In the Wrestling Observer Newsletter this week, Dave Meltzer has a short report on early numbers for the UFC 91 show.  He reports that it looks to have beaten UFC 61 (Ortiz v. Shamrock) and came up just below UFC 66 (Ortiz vs. Liddell) in some areas.

I've received two preliminary estimates that put it in the 800,000-850,000 range.  If those numbers hold up, it will be the second biggest UFC buyrate ever.  It did not do the 1.2 million that White predicted, but I never believed this show could break a million without an incredible promotional push.  It didn't get that push, but still apparently did great business.  

Internal estimates were in the 800-900 range, the 1.2 million was public bluster to get ESPN to cover it.  The tactic worked, but I get the feeling that scam will only work once.

Before this show, Couture's highest buyrate was against Tim Sylvia for his 2007 return that did 540,000 buys.