Mixed martial arts by the numbers

August 7, 2008 at 2:59AM

PAY PER VIEW BUYS

Ultimate Fighting Championship: 5.1 million on 11 events in 2007

World Wrestling Entertainment: 5.2 million on 15 events in 2007

HBO Boxing: 4.8 million on eight events in 2007

GROWTH IN VALUE

2001: The UFC was purchased for $2 million.

2008: The UFC is estimated to be worth more than $1 billion.

COMPARED TO OTHER SPORTS

UFC 66 (Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz): 1.05 million PPV buys

Wrestlemania 23: 1.2 million PPV buys

Boxing (Floyd Mayweather vs. Oscar De La Hoya): 2.15 million PPV buys

Boxing in 2008: Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez generated 400,000 PPV buys.

UFC in 2008: Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir (UFC 81, Feb. 2) generated 600,000 PPV buys.

More numbers

• UFC 86 (Forrest Griffin vs. Quinton Jackson): 11,000 fans in attendance, a sellout crowd, and the gate was $4.2 million.

• UFC 87: More than 12,000 tickets have been sold for the Saturday event at the Target Center and officials expect to make more than $2.2 million off the gate.

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