In today’s market climate, it is a near given that when Vince McMahon fields questions about WWE’s business, he will be forced to address the role of UFC as a competitor.
And just as inevitable as that question is, so too is his response that the mixed martial arts promotion is in a different business. WWE, he contends, is an entertainment series, while UFC is a sport.
Occasionally, however, he will deliver an offensive strike against the state of UFC’s business. That was the case in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
“We’re in show business, they are a sport. Their ratings are abysmal. They are in the pay-per-view business, and they do reasonably well there. We just set a record for WrestleMania. We had 1.3 million buys for this year’s WrestleMania, and our pay-per-view numbers for our shows have been up 30 percent since then. So, we are looking pretty good,” noted Vince McMahon.
When it comes to ratings, McMahon is supported by clear evidence. His organization’s “Friday Night SmackDown!” dominated UFC’s “The Ultimate Fighter” in both total viewers and the adults 18-49 demo each week this past/winter spring, and the company’s flagship WWE RAW does even bigger numbers.
RAW, in fact, regularly draws more viewers than the average for all of UFC’s primetime FOX specials. Its typical adults 18-49 rating greatly exceeds that drawn by the most recent “Diaz vs. Miller” FOX card.
When it comes to pay-per-views, however, one can argue UFC does more than “reasonably well” in comparison to WWE. Though its numbers have trailed off from their peak, even the ultra-low-profile UFC shows tend to outperform all but the biggest WWE events in domestic PPV buys.
