UFC 252, headlined by the trilogy fight of Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier, reportedly generated over a quarter million pay-per-view buys. Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Report: UFC 252 drew over 500,000 pay-per-view buys?

By Zac Wassink | Last updated Aug 20, 2020 6:07 PM ET

TSN's Aaron Bronsteter tweeted on Thursday that John Ourand of Sports Business Journal is reporting the UFC 252 show headlined by the heavyweight title trilogy fight between champion Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier generated over 500,000 pay-per-view buys worldwide and approximately 400,000 buys in the United States via ESPN+, the exclusive in-home site for UFC PPVs.

Three UFC cards from 2020 drew bigger numbers.

Per @Ourand_SBJ, UFC 252 drew the fourth-most buys of any UFC event in 2020.

UFC 252 sold more than 500,000 buys worldwide and roughly 400,000 in the US on ESPN+ per Ourand.

The report states that the three events with bigger numbers were UFC 246, UFC 251 and UFC 249.
— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) August 20, 2020

UFC 246 was headlined by Conor McGregor versus Donald Cerrone. UFC 249, the promotion's first show held without fans amid the coronavirus pandemic, featured Justin Gaethje defeating Tony Ferguson. UFC 251 provided viewers with three title bouts.

On July 13, The Athletic's Mike Coppinger reported UFC 251 generated 1.3 million buys, the sixth time in history the company hit that mark.

Miocic versus Cormier III was advertised as the fight that would determine the greatest UFC heavyweight in history and a retirement contest for Cormier, win or lose. Miocic successfully defended the strap via unanimous decision.

UFC boss Dana White has said on multiple occasions that Miocic's next championship defense will be versus knockout artist Francis Ngannou even though Jon Jones, widely viewed as the most talented overall fighter in UFC history, is making a move to heavyweight to chase that title.

Zac Wassink

Zac Wassink is a longtime sports news writer and PFWA member who began his career in 2006 and has had his work featured on Yardbarker, MSN, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. He is also a football and futbol aficionado who is probably yelling about Tottenham Hotspur at the moment and who chanted for Matt Harvey to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field. You can find him on X at @ZacWassink

More must-reads: