Report: UFC 251 sells about 1.3M pay-per-views in U.S.
Saturday's UFC 251 generated about 1.3 million pay-per-view buys on ESPN+ in the United States, sources told The Athletic's Mike Coppinger.
Only three UFC events have reportedly sold more than 1.3 million pay-per-views, with two other cards hitting that exact number. UFC 251 is the highest-selling show since UFC 229 in October 2018, which saw Khabib Nurmagomedov defend his lightweight title against Conor McGregor.
UFC 251 took place at Flash Forum in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, marking the inaugural "Fight Island" event. Kamaru Usman retained the welterweight belt with a unanimous decision win over Jorge Masvidal in the main event. Two other title fights took place: Alexander Volkanovski successfully defended the featherweight crown against former champ Max Holloway, and Petr Yan captured the vacant bantamweight strap with a finish of Jose Aldo.
Masvidal, the "BMF" champion, is one of the sport's biggest stars, but the UFC had less than a week to promote the fight. Usman was originally booked to defend his title against Gilbert Burns, but the Brazilian was unable to compete after testing positive for the coronavirus.
UFC 251 is the highest-selling pay-per-view under the ESPN+ model. The streaming service became the exclusive provider of UFC pay-per-views in the U.S. in March 2019. ESPN+ has a monthly cost of $4.99.
McGregor's return against Donald Cerrone at UFC 246 in January was the first ESPN+ pay-per-view to surpass 1 million buys.