Rumored Report: Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou Apparently 'Bombed' In Terms Of U.S. PPV Buys

[Crash-override]

You don't seem to understand this a long term goal, they don't have the same end goal as simply making a return on their investment immediately. Manchester city are only making a return now on the investment, psg still not yet both of those projects are 10yrs in or so. If the country is known as a sporting capital and for producing the biggest events and tourism increases then its a success. That's the end goal.

The amount they may have lost on fury vs Francis is a rain drop in comparison to what's being lost on football at the moment. They are paying neymar and ronaldo 7 figures to make Instagram posts to promote the tourism in Saudi Arabia.

I'm not saying its going to work it may be that in couple yrs time they cut their loses and stop all the big sporting events. However they seem to think these events will change public perception of the country and all of this is state sponsored.

You're starting to sound like ariel helwani at this point.

I mean. Business men love losing billions of dollars that they might "might" get back in 25 yrs I mean totally.

Add in inflation and they will have to make double what they invest today just to break even..

 

[jjjjjjjjjjohnny]

apparently Saudi paid $50 Million to WWE to host the event - i'm sure they probably paid the same or similar for this fight.

 

[fedorthegoat777]

The UFC won too though because if they capitulated to Big Franks demand and copromoted this fight they would’ve lost a lot of money.

The UFC once again lost the greatest heavyweight of this era. They won nothing.

If you claim to be the #1 organization, you should have the #1 fighter, especially in heavyweight, and that is clearly Big Frank.

 

[HereticBD]

The UFC once again lost the greatest heavyweight of this era. They won nothing.

If you claim to be the #1 organization, you should have the #1 fighter, especially in heavyweight, and that is clearly Big Frank.

Not many would put him above Jones, and Frank ain't a draw. That's why the UFC didn't really try all that hard to hang onto him. They would've hashed something out if he was worth it.

 

[Normot]

They did an absolutely terrible job of promoting it. If they had spent some of that money for the "show" on marketing there would have been a huge difference.

They could have easily pumped the media full of UFC HW Champ fights Tyson Fury but they didn't.

 

[spinup]

That's why the UFC didn't really try all that hard to hang onto him. They would've hashed something out if he was worth it.

“We offered Ngannou a deal that would make him the highest-paid heavyweight of all time,” said White
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/15/sport/francis-ngannou-ufc-contract-spt-intl/index.html

 

[Oldman1]

Im sure Dana is trying his hardest to keep this high up the board here

 

[DecisionSplit]

They did an absolutely terrible job of promoting it. If they had spent some of that money for the "show" on marketing there would have been a huge difference.

Because no legitimate promoters want to work with jihadists, beheaders, and journalist killers. And many of these promoters are working with drug cartels all the way from Ireland to Brazil. And even organize crime groups in Vegas or Miami. But the arabs are simply too much for most of them. If you are close to anyone who fights or works for ESPN or DAZN you will get people telling you directly that they hate working in arab states.

When the WWE started doing business with arabs it was a disaster. Multiple top wrestlers refused to travel overseas for those events. A few who went hired private security. And some reported that they felt like they were being followed or watched and didn't want to go again. But at one of the events the Saudi government had the military hold over 200 WWE employees hostage and forced the WWE to pay them money to release them.

Would you as a top promoter really want to work under those conditions? How high would the pay have to be if the risk is being a hostage? Kidnapped?

 

[TerraRayzing]

So Helwani just claimed that adding in international buys, the PPV did 400k and that's the base. The actual number is likely higher.

 

[Escabar]

You're starting to sound like ariel helwani at this point.

I mean. Business men love losing billions of dollars that they might "might" get back in 25 yrs I mean totally.

Add in inflation and they will have to make double what they invest today just to break even..

You clearly don't understand what sports washing is, I don't know why I keep responding every post you make makes it clear this point doesn't get through. It's state sponsored the Crown Prince is asking essentially his family members to do this for the betterment of the country's image.

Google sports washing and hopefully you'll understand the point.

 

[Natural Order]

Lmfao, the event was a present to one of the Sheikh’s kids for his 16th. Imagine thinking this was held to generate revenue.

 

[fedorthegoat777]

Not many would put him above Jones, and Frank ain't a draw. That's why the UFC didn't really try all that hard to hang onto him. They would've hashed something out if he was worth it.

Nice to see a poll on Sherdog about that. My guess is more people would put Ngannou over Jones. Especially after his recent performance with Tyson Fury.

If you are representing yourself as a professional organization, it is your job to get the number one fighters in each division. Not necessarily the most entertaining. Also if you have a big, huge, heavyweight with knock out power, how is he not a draw? Isn't that your job to market him to make him a draw? But the UFC only markets themselves.

