Is UFC finally feeling the effects of overexposure through running too many major shows?

That's the obvious question to ponder, after Dave Meltzer reported in the March 15, 2010 Wrestling Observer Newsletter that early trending data for UFC 110 suggests that only 215,000-240,000 homes bought the show.  This isn't a particularly low number for an overseas show, but the show wasn't tape-delayed and on paper had a stronger line up than most previous overseas PPV shows.  Overexposure may be the answer, as UFC 110 came just two weeks after their last PPV event.  It doesn't help that UFC may have conditioned their more casual PPV buying audience to believe that all overseas PPV events are skippable after a series of lackluster line-ups.  Ironically, UFC 100 might not have helped either, raising the expectations of casual fans for PPV line-ups after seeing Brock Lesnar and George St Pierre defend their titles on the same show as the blow off to a big Ultimate Fighter captains grudge match.

Zach Arnold of www.fightopinion.com ponders the related question: "Why did UFC 110 reportedly not draw big on PPV?" with similar answers.  In particular, he wonders whether this is a sign that UFC's core PPV buying audience has shrunk significantly.

Dana White in the past has always scoffed about the potential perils of overexposure, thinking MMA, unlike other combat sports, would be immune to its effects, citing the unrelated examples of team based sports like football and basketball, which maintain their popularity despite so many matches being televised for free.  He may learn to regret the day that he didn't learn the lessons of boxing's and WWE's pasts, and conned himself into believing that MMA could be the biggest sport in the whole wide world.