UFC 175 Preview: Ronda Rousey Relied On For Buys
What to expect from UFC's 'Biggest Show Of The Year'.
John Locher/AP/Press Association ImagesUFC 175 is live this Saturday night from the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, with the UFC selling it as their biggest show of the year. Thats partly true, however, it has fallen short of being a true supershow, particularly after the storied Sonnen vs Silva feud was pulled from the card due to both men failing drug tests. That weakened the box office lure for 175 significantly, although company celebrity and womens champion Ronda Rousey should ensure a PPV draw-rate of around 500,000 buys. Rouseys main event title defence against Alexis Davis is overwhelmingly one sided in the champions favour, but in Rousey you have a star, people will watch just to see her perform. The other main event, and the one expected to close the show, will be the Middleweight Championship defence by Chris Weidman. He is facing an unpredictable threat in Lyoto Machida, and the company has pushed the fight strongly in promotional materials. Make no mistake about it though, UFC may be positioning the male bout as the superior main event, but the Rousey fight is the real headliner. Despite beating industry legend Anderson Silva twice, Weidman is nowhere near the drawing power of Rousey. His match with Machida will be a tighter and more intriguing affair, but Rousey is the real star of this show. This is her third fight in the last six and a half months, and shes also suggesting shed be willing to step up and fight again next month! Thats how valuable Rousey is to the UFC right now, they need name fighters like her, and to her credit shes proving a really willing employee to help UFC business. Shes very much the Brock Lesnar or Chuck Liddell marquee fighter right now. UFC 175 against Alexis Davis should be another convincing night for her, with our tip being Rousey winning in the very first round via armbar. The mens fight is a bit more closer. Machida is known for his dull style, which is often an effective way for him to grind out results. He could frustrate Weidman and prove an elusive target against the way the champion wants to work. You wouldnt bet against Weidman and his knockout power, but you also wouldnt be completely surprised to see Machida emerge victor in a boring five rounder. The big shame is that we never got the Silva vs Sonnen bout. That had so much personal animosity going into it, the kind of verbal rivalry which sells pay per views. The match would have been exciting to watch, with Silvas explosive aggression and Sonnens intelligent wrestling. It looks like Silva never ever really wanted the fight, his running from the drug test surprised almost nobody. However, the drug test fiascos of Chael Sonnen came as a big shock, particularly after the hypocrisy of his Silva criticism. Once that fight bit the dust, its reasonable to suggest that the UFC lost at least 200,000 buyers for UFC 175. That was the war everyone wanted to see. Who knows, maybe one day we will finally get the fight, the desire and story is only more heated than ever now. All in all UFC 175 is indeed the biggest MMA show of the year, but not quite to the extent the UFC wanted it to be. They have combined two average main events to make one big sell, with Ronda Rousey shouldering the main drawing responsibility. On paper youd have to say that the one sidedness of Rouseys fight and the potential dullness of the Machida fight could hurt the pay per view, but with a decent undercard and the brand name fighters in the main events, this is probably as good a card as any in 2014 to put your money down for.