Report: UFC 249 Draws Over 700,000 PPV Buys

The UFC returned to action this past weekend with UFC 249, which was headlined by a pair of title bouts as Justin Gaethje defeated Tony Ferguson to win the vacant UFC Interim Lightweight Championship and Henry Cejudo successfully defended the UFC Bantamweight Title against Dominick Cruz.

It appears that the show was a successful one for the promotion, as a report from the Sports Business Journal (via Bloody Elbow) says that UFC 249 drew over 700,000 pay-per-view buys:

Early numbers are showing that Saturday’s UFC 249 was a pay-per-view success for ESPN+. Sources told SBJ’s John Ourand that ESPN’s streaming service logged north of 700,000 buys, which is a really good number for any card that does not feature Conor McGregor.

These early numbers aren’t the exact pay-per-view buy rate, which could fluctuate, plus the promotion doesn’t share the exact numbers due to not being a publicly traded company. However, if the numbers are accurate, it would make UFC 249 one of, if not the highest, drawing pay-per-view card in the ESPN+ era.

Up next for the UFC and ESPN+ pay-per-view is UFC 250, which is being headlined by Amanda Nunes defending the women’s featherweight title against Felicia Spencer.