According to the latest issue of Dave Meltzer’s excellent Wrestling Observer Newsletter, UFC 106 is clocking in at just 330,000 pay per view buys.
That’s a shocking number, to be sure. As a point of reference, the UFC 104 card featuring Lyoto Machida and Shogun Rua is now believed to have done just over 500,000 buys.
UFC 106 featured the UFC return of Tito Ortiz, a fighter who has historically been one of the bigger pay per view draws on the roster. But Ortiz also spent plenty of time away from the Octagon, time used by Dana White to continually bash and degrade Ortiz as a fighter and as a person. Those comments may have sounded like a great idea at the time, but they may be coming back to haunt them now that Ortiz is back on the roster.
He faced Forrest Griffin in the main event; the last time Griffin appeared on a UFC card, he faced Anderson Silva. That fight was credited with pulling at least 900,000 buys, but Griffin’s post-fight vanishing act may have damaged his drawing power.
It’s possible that neither factor had anything to do with the low buyrate for 106. UFC 105 was on free television the week before, and people who regularly purchase UFC events may be content to skip a card here and there when they know there will be another show in a few weeks.