#1.) Biggest female box office draw in combat sports history
When Ronda Rousey was set to headline UFC 157, it was met with a lot of criticism because many fans felt that Lyoto Machida vs Dan Henderson should have been the main event. However, Rousey’s star power shined and the first-ever Women’s PPV main event in UFC history saw a whopping 450,000 buys.
From her third title defence onwards, her stock kept rising, her popularity kept rising and subsequently, the PPV numbers kept rising. She would go on to become the company’s top three PPV draws with the likes of Conor McGregor, Jon Jones and Brock Lesnar.
The peak of her popularity saw her fight with Holly Holm hit a massive 1.1 million PPV buys. She would return just before the end of 2017 and her return fight against Amanda Nunes also saw the same 1.1 million figure.
This makes her the undisputed female box office draw in all of combat sports. The fact that she had an air of invincibility about her heading into the Holly Holm fight. It was something similar to when Conor McGregor went into the first Nate Diaz fight in 2016.
Rousey’s PPV accomplishments are something that will very likely not be matched for a long time to come.
