Who are the UFC's top 5 PPV draws?

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source: mmajunkie.com

Of the eight champions now populating the UFC's ranks, three are top pay-per-view draws.

Five fighters – Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, Chael Sonnen and Rashad Evans – are the promotion's current kings, White said following UFC 152.

White disclosed the list in rebuttal to a Toronto Sun story that was gloomy on the UFC's future. Among its assertions, ex-UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar was listed as the promotion's No. 1 attraction.

White hinted that a new addition to the top-five list is Sonnen, who trumpeted his position as the UFC's top PPV earner in several interviews prior to the blockbuster UFC 148 event, where he lost a second time to middleweight champ Silva.

"Chael Sonnen makes the list now," White said. "I know everybody's going to say, 'He's getting defensive.' I'm not defensive. It just pisses me off when people write inaccurate stories – just to be a d---."

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tags: Georges St-Pierre (detail) Anderson Silva (detail) Jon Jones (detail) Chael Sonnen (detail) Rashad Evans (detail)

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9/25/12 4:55 PM by superCalo

Henderson has never been a draw throughout his career, he is loved by hardcore fans, which is why he was let go by the uFc previously, although always highly ranked from a business perspective he was not as worth as much as other so called lessor fighters, but that does not translate into increased pPv numbers. Rampage I expect was a draw but that has declined signficantly in recent years, likewise Vandy who has been so inactive.

9/25/12 4:42 PM by Hungry4Stink

Yeah it seems obvious the biggest fights they could make would be GSP-Anderson or any combination of Jones, Chael, Rashad, Anderson.The other big fight I could see between fighters theoretically on the Zuffa roster would be Ronda-Gina. I could see that generating a ton of interest for a Fox card.

9/25/12 4:26 PM by dmjr98

I've gotta disagree. 114 did so well because of tuf 10 and BOTH of their personalities. While Tito may have been coming off a win rashad was still the bigger star thus bigger draw. Also his first fight after leaving jacksons and most people (myself included) wanted to see what type of fighter he had become since joining the blackzilians. Talk to me about jones being a draw after his next 2 fights. His best 2 ppv were because of the promotion done by his opponents (rampage and suga). His next fight will sell especially if he gets sonnen ( sonnen will hype the fight and the ufc will promote it heavily) but I'm interested to see what his ppv look like with no drama or controversy. Rashads lowest ppv was 108 and those numbers were still pretty good. He's also got 3 ppv that average out to 1 million a piece.

9/25/12 2:12 PM by TARRat

No, but it takes two to tango, as they say. I don't think Phil Davis vs anyone (outside of possibly Silva or Jones) really would have done all that much. Kinda like it's questionable how well Silva-Bonnar is going to do, even though it's Silva.

9/25/12 2:01 PM by OnlyTheStrongSurvive

Rampage was the bigger draw at that point, and I think Tito was as well given his name and that he had just won. Jones enviously is bigger. I'm not saying Rashad didn't do anything to hype up those fights, but they had more to do with his opponents than him imo. For example, I don't think Rashad vs Phil Davis would have done very well on ppv.

9/25/12 12:44 PM by drunken pat

My top 5#1anderson sliva#2jbj#3joe louzon (he always puts on fotn performance & im from boston)#4frankie edgar#5diaz bros.

9/25/12 12:41 PM by cambeezee

Arianny should make that list too.

9/25/12 12:36 PM by Jaybrone

Nick is not a draw his fight with BJ pulled average numbers at best. And BJ has always had pretty good numbers. His fight with Carlos wasn't a big draw either.

9/25/12 12:24 PM by TARRat

Did anyone else here read the original Toronto Sun article? I did, and I don't see anything wrong with its depiction of Lesnar. It stated, and I quote - thus the quotes - "The injuries have come in a year in which No. 1 attraction Brock Lesnar walked away." It doesn't say Lesnar is NOW. I said I don't see anything wrong - that is, unless Lesnar wasn't the #1 attraction. But I thought it was widely accepted as truth that he was.As far as Rashad goes, I wonder how they calculated it. Was it just numbers from cards the fighters were on, so that even if someone was 2nd fight on the main card, it's counted? Or are they just referring to main and co-main events? Are they looking at averages, or totals? I didn't see any metric stated in either article.

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