The three biggest pay-per-views in mixed martial arts were headlined by someone who had never even fought for the UFC before 2007, Brock Lesnar, and gained most of his fame as a pro wrestler, although he never pro wrestled during the year.
The biggest pay-per-view event in pro wrestling was headlined by one of the biggest names in boxing, Floyd Mayweather Jr., who never boxed during the year.
And the biggest event in boxing was headlined by what most were calling a mismatch, Oscar De La Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao, with one fighter, Pacquiao having to jump up several weight classes for a bout heavily criticized beforehand. It turned out to be a mismatch, but not in the way most had predicted going in.
But when the dust settled on an unusual year, the biggest news of 2008 was the emergence of Lesnar as the year’s pay-per-view king. Lesnar’s 2.2 million buys over three fights made him the most-watched PPV fighter in 2008. His total was the second highest total in UFC history, trailing only Tito Ortiz, who did 2.25 million in headlining three events in 2006.
Lesnar, a former NCAA wrestling champion who had only one mixed martial arts fight before signing with UFC at the end of 2007, drew an estimate 1,010,000 buys for his heavyweight title win over Randy Couture at UFC 91 on Nov। 15. He also drew in the 600,000 buy range for both a February loss to Frank Mir and an August match with Heath Herring (which was part of a double headline event that also included Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch for the welterweight title), which were the fourth and fifth biggest PPV totals of the year.
| Top 10 North American PPV buy rates, 2008 |
| 1. Boxing: Oscar De La Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao, Dec. 6, 1,250,000 |
| 2. UFC: Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Couture, Nov. 15, 1,010,000 |
| 3. Wrestling: WrestleMania, Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Paul “Big Show” Wight, March 30, 670,000 |
| 4. UFC: Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch/Lesnar vs. Heath Herring, Aug. 9, 625,000 |
| 5. UFC: Lesnar vs. Frank Mir, Feb. 2, 600,000 |
| 6. UFC: Quinton Jackson vs. Forrest Griffin, July 5, 540,000 |
| 7. UFC: St. Pierre vs. Matt Serra, April 19, 530,000 |
| 8. Boxing: Felix Trinidad vs. Roy Jones Jr., Jan. 19, 500,000 |
| 9. UFC: Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans, Sept. 6, 480,000 |
| 10. UFC: B.J. Penn vs. Sean Sherk/Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida, May 24, 475,000 |
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