On September 14 of this year, Floyd Mayweather Jr. will be taking on rising star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. It’s a bout that will probably set the record for pay-per-view buys for combative sports in 2013.
While the sport of MMA has usually garnered more total PPV buys in a calendar year than the sport of boxing, the biggest promotion in MMA, the UFC, still has yet to put on a card that eclipses boxing’s biggest shows.
The biggest PPV success the sport of MMA has enjoyed was UFC 100, which attracted anywhere from 1.5 to 1.75 million PPV buys—a number that was shockingly high and proof positive that the UFC had officially arrived as a legitimate contender for the hearts and pocket books of fight fans.
But, UFC 100 didn’t beat the best of boxing’s biggest PPV success, which was Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr., which pulled in a whopping 2.4 to 2.5 million buys back in 2007.
For years, the sport of boxing has outdone the UFC in cards that broke the 1 million mark. In 2012, boxing put up the only cards that truly exceeded the 1 million mark. UFC 148, the rematch between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen, pulled in around 925,000 to 1 million views even.
So, why is boxing able to beat MMA when it comes to promoting the biggest cards?
Here are the three main reasons why.