Despite the fact that UFC 197 underwent changes before going live on PPV, people were still interested in the event, and the event popped a pretty good pay-per-view buy rate for the UFC.
UFC 197 took place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Saturday, April 23rd, 2016. The main card aired on pay-per-view while the prelims aired on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.
The original main event was Jon Jones taking on Daniel Cormier in a rematch for the UFC light heavyweight title. However, Cormier had to pull out of the fight due to an injury. Ovince Saint Preux stepped in on short notice and lost to Jones by decision. In the co-main event, Demetrious Johnson defended his flyweight title against Henry Cejudo. The main card featured five bouts.
The estimated PPV buy rate for this event was 375,000 to 450,000, according to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
While Jones does not pull in the amount of buys that say a Ronda Rousey or Conor McGregor do, Jones is still a PPV draw for the biggest MMA promotion in the world.
UFC 182, which saw Jones defeat Cormier by decision, did 800,000 buys. UFC 172, which saw Jones defeat Glover Teixeira, did 350,000, and UFC 152, which saw Jones finish Chael Sonnen, did 530,000.
Jones being a draw is good for the UFC as he and “DC” will go at it once again this July at UFC 200, which is being built as the biggest UFC event since UFC 100.
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