Title fights in regards to number of divisions and PPVs each year
On the topic of Lewis vs. Gane being an interim title, UFC wanting a headliner because of their deal with Toyota Center and Ngannou not being ready to defend in August within 4.5 months of his previous fight. I decided to look up the number of title fights per year, division and in regards to the number of PPVs.
TL:DR: If Ngannou only fought once, it wouldn't be out of the ordinary. If he fights twice that's better than average. Thus far in 2021 we're on par with previous years in terms of title fights and PPVs / events.
Looks like the average of title fights per total event has stayed more or less the same, but the number of title fights per PPV has increased somewhat (since they started doing fewer PPVs and more other events).
For most years there's two or less title fights per division with 2008, 2013, 2015 and 2016 being the exceptions when there were more than two title fights per division
It was a lot more common in the past to have PPVs that wasn't headlined by title fights (And that's despite McGregor headlining a few PPVs without fighting for a title, twice in 2016, once in 2020, once in 2021).
Title fights per PPV, adjusted for the number of number of title fights that weren't held on PPV, thus removed any title fights that were on fox/espn cards (or its equivalent) And the numbers when they're included, comparing all title fights with PPVs.
| Year | Title fights | PPVs | * | All titles / Number of PPV | Titles / PPVs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 11 | 7 | 1.6 | 1.6 | |
| 2020 | 19 | 11 | 2 | 1.7 | 1.5 |
| 2019 | 19 | 13 | 3 | 1.5 | 1.2 |
| 2018 | 19 | 13 | 1.5 | 1.5 | |
| 2017 | 20 | 12 | 2 | 1.7 | 1.5 |
| 2016 | 22 | 13 | 4 | 1.7 | 1.4 |
| 2015 | 20 | 13 | 3 | 1.5 | 1.3 |
| 2014 | 16 | 12 | 1 | 1.3 | 1.3 |
| 2013 | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1.5 | 1.1 |
| 2012 | 13 | 13 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.9 |
| 2011 | 13 | 17 | 2 | 0.8 | 0.6 |
| 2010 | 10 | 17 | 0.6 | 0.6 | |
| 2009 | 8 | 15 | 0.5 | 0.5 | |
| 2008 | 11 | 13 | 0.8 | 0.8 |
Comparing the number of title fights with the total number of events held each year.
Comparing the number of title fights in regards to total number of divisions
Number of PPVs in regard to total number of events.
| Year | Total events | Titles / Events | Divisions | Titles / division |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 22 | 0.5 | 12 | 0.9 |
| 2020 | 41 | 0.5 | 12 | 1.6 |
| 2019 | 42 | 0.5 | 12 | 1.6 |
| 2018 | 39 | 0.5 | 12 | 1.6 |
| 2017 | 39 | 0.5 | 12 | 1.7 |
| 2016 | 41 | 0.5 | 10 | 2.2 |
| 2015 | 41 | 0.5 | 10 | 2.0 |
| 2014 | 40 | 0.4 | 10 | 1.6 |
| 2013 | 33 | 0.6 | 9 | 2.1 |
| 2012 | 31 | 0.4 | 9 | 1.4 |
| 2011 | 27 | 0.5 | 7 | 1.9 |
| 2010 | 24 | 0.4 | 7 | 1.4 |
| 2009 | 20 | 0.4 | 5 | 1.6 |
| 2008 | 20 | 0.6 | 5 | 2.2 |
Number of title fights per division and year (men).
| Year | Flyweight | BW | FW | LW | WW | MW | LHW | HW |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2020 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 2019 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 2018 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| 2017 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 2016 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| 2015 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| 2014 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2013 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 2012 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 2011 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | |
| 2010 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |||
| 2009 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||
| 2008 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
Number of title fights for the women's division and year.
