UFC: Why Dana White and Zuffa Should Worry About the Drop in PPV Buys

The UFC had, for all intents and purposes, a "down year" in 2011.

Sure, the company isn't going under anytime soon, and the panic meter hasn't even been turned on yet. But there still should be some measure of concern, especially considering Dana White and the UFC want to do more shows in 2012.

Although most people would believe that more shows equals more money, that isn't true.

As the UFC continues to grow and put on more shows, fans are beginning to become over-saturated with "lower-level" main events.

Fights like Rashad Evans vs. Tito Ortiz and Quinton Jackson vs. Matt Hamill shouldn't be headlining major UFC events.

Of course, injuries plagued some shows, most noticeably the two events mentioned above, and that will always be the case in a combat sport.

Taking a look at the PPV buy rates from 2011, the biggest shows of course had the biggest draws in the UFC. UFC 126, UFC 129 and UFC 141 were the biggest moneymakers for the UFC in 2011.

UFC 126 benefited from having fan favorites like Vitor Belfort, Forrest Griffin and Rich Franklin dotting the card along with Anderson Silva. Having two young future stars like Jon Jones and Ryan Bader didn't hurt, either.

UFC 129 was undoubtedly the event of the year for the UFC. Besides the UFC on Fox event, the company put so much time into making UFC 129 something special. It effectively became a week-long event with the fan expo.

The fact it was the UFC's first stadium show almost became more of a spectacle than the show itself.

Another one of the UFC's biggest draws, Brock Lesnar, was making his return at UFC 141. The UFC knows that putting Georges St-Pierre and Brock Lesnar on a card guarantees them at least 700,000 buys.

The problem for the UFC is that both of them are out of action in 2012. GSP's ACL injury is going to put him on the sidelines for longer than people are thinking and Lesnar retired following his loss at UFC 141.

Without the two main draws and with Silva out until the summer, the UFC is going to need to put their hype machine into overdrive. Not only is the middleweight title inactive until later this year, the bantamweight title likely won't be defended for a while given that Urijah Faber and Dominick Cruz will be coaching the next Ultimate Fighter.

Jon "Bones" Jones has had the best year of any MMA fighter, but clearly isn't a hit with fans. Beyond all the negative talk about Jones on the Internet, Jones' buy rates for the three shows he headlined are extremely low for a UFC champion.

UFC 135 did over 700,000 buys but considering UFC 140 didn't even break 500,000, I'm willing to bet the main draw at UFC 135 was "Rampage" Jackson.

The promotion has clearly hit a bit of a plateau, but that is likely to end with the UFC and Fox sports deal. A new type of audience will be integrating into the MMA scene and as new stars are built throughout the year, these new fans will be able to identify with them more than the hardcore fans.

I know MMA fans like to distance themselves from WWE, but you can draw comparisons from how the UFC has relied too heavily on the big names like GSP and Lesnar.

WWE just lost their No. 2 draw behind John Cena with the injury to Randy Orton, and it's scary to think how the company would be able to handle losing both Cena and Orton given the state of blandness in WWE.

This scary thought is now a reality with the UFC given that their top draws likely will only be on one show this year or none at all.

There are plenty of good fighters in the UFC, and there's a bevy of talented fighters who could take the leap into superstardom. It's just a matter of the UFC getting behind them and building them up to fans.