Bellator PPV buys for ‘Sonnen vs Silva’ in NYC could reach 130,000

Bellator 180 “Sonnen vs. Silva,” also known as Bellator NYC, went down June 24, 2017 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. It was the company’s first return to pay-per-view since Bellator 120 on May 17, 2014, headlined by Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal.

Early prognosticators and Bellator officials were hoping that Bellator 120 would do a solid buy rate that would double the approximately 100,000 purchases of their first PPV. Estimates at MMA Fighting suggest otherwise. The current trends put the show at between 90,000 and 130,000 buys which is basically on par with Bellator 120 — no better or worse.

Even though those numbers might seem disappointing, Spike Senior VP David Schwarz touted the entire Bellator event at MSG as a big success.

“I can say we are all very pleased with everything from the Bellator PPV - that, of course, includes the record gate, record domestic attendance, strong numbers for Bellator 180 (the two hour prelims on Spike) and great exposure for the brand, and great momentum as we plan our next PPV. Details coming.”

Bellator can also take comfort in the fact their competition did not fare much better. A boxing pay per view that followed with Andre Ward vs. Sergey Kovalev is estimated at 130,000 buys, while the UFC 213 card headlined by Robert Whittaker vs. Yoel Romero did 125-150,000 buys.

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