| Year | wSW | wFlyweight | wBW | wFW | Total (All Divisions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 11 |
| 2020 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 19 |
| 2019 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 19 |
| 2018 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 19 |
| 2017 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 20 |
| 2016 | 2 | 3 | 22 | ||
| 2015 | 3 | 3 | 20 | ||
| 2014 | 1 | 2 | 16 | ||
| 2013 | 2 | 19 | |||
| 2012 | 13 | ||||
| 2011 | 13 | ||||
| 2010 | 10 | ||||
| 2009 | 8 | ||||
| 2008 | 11 |
*Events headlined by title fight that wasn't a PPV
2011, Dominick Cruz vs. Demetrious Johnson (UFC Live: Cruz vs. Johnson), Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos (UFC on Fox: Velasquez vs. dos Santos)
2012, Benson Henderson vs. Nate Diaz (UFC on Fox: Henderson vs. Diaz)
2013, Demetrious Johnson vs. John Dodson (UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Dodson), Demetrious Johnson vs. John Moraga (UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Moraga), Demetrious Johnson vs. Joseph Benavidez (UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Benavidez 2), Renan Barão vs. Michael McDonald (UFC on Fuel TV: Barão vs. McDonald), Benson Henderson vs. Gilbert Melendez (UFC on Fox: Henderson vs. Melendez )
2014, Carla Esparza vs Rose Namajunas (The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned Finale)
2015, Joanna Jędrzejczyk vs. Jessica Penne (UFC Fight Night: Jędrzejczyk vs. Penne), T.J. Dillashaw vs. Renan Barão (UFC on Fox: Dillashaw vs. Barão 2), Rafael dos Anjos vs. Donald Cerrone (UFC on Fox: dos Anjos vs. Cowboy 2)
2016, Joanna Jędrzejczyk vs. Cláudia Gadelha (The Ultimate Fighter: Team Joanna vs. Team Cláudia Finale), Demetrious Johnson vs. Tim Elliott (The Ultimate Fighter: Tournament of Champions Finale), T.J. Dillashaw vs. Dominick Cruz (UFC Fight Night: Dillashaw vs. Cruz), Rafael dos Anjos vs. Eddie Alvarez (UFC Fight Night: dos Anjos vs. Alvarez)
2017, Nicco Montaño vs. Roxanne Modafferi (The Ultimate Fighter: A New World Champion Finale) Demetrious Johnson vs. Wilson Reis (UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Reis)
2019, Jéssica Andrade vs. Zhang Weili (UFC Fight Night: Andrade vs. Zhang), Valentina Shevchenko vs. Liz Carmouche (UFC Fight Night: Shevchenko vs. Carmouche 2), Henry Cejudo vs. T.J. Dillashaw (UFC Fight Night: Cejudo vs. Dillashaw)
2020, Joseph Benavidez vs. Deiveson Figueiredo (UFC Fight Night: Benavidez vs. Figueiredo), Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Joseph Benavidez (UFC Fight Night: Figueiredo vs. Benavidez 2)
Interim titles counted.
If it was intended/marketed to be a title fight, but one of the fighters missed weight, I've still included it:
Including Joseph Benavidez vs. Deiveson Figueired 1, Figueired missed weight.
Including two titles fights at MW in 2018, two weight misses by Romero (Yoel Romero vs. Luke Rockhold and Yoel Romero vs. Robert Whittaker)
Not including Daniel Cormier vs. Anderson Silva on UFC 200 in 2016 (Jon Jones was pulled from the event on three days notice).
Featherweight, Bantamweight added in 2010.
Flyweight, Women's Bantamweight added in 2012.
Women's Strawweight added in 2014.
Women's Featherweight, Women's Flyweight added in 2017.
I can't guarantee that all the numbers are correct.
The data mainly comes from wikipedia, primarily:
List of UFC champions, some fights aren't listed there, but I've tried to make sure I included the ones that were missing.
(Given that the inaugural titles / WEC title defense weren't held in the beginning of a year, the fights / division could be a bit misleading for the years when a new division was added).
2008 seemed as good of a start year as any with the end of Pride in the previous year.
Posted Jul 1, 2021, 12:15 AM UTC · edited