Omkring 10,000 fans kom för att se matchen mellan Vitor Belfort och Dan Henderson i Goiana i Brasilien förra året. Nu, ett och ett halvt år senare, såldes bara 3,500 biljetter inför Carlos Condit vs Thiago Alves. Det ekonomiska läget i Brasilien påstås ligga bakom detta, vilket inte är en speciellt långsökt tanke.
2014 såldes över 10.000 biljetter inför mötet mellan Vitor Belfort och Dan Henderson i Brasilien. Den senaste siffran från biljettförsäljning visar på en betydande minskning med en skillnad på ungefär 7.000 biljetter. Talespersoner för UFC menar att Brasiliens nuvarande ekonomiska läge ligger bakom de låga siffrorna:
”We know Brazil is going through an economic crisis,” sa Giovanni Decker, talesperson för UFC i Brasilien på presskonferensen efter matchen.”That reflects in all areas of the economy, so also reflects here in the events. On the other side, in terms of pay-per-view numbers on Combate, we’re reaching historical numbers. If we didn’t do good numbers today, MMA continues to do historical numbers in other sides. We’re doing fine, thanks.”
Brasilien har den största marknaden för UFC efter USA. Bloggen The Week ger sin syn på varför det går som det går:
”The economy has stagnated and is about to tip into its worst recession in 25 years. Inflation has soared to 8 percent, eating away people’s paychecks, and widespread corruption has undermined the economy.”
”Brazil was hit by a perfect storm of economic disasters. It is still a commodities-producing country, heavily dependent on exports of its crops and natural resources. In the past year, though, the economies of the countries that buy its goods, particularly China and Germany, have slowed, drying up demand. And the prices of its main exports have plummeted. The oil price plunge has hit Brazil hard, while sugar, coffee, and soybean prices are all down by as much as 33 percent. With government debt piling up, the currency, the Brazilian real, has lost a quarter of its value this year. Drought has produced an acute shortage of water — in São Paulo, some neighborhoods get running water just every other day — and since most of Brazil’s energy is hydroelectric, that means an energy shortage and soaring electricity prices.”
Giovanni Decker kommenterar det faktum att finalen av säsong 4 i den brasilianska versionen av ”The Ultimate Fighter”:
”We will do one less card with this event going from Sao Paulo to Miami,” Berättar Giovanni Decker. ”We had an issue on this card. Like I told you when I entered the UFC two months ago, we want better cards, but we couldn’t get the fight the main event deserved. We moved this card to Miami, which has a big Brazilian and Cuban communities, but UFC Brazil will do the entire event. All sponsors from TUF Brazil will have the same rights as if it was here in Brazil.”
Om det fortsätter på samma spår får vi sannolikt se en annan marknad ta över efter Brasilien.
