Brock Lesnar has headlined four UFC events and they've all drawn more than one million buys on pay-per-view (PPV). Impressive? You bet. But is he the biggest PPV star in MMA today?
Nope.
That honor goes to Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre, at least if you're asking UFC President Dana White. This despite a style of fighting that is, perhaps, the least aesthetically pleasing.
And the most sleep inducing.
What he may lack in excitement, though, he more than makes up for in charisma. There's no doubt the French-Canadian wrestler has an invisible quality that naturally draws fans in, enough that they shell out considerable amounts of coin to see him fight each time he's inside the Octagon.
While White admits "Rush" doesn't fight with the same sense of urgency he once did, he reconciles with that fact when he goes to bed on his mattress made of cash, as explained to MMA Nation:
Star-divide
"Does Georges St. Pierre fight like he fought back when he fought B.J. Penn the first time? No. I have nothing to do with their training or their camp or their strategy or how they fight. Let me put it to you this way: Georges St. Pierre is, by far, the biggest pay-per-view star in mixed martial arts. By far. By far. The biggest pay-per-view star. Big. By far the biggest pay-per-view star in MMA. So, for what it's worth, for people who want to say he's this or that."
It's interesting, to say the least, to hear White make such a claim, especially when the cold hard numbers simply don't back him up.
Let's look at the pay-per-view buys for the last three events headlined by each man (all numbers provided by MMAPayout's Blue Book):
St. Pierre:
UFC 129 -- 800,000
UFC 124 -- 785,000
UFC 111 -- 770,000
Lesnar:
UFC 121 -- 1,050,000
UFC 116 -- 1,160,000
UFC 91 -- 1, 010,000
These two have actually shared two separate cards, most notably the landmark UFC 100 show that drew a record 1,600,000 PPV buys.
Perhaps White is referring less to actual numbers and more to what the future may or may not hold. After all, St. Pierre is still in his prime and as healthy and unstoppable as ever. Lesnar, on the other hand, has had two separate bouts with diverticulitis, the second of which forced surgery to remove 12 inches of his colon.
Both men are in action before the year is out with "GSP" taking on Carlos Condit at UFC 137 on Oct. 29 while Lesnar will square off against Alistair Overeem at UFC 141 on Dec. 30.
by Geno Mrosko
Nope.
That honor goes to Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre, at least if you're asking UFC President Dana White. This despite a style of fighting that is, perhaps, the least aesthetically pleasing.
And the most sleep inducing.
What he may lack in excitement, though, he more than makes up for in charisma. There's no doubt the French-Canadian wrestler has an invisible quality that naturally draws fans in, enough that they shell out considerable amounts of coin to see him fight each time he's inside the Octagon.
While White admits "Rush" doesn't fight with the same sense of urgency he once did, he reconciles with that fact when he goes to bed on his mattress made of cash, as explained to MMA Nation:
Star-divide
"Does Georges St. Pierre fight like he fought back when he fought B.J. Penn the first time? No. I have nothing to do with their training or their camp or their strategy or how they fight. Let me put it to you this way: Georges St. Pierre is, by far, the biggest pay-per-view star in mixed martial arts. By far. By far. The biggest pay-per-view star. Big. By far the biggest pay-per-view star in MMA. So, for what it's worth, for people who want to say he's this or that."
It's interesting, to say the least, to hear White make such a claim, especially when the cold hard numbers simply don't back him up.
Let's look at the pay-per-view buys for the last three events headlined by each man (all numbers provided by MMAPayout's Blue Book):
St. Pierre:
UFC 129 -- 800,000
UFC 124 -- 785,000
UFC 111 -- 770,000
Lesnar:
UFC 121 -- 1,050,000
UFC 116 -- 1,160,000
UFC 91 -- 1, 010,000
These two have actually shared two separate cards, most notably the landmark UFC 100 show that drew a record 1,600,000 PPV buys.
Perhaps White is referring less to actual numbers and more to what the future may or may not hold. After all, St. Pierre is still in his prime and as healthy and unstoppable as ever. Lesnar, on the other hand, has had two separate bouts with diverticulitis, the second of which forced surgery to remove 12 inches of his colon.
Both men are in action before the year is out with "GSP" taking on Carlos Condit at UFC 137 on Oct. 29 while Lesnar will square off against Alistair Overeem at UFC 141 on Dec. 30.
by Geno Mrosko
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