Most Lucrative stuff in Combat Sports
I am a lifelong Combat Sports fan and historian with a blog (StrengthFighter.com) created expecially to spread the gospel.
I am so obsessed with Combat Sports that I have created my own Combat Sport (SLAUGHTERSPORT) and my own Fighters (Combatants).
But in my lifelong quest to create the most perfect and utopic Combat Sport ever. I needed to think about what the people really want.
Is it a better barometer to see what the people want than by searching for the biggest box-office Moneymakers in Combat Sports history?
Nope!
Money talks and bullshit walks!
That is how life goes!
3 things to watch in searching for the most popular stuff in Combat Sports & martial arts.
- Fighters
- Movies
- Video Games
Without further ado, here is…
The most lucrative fighter, fighting movie, and fighting video game in history.
1- Floyd Mayweather
The best paid sportman and the undefeatable Franchise of pro boxing.
 |
| Floyd Mayweather, Jr. 5’8″, 149 lbs, age 38 (2015) 8% body fat |
For this year 2015, Floyd Mayweather is the World’s Highest-Paid Athlete. He cashed $285 Million in fight purses and $15 Million in endorsements for a total $300 MILLION just for one year!! (source Forbes.com)
A $100 MILLION for his fight against Manny Pacquiao. The match had gross revenues of $600 Million. (source)
 |
| Floyd Mayweather toy collection |
http://www.forbes.com/athletes/list/#tab:overall
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2015/06/10/with-300-million-haul-floyd-mayweather-tops-forbes-2015-list-of-the-worlds-highest-paid-athletes/
http://m.nydailynews.com/entertainment/luxurious-life-floyd-mayweather-social-media-gallery-1.2127854
2- Rocky (franchise / film series)
Over $1 BILLION in Worldwide Box Office Revenues!!!
| Release Date | Movie | Production Budget |
Domestic Opening Weekend |
Domestic Box Office |
Worldwide Box Office |
Trailer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 21, 1976 | Rocky | $1,000,000 | $117,235,147 | $225,000,000 | ||
| Jun 15, 1979 | Rocky 2 | $6,390,537 | $85,182,160 | $200,182,160 | ||
| May 28, 1982 | Rocky III | $16,015,408 | $119,350,720 | $119,350,720 | ||
| Nov 27, 1985 | Rocky IV | $19,991,537 | $123,947,780 | $296,447,780 | ||
| Nov 16, 1990 | Rocky V | $14,073,170 | $40,946,358 | $119,946,358 | ||
| Dec 20, 2006 | Rocky Balboa | $24,000,000 | $12,158,168 | $70,269,899 | $156,229,050 | |
| Nov 25, 2015 | Creed | $0 | $0 | Play | ||
| Totals | $25,000,000 | $556,932,064 | $1,117,156,068 | |||
| Averages | $12,500,000 | $13,725,764 | $92,822,011 | $186,192,678 | ||
with cumulative budget of $119 Million!!
I can tell you that the Karate Kid series is not too far behind. Especially the cheesy 2010 movie version with Jackie Chan teaching a black child to fight. The mainstream public seems to have affection for the underdogs. Anyway, I do prefer to see Rocky Balboa as the Ultimate Fighting Films Money Making Machine (UFF3M) than the wimpy and skinny Karate Kid.
http://www.filmsite.org/series-boxoffice.html
http://sourcesofinsight.com/why-movies-like-rocky-and-the-karate-kid-work/
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/rocky-franchise-gallery-1.96776
http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Rocky
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_(film_series)
3- Street Fighter II
Thanks god, the arcade game version of Street Fighter II saved us from a first position of the cheesy Mario Brawl stuff.
Street Fighter II (Arcade version) earned $2.312 BILLION in gross revenues from 1991 to 1995.
The Street Fighter video games franchise sells 36 million units since August 30, 1987.
“Street Fighter II is regarded as one of the most influential video games of all time, and the most important fighting game in particular. The release of Street Fighter II in 1991 is often considered a revolutionary moment in the fighting game genre… Its success inspired a wave of other fighting games, which were initially often labelled as “clones”, including popular franchises such as Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct, Virtua Fighter, and Tekken.” source wikipedia
Best-selling video game franchises
WWE 2K sells 60 millions unit since February 29, 2000.
Tekken sold 45.6 million copies worldwide.
Street Fighter sells 36 million units.
Super Smash Bros. sells 32.36 million units.
Anyway, Street Fighter II is da best in term of Money making (when you include arcade revenues), popularity, and influence. Street Fighter II set the standard for fighting games.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_Fighter_II:_The_World_Warrior#Impact
http://www.eventhubs.com/news/2015/jan/28/new-super-smash-bros-has-almost-10-million-sales-do-you-know-which-version-has-almost-double-numbers-other-release/
http://www.eventhubs.com/news/2013/sep/20/whos-1-fighting-game-sales-harada-says-tekken-425-million-copies-sold-date/
http://www.cubed3.com/news/20171/1/feature-insight-the-world-of-street-fighter-on-wii-u-virtual-console.html
http://www.dammagedgoods.com/2014/05/not-love-actually-street-fighter.html
What we got here?
An undefeatable champion (Floyd Mayweather)
An underdog (Rocky Balboa)
An international fighting tournament (Street Fighter II)
This is what the people really want and are willing to pay for.