Report: Golden Boy MMA ‘Liddell vs. Ortiz 3’ Estimated at 40,000 Pay-Per-View Buys

While the trilogy fight between Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz on Nov. 24 certainly had people talking, it wasn’t necessarily something that people paid to see.

According to a report from MMAFighting.com, which cites industry sources, Golden Boy MMA’s inaugural event drew an estimated 40,000 pay-per-view buys from traditional television. That figure does not include streaming buys, a number which is not expected to significantly increase the overall total. That only slightly exceeds estimates from the Los Angeles Times, which reported the card did 25,000 to 30,000 pay-per-view buys.

Prior to the fight, Ortiz predicted that the event would do at least 200,000 buys. Obviously, it fell well short of that number even though the pay-per-view cost was lowered from $49.99 to $40 leading up to the event.

Golden Boy MMA saw Ortiz score a first-round knockout of Liddell in the evening’s headliner at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif. The 48-year-old Liddell came out of retirement for a third meeting with his rival after twice besting Ortiz under the UFC banner – once in 2004 and again in 2006. It was “The Iceman’s” first bout in more than eight years.

The co-main event featured a matchup between prospect Deron Winn and UFC veteran Tom Lawlor, while the rest of the card had a few recognizable names, most notably a clash between former Octagon competitors Gleison Tibau and Efrain Escudero.