UFC 92 couldn’t have turned out better from a business standpoint for Zuffa.
With Frank Mir’s unlikely and stunning victory over Antonio Rodrigo Nogiuera, the stage is now set for what could potentially be the biggest-drawing fight in UFC history with a Mir rematch with Brock Lesnar. A ton of people saw the first fight, and the story couldn’t have been scripted better if they tried: Lesnar gets caught in a rookie mistake, but rebounds and defeats a UFC legend to win the Heavyweight championship in only his fourth pro fight. Frank Mir goes from phenom to alcoholic also-ran because of a car crash, but gets his life back together and ends up defeating the man many considered to be the second-best heavyweight fighter in the history of the sport in decisive fashion to capture a portion of that Heavyweight crown. It sets up a rematch where a much-improved Lesnar gets a chance to avenge the only loss on his record.
Lesnar is by far the biggest draw in the sport. He drew over two million PPV buys in 2008, and the only other person to ever accomplish that was Tito Ortiz. As I stated before, tons of people saw the first Lesnar/Mir fight, and I can almost guarantee that the rematch is going to do at least one million buys. The early feeling in the company is that this fight could very well break the company buyrate record, and I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if it does so.
The fight has been confirmed for the May UFC 98 show in Las Vegas.
As a side note, it has been revealed that Antonio Rodrigo Nogiuera suffered from a bad staph infection in the weeks leading to the fight and was not able to train.
