Predictable or not, UFC fans are still happy to open their wallets for the privilege of watching Georges St. Pierre thoroughly dominate his opponents for 25 minutes. According to a new report by Dave Meltzer, UFC 158 is expected to be one of the greatest pay-per-view showings of GSP’s career, with over 800,000 buys estimated. That figure would make UFC 158 the most-bought UFC event since last July’s UFC 148: Silva vs. Sonnen II card (925,000 buys), and could put it slightly higher than 2011’s most-popular show — UFC 129 (“around 800,000 buys“), which was also headlined by Georges St. Pierre.
You can give some credit for Nick Diaz for hyping the fight in his own unique way, but St. Pierre remains the UFC’s most reliable PPV draw in the post-Lesnar era. Getting GSP to fight as often as possible would help turn the UFC’s downward-trending PPV momentum in a positive direction. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that will happen. According to St. Pierre’s trainer Firas Zahabi, GSP suffered an achilles injury before the fight, and will take some time off to rehab it; Zahabi said he didn’t want his star pupil to return to action for at least six months, though St. Pierre could return before then.
“He wants to take a couple of months off because his two fights were very close to each other and he wants to enjoy the summer,” Zahabi told TVA Sports. “We haven’t talked to the UFC yet, so we don’t know what their plans are for Georges yet.”
Get comfortable, Johny. You’re about to have some free time on your hands.
Predictable or not, UFC fans are still happy to open their wallets for the privilege of watching Georges St. Pierre thoroughly dominate his opponents for 25 minutes. According to a new report by Dave Meltzer, UFC 158 is expected to be one of the greatest pay-per-view showings of GSP’s career, with over 800,000 buys estimated. That figure would make UFC 158 the most-bought UFC event since last July’s UFC 148: Silva vs. Sonnen II card (925,000 buys), and could put it slightly higher than 2011′s most-popular show — UFC 129 (“around 800,000 buys“), which was also headlined by Georges St. Pierre.
You can give some credit for Nick Diaz for hyping the fight in his own unique way, but St. Pierre remains the UFC’s most reliable PPV draw in the post-Lesnar era. Getting GSP to fight as often as possible would help turn the UFC’s downward-trending PPV momentum in a positive direction. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that will happen. According to St. Pierre’s trainer Firas Zahabi, GSP suffered an achilles injury before the fight, and will take some time off to rehab it; Zahabi said he didn’t want his star pupil to return to action for at least six months, though St. Pierre could return before then.
“He wants to take a couple of months off because his two fights were very close to each other and he wants to enjoy the summer,” Zahabi told TVA Sports. “We haven’t talked to the UFC yet, so we don’t know what their plans are for Georges yet.”
Get comfortable, Johny. You’re about to have some free time on your hands.
