Former UFC middleweight champion, Robert Whittaker, makes a bold claim about Jon Jones ahead of this weekend’s PPV. Jones is scheduled to take on Ciryl Gane at UFC 285. The contest will have the vacant UFC heavyweight championship at stake. If he manages to win the belt, Jon will join the elite list of UFC fighters who have won championships in two separate divisions.
However, some have wondered if the event will perform well in terms of the PPV buy rate or not. It is important to add that PPVs in general have not done good business since Conor McGregor fought Dustin Poirier at UFC 264. That event had a reported 1.8 million PPV buys. Since then, none of the PPVs have crossed the million-buys mark. However, neither UFC nor the PPV provider ESPN+ gives out information about PPV sales any longer.
If rumors are to be believed, none of the recent PPVs have performed well. But, according to Rober Whittaker, Jon Jones vs Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 would do gangbuster business. In a recent appearance on Fox Sports, Whittaker called Jon a generational talent and added that fans would be more than happy to see him back in action this Saturday.
Whittaker said, “Jon Jones is the best of all time okay? Of all time, P4P greatest of all time. He is. What he did to his opponents and the division, and as a champion has never nobody has ever come close to that level of supremacy and domination. He is a freak of nature and to see him come back to the company, to be fighting for that strap at a heavier weight division, it would have to be the highest PPV card this year I reckon or from a long time since Conor.” (h/t via mainevent)
But not just Robert Whittaker, even UFC President Dana White made some huge claims recently as well. According to Dana, UFC 285 is trending extremely well and he is expecting the event to generate gate revenue on par with UFC 205, which took place in Madison Square Garden (MSG) in 2016. The event reportedly generated a gate revenue of $17,000,000.
Is Jon Jones a needle mover for the UFC?
Conor McGregor is the biggest UFC superstar that the UFC has ever had. Every time he fights, the PPVs are almost guaranteed to sell more than 1 million PPVs. Aside from Conor, no other fighter constantly delivers great business for the company other than Jon Jones. A recent report revealed some fascinating looks at Jon Jones and his PPV buy rates over the years.
Since his first title fight against Shogun Rua at UFC 128, Jon has a total of 15 PPV main event fights under his belt. Apparently, Jon has sold 6,745,000 PPVs in total excluding his last two PPVs, UFC 239 and UFC 247. On average, the Jon Jones starring events sell more the 500,000 PPVs. It proves no matter what Jonny Bones does, his fights are always of interest to the fans.
On top of that, this will be Jon’s return to action after 3 long years. Plus he will make his long-awaited heavyweight debut and that too for the title itself. So all the circumstances point toward massive fanfare for Jon Jones and it may reflect in the PPV buy rates as well.
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