Lesnar vs. Mir Could Pull in $37 Million in PPV Cash

You may not like Brock Lesnar, but he can bottom line a fight and draw PPV buys like no one in the sport.

Fedor Emelianenko may be the best heavyweight in MMA, but fighting outside the juggernaut UFC has limited his earning power and provided an opening for Lesnar and Mir to make big, big bank.

In defeating the Brazilian legend,  Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Frank Mir put on a show of his versatility and striking acumen to turn in the best performance of his eight-year career. That inspired fight earned Mir the UFC interim heavyweight title  – and a shot at greatness. Mir has been there before as the UFC Heavyweight titleholder after outlasting Tim Sylvia at UFC 48, but he never generated the kind of buzz that the hulking Lesnar has brough to the sport.

Two UFC events featuring Lesnar generated more than 2.2 million PPV buys last year, and that’s better than anyone in the business. The only other UFC fighter to come close was Tito Ortiz in 2006.

Lesnar-Mir I featured an interim heavyweight title fight between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Tim Sylvia that accounted for 600,000 buys. If, as expected, Lesnar vs. Mir II at UFC 100 this weekend generates somewhere around 750,000 PPV buys, you’ll be watching the coming out party for a sport once relegated to the underworld of club spectacle. The money that number of buys would generate, my friends, is something over $37 million, and that’s nothing but a serious pile of filthy luchre.