The Tito Ortiz vs. Alberto El Patron fight put on by Combate Americas earlier this month was a hit in Mexico, but the same apparently can’t be said for the United States.
The promotion today announced the Dec. 7 event, which saw former UFC champion Ortiz submit former WWE star El Patron with a rear-naked choke in the first round, had big ratings on Televisa Canal 5 in Mexico, reaching 3.1 million total viewers.
The pay-per-view buys in the U.S., however, “did not fare as well,” the organization said in a press release. “Initial reports indicate a low buy rate for the company’s only pay-per-view offering to date.”
A statement from Combate Americas CEO Campbell McLaren was also included in the release.
“We pulled off the biggest event in the company’s history, and it showed across a number of platforms, including the size of our live broadcast television audience in Mexico, the crowd of nearly 7,000 fans in the arena, the number of online pay-per-view buys from consumers in Latin America and the heavy activity on social media from an assortment of public figures that either tuned in or were paying attention, including U.S. President Donald Trump,” McLaren stated.
“The television pay-per-view environment in the U.S. has changed dramatically, though, in just the last few years, as I know well from producing the original UFCs, but we delivered the show we promised, and Combate Americas will continue to grow across the media platforms and venues that thrive and demand our programming.”
