Meltzer: UFC 114 Surpasses 1 Million PPV Buys

After early estimates pegged UFC 114 at around 925,000 PPV buys, Yahoo! scribe and Pro Wrestling aficionado Dave Meltzer reports in his latest newsletter (cheapskate warning: requires paid subscription) that the Rampage Jackson/Rashad Evans headlined card actually produced 1,050,000 buys. 

This is obviously big news since those numbers place UFC 114 second (tied with UFC 66) on the all-time UFC PPV buyrate list, trailing only the blockbuster UFC 100 card that took place last July which set the record with 1.6 million buys. 

After a weak finish to 2009 and a slow start to 2010, it seems as if the UFC is poised to have a big run as their summer cards are stacked with talent and intriguing main event match-ups. The long-awaited return of Brock Lesnar coupled with a dangerous opponent may be enough to push UFC 116 over the one million mark, and the UFC's Boston card should definitely garner tons of mainstream interest with its inclusion of James Toney. Although UFC 117 is (on paper) as stacked an event as we've ever seen, fans might not be quick to embrace a card headlined by Anderson Silva after his last performance.

One the other hand, with Shogun Rua's injury leaving the light heavyweight division in limbo, the UFC may once again have a dearth of big name match-ups this fall as everything beyond UFC 118 remains very sketchy.