Barão's defeat to Dillashaw sells poorly and has the worst PPV record of the year in the UFC

Barão (left) and Dillashaw (right) were in the main fight of UFC 173. Photo: Disclosure

The lighter categories experience historical difficulty in achieving a large volume of package sales pay-per-view when they top the UFC cards. The historic defeat of Renan Barao for TJ Dillashaw at UFC 173 once again proved this maxim. Despite being the stage for one of the organization's most memorable moments in 2014, the event held in Las Vegas (USA) had the worst sales figure of the year, with a maximum of 200 units sold.

The data comes from the marketing consultancy “AC Neilsen”, as Ultimate does not officially disclose the sales figures for its events in pay-per-view. Coincidentally, the second worst PPV sales event of the year was also headlined by a Renan Barao: UFC 169, in which the Brazilian was challenged by Urijah faber. The best record of the year so far was due to the triumph of Jon Jones about Glover Teixeira.

Check out the complete list of UFC PPV sales in 2014 below:

UFC 169: Barao x Faber II – 230 thousand;

UFC 170: Rousey x McMann – 340 thousand;

UFC 171: Hendricks x Lawler – 300 thousand;

UFC 172: Jones x Teixeira – 350 thousand;

UFC 173: Barão x Dillashaw – 200 thousand;

UFC 174: Johnson x Bagautinov – Estimated numbers not yet released.