Ronda Rousey vs. Holly Holm: UFC 194 Main Event Tops 1 Million Pay-Per-View Buys
UFC 193, which was headlined by female bantamweights Ronda Rousey and Holly Holm in Melbourne, Australia, set new company records.
In a report by MMA Fighting, the event, which featured the changing of the guard and the coronation of a new 135-pound queen in Holly Holm, drew in 56,214 fans, almost 3,000 fans in excess of the Etihad Stadium's seating capacity of 53,359.
The said record also topped the attendance numbers set by former long-time welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, who fought and defeated Jake Shields at UFC 129 in April 2011. The event was held at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, with 55,724 fans in attendance.
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The event in itself was a history-making one even prior to the shocker of an outcome that Holm was able to accomplish. Not only was it the first-ever UFC event to be held in Melbourne, it was also the first time two female champions were co-headlining the event.
Strawweight world champion Joanna Jędrzejczyk fought in the night's co-main event bout, scoring a dominant unanimous decision verdict against Valérie Létourneau and marking her second successful title defense since winning the belt against Carla Esparza in March.
"It should be noted that the Toronto show was an instant sellout, while the Melbourne show was set up for a significantly larger capacity, was not sold out, and had plenty of empty seats in the upper deck," an excerpt of the report reads.
The report also adds that the event also raked in between 1 million and 1.1 million pay-per-view buys, which is said to be among the four biggest events in UFC history. It also pointed out that other than Rousey, no prizefighting event that was headlined by a woman had ever exceeded 125,000 pay-per-view buys.
According to UFC president Dana White, an immediate rematch would be given to Rousey upon her return, which is being targeted for UFC 200 in July 2016.
