UFC 263 was a big success.
As per the Sports Business Journal, the pay-per-view event which took place last weekend headlined by a middleweight title fight between Israel Adesanya and Marvin Vettori recorded 600,000 buys worldwide. Of that total, 500,000 came domestically through ESPN+.
It continues to prove that Adesanya is a pay-per-view draw with his last headliners against Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259 and Paulo Costa at UFC 253 recording a reported 800,000 and 700,000 buys respectively.
Of course, Adesanya can’t take all the credit this time as there was a flyweight title fight in the co-main event with fan favorite Brandon Moreno submitting Deiveson Figueiredo to become the new champion.
And of course, there was the return of superstar Nate Diaz who took on Leon Edward in a five-round welterweight contest that more than likely contributed to that figure. All that said, Adesanya is a genuine star for the company as he continues to build his legacy.
One can expect the 600,000 figure to be easily trumped next month when UFC 264 takes place July 10.
The headliner on that occasion features the trilogy match between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor with their UFC 257 meeting drawing 1.6 million buys worldwide.