are still substantially, and when I say 'substantially' it's not one or two times, it's multiple times the size of a UFC pay-per-view. They have a certain fan base that is willing to spend money. Maybe it's too much? I personally think, a pay-per-view a month is too much. It's maybe okay when you're in the booming economy, but when you're in a recessionary environment and people are looking for jobs, you have record unemployment numbers and people losing there homes and so on, and then a sports property, whether its UFC or anyone else and is every month doing a pay-per-view, it's probably a bit too much."

Hear more from Schaefer (via Fight Hub TV) on why the sport of boxing does better pay-per-view business than MMA and how the FOX deal affects the UFC business model, after the jump.

To see what UFC 149 has in store for this month's pay-per-view offering click here.