While the Nate Diaz vs. Jorge Masvidal boxing match ended up being surprisingly entertaining earlier this month (Sat., July 6, 2024) in Anaheim, Calif. , it looks like the pay-per-view (PPV) event was a financial flop.
Indeed, Diaz is currently suing promoter Fanmio over $9 million in unpaid money, and his filing suggested that Fanmio owner, Solomon Engel, “might have to declare bankruptcy to avoid paying Diaz what he owes.”
Now, we have Dave Meltzer from Wrestling Observer reporting on the PPV sales of the event … and they were bad. In fact, “TNA Wrestling bad.”
Meltzer stated that the pay-per-view performance was extremely disappointing, comparing it to the viewership numbers of TNA. He emphasized that he was not exaggerating and expressed his surprise at the abysmal outcome. Hardly anyone purchased the fight, indicating a general disinterest among the audience in watching MMA fighters transition into boxing.
TNA wrestling experiences fluctuating success in Pay-Per-View (PPV) sales. While they have achieved impressive numbers of up to 60,000 units sold, there have also been instances of poor sales, such as a recent event that only managed to sell 5,000 buys. In the world of combat sports events, it is generally necessary for a promotion to surpass 100,000 buys to be financially sustainable. Considering the price of $49.99 per buy, this would result in sales revenue of approximately $5 million.
In this case, that doesn’t even cover half of Diaz’s agreed-upon purse (disclosed payouts here).
However, amidst the gloomy business news, there is a silver lining. The highly anticipated fight between Diaz and Masvidal, titled “Diaz vs. Masvidal”, proved to be a remarkable success. The California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) reported that the event drew a crowd of 13,767 attendees, generating an impressive gate revenue of $1.25 million at the Honda Center in Anaheim.
That’s a solid number of people to pull in, but the gate still pales in comparison to Diaz versus Jake Paul back in Aug. 2023, which hit $3.7 million. And we’re quickly learning that when it comes to these random boxing matches, people aren’t quite as quick to crack open their wallets as they are for UFC events.
Maybe they’re sick of seeing UFC fighters box. Maybe they just don’t have an extra $50 they can spend on one interesting fight. And you can’t ignore how heavily pirated the event seemed to be, based on all the links being promoted across social media on fight night.
Better luck next time?
For the latest “Diaz vs. Masvidal”-related news and fallout click here.
