The Triller Fight Card featuring Vitor Belfort against Evander Holyfield was a major flop, as according to some reports, the event did close to 150k PPV buys. The PPV buys couldn’t even cover the fight purses and other expenses.
Per sources, #HolyfieldBelfort event totaled about 150k PPV buys between linear & digital platforms, which would make it a massive $ loser for Triller. At 150k it would gross about $7.5M from ppv, not remotely close to covering even the purses, not to mention rest of expenses.
— Dan Rafael (@DanRafael1) September 16, 2021
The main event and co-main event lasted under one round, and it featured three old MMA veterans and a 58-year-old former boxing champion. It was expected that the fight would generate million PPV buys but was enough to cover the expenses but sadly it wasn’t.
Vitor Belfort and the Triller team even went on to challenge Jake Paul for a $30M winner takes all fight. Now, knowing the numbers that the Belfort card generated, it is very unlikely that Paul would even respond to the call out.
Many have not even heard of the promotion, Triller as it is still new to the game. The first major event that they hosted was none other than the Tyson vs Jones fight. It was a huge success as Mike Tyson is a household name, many hardcore fans looked up to Mike, and him getting back in the boxing ring once more was a huge opportunity.
The next major event they hosted was Paul vs Askren, where they had good numbers but were lower than expected. It was an indication that the promotion might have some things that the public doesn’t know. Even UFC President Dana White came on regarding the numbers that Paul vs Askren generated was lower than reported.
Triller also bid the highest for the Lopez vs Kambosos, their bid was so high that the second-highest bid was not even close. It was a bit suspecting and also the fight was moved due to Lopez testing positive for COVID. It was a questionable incident, but the fight will likely happen on October 4.
Another factor would be that had Oscar De La Hoya not test positive for COVID, the numbers would have been higher. De La Hoya is still a massive name in the USA and Mexico, he was a PPV cash cow in his prime. When he fought Floyd Mayweather, he was the A-side of the negotiation, which just shows how big of a name he was before.