 

[Prex32]

the thing is, if it bombed once, its a possibility it will bomb again
saudis gonna need to take care of the fighters again and not rely on the ppv
they do horrible promotions, whats gonna change?

 

[Fedorgasm]

and Ngannou has never been a decent draw period.

Which is really sad.

He's everything a fan could want. Built like a comic book hero and he knocks dudes heads into the 3rd row, yet because he's not a trash talker then nobody bought tickets to see him.

 

[SmilinDesperado]

I think that the other MMA vs Boxer fights are what really hurt this fight.
We had Conor get the snot beat out of him by Floyd. And then Woodley, Silva, Askren, and Nate Diaz all get beat by Jake Paul....an amateur at best.
At HW, it seemed even less likely that someone with as little pure boxing experience as Francis would be able to last against a HW like Fury, so who would want to pay for the fight?
The next fight Francis does should bring a lot more attention...especially if it's against a big puncher like Wilder.

 

[SmilinDesperado]

Which is really sad.

He's everything a fan could want. Built like a comic book hero and he knocks dudes heads into the 3rd row, yet because he's not a trash talker then nobody bought tickets to see him.

Ngannou's body and talents with Black Beast's mouth would make him a star overnight.

 

[Crash-override]

You clearly don't understand what sports washing is, I don't know why I keep responding every post you make makes it clear this point doesn't get through. It's state sponsored the Crown Prince is asking essentially his family members to do this for the betterment of the country's image.

Google sports washing and hopefully you'll understand the point.

He said his objective is gdp growth "do you know what that is" not sports washing.

That means he wants a return for what he is doing. Selling ppv, having people go there rent hotels buy food ect. Spending 80 million to make 20million isn't growing anything.

Also his net worth is around 25 billion. You guys act like they have musk money.

Anyone of these guys can go broke with being too fruitful.

And just so you know we don't NEED Saudi oil if you try going that route

 

[HereticBD]

Nice to see a poll on Sherdog about that. My guess is more people would put Ngannou over Jones. Especially after his recent performance with Tyson Fury.

I doubt it. It's hard to come out on top against who is largely considered the GOAT, regardless if he only has like one fight HW. A boxing match isn't exactly gonna do much for his MMA rep, either. Not saying he's not up there, but he has notable losses that Jones just doesn't, and he's just not as popular in general. I wouldn't imagine he'd top Jones in a poll.

If you are representing yourself as a professional organization, it is your job to get the number one fighters in each division. Not necessarily the most entertaining. Also if you have a big, huge, heavyweight with knock out power, how is he not a draw? Isn't that your job to market him to make him a draw? But the UFC only markets themselves.

They marketed Ngannou just fine. He just doesn't have a personality that is all that marketable, though, and his run isn't all that lengthy or memorable, compared to the juggernauts like GSP, Silva, and Jones. Now, if he had stayed and got the Jones fight, and knocked him out, his stock would've risen immensely. That's a star making victory. He doesn't really have that yet, and Stipe isn't that guy, and losing to Fury in a boxing match(albeit competitively) isn't that moment.

I wouldn't feel too sorry for him, as it seemed to have worked out for him financially, but he's just not all that vital or valuable to the UFC where they have to meet his demands.

 

[Pechan]

This thread is so weird, not only was this a sport washing event that was never gonna make any money(just paying and flying out all the celebrities is porbably a nice 20 mills in expenses) but if it wasn't obvious by the start time this side of the world, America wasn't the primart market they were shootings for, add to it that most countries (including the UK but not 100% sure in this case) actually get these and the UfC events as part of their basic cable content or with a DAZN sub.

Also literally the Monday after the fight the Saudis were already offering another fight to Francis so they obviously were happy with the result

 

[CedricBee]

How did Fury win rounds where he threw more and landed less than Francis? lol by all accounts of the very flawed scoring of boxing, there is no argument Fury won those rounds since all that matters is landing more punches or landing at higher percentages, in which Francis did both in rounds you didn't even give him.......

My eyes test was off for the 4th Round! That’s … (drum roll) One round my eye test was off. Fury out-landed him Round(s) 1,2,5,6,7,9,10. I have always said Francis won 3,6,8 and after checking the stats I should’ve given him 4.

Even then it’ll come down to round 6, bring a 9-9 or 10-9 (because round 3 was a 10-8) And that’s still the only aspect of the fight I’m torn on. I initially had round 6 as a 9-9 because I had fury winning, but the more I watch the more I see a 10-9.

https://www.boxingscene.com/tyson-fury-vs-francis-ngannou-compubox-punch-stats--178829
At best Francis Ngannou should’ve had a draw or still lost by a point. And that’s with the fight-metric stats that judges don’t have access to. Not no YellowBagHag fake knock down clips, or any other Assclown rhetoric.