There is no arguing that Brock Lesnar is the pound-for-pound king when it comes to selling pay-per-views. In the three events he has headlined, not a single one has raked in less than one million buys.
On an open media call on Thursday, Brock reassured the members of the media that he will be back once this second battle with diverticulitis is over with.
There are only two guarantees in life—death and taxes.
Although Lesnar has every intention of coming back and once again being a force in the Octagon, nobody can say with 100 percent certainty that he will ever fight again.
If you look at the worst-case scenario, Brock would never step foot in the Octagon again. If that were to be the case, who could step in and become the new golden goose of the UFC? Here are a few options.
Jon Jones
He looked like an absolute beast when he took the light heavyweight title away from Shogun Rua at UFC 128, but his drawing power is still up in the air. UFC 128 only brought in around 450,000 buys.
Should a fight between “Bones” and Rashad Evans ever come to fruition, that would undoubtedly draw huge numbers considering all the trash talk between the two. But after that, it would seem like it would take a little time for Jones to become a superstar in the sport.
His front kick knockout of Vitor Belfort will forever live in infamy. But if you look at past trends, Silva’s biggest draw was at UFC 126, an event that drew an estimated 725,000 buys.
If Silva can look impressive against Yushin Okami at UFC Rio, there is a probability that he could become a huge draw.
Now with those two out of the way, the most likely fighter to become the biggest draw in the UFC would be Georges St-Pierre.
St-Pierre has been a solid second behind Lesnar when it comes to pay-per-view buys. Early estimates put UFC 129 drawing a little over one million buys.
When you take that and combine it with holding the record for the largest gate in UFC history, St-Pierre should be a no-brainer to take over the No. 1 slot.
But as everyone knows, MMA fans are fickle. Given St-Pierre’s last four performances, he may not be the drawing force he once was.
Fans across the globe may have been so impressed with Jones that he may be propelled to that spot.
If Silva makes the move to light heavyweight, that may be intriguing enough to bring more eyes to the events he headlines.
Only time will tell.
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