Lol a shocking twist. Did no one in the UFC want this fight?
GSP vs. Jay "Dat Raw Uncut Not Stepped On" Hieron II
Believe.
-
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MMA |OT3| When you lose you're a can, when you win you're unstoppable.
- Thread starter Heel
- Start date
Lol a shocking twist. Did no one in the UFC want this fight?
GSP vs. Jay "Dat Raw Uncut Not Stepped On" Hieron II
Believe.
parrotbeak
Member
Oh, Jake lost to him way back in IFL, so that kinda makes sense.
TheKaeptain
Banned
Female Midget Wrestling is on.
bone_and_sinew
breaking down barriers in gratuitous nudity
Darker time, MMA as a whole or MMA-GAF? We must have some undercover mods and snitches here for so many of us to get the hammer so suddenly.
I've noticed Heel is never around when the hammer drops.
bone_and_sinew
breaking down barriers in gratuitous nudity
I think you're only accusing Heel to throw us off your scent. The best way to prevent an MMA-GAF civil war is to have us non-deviants, who do not like McKifla, to be silently taken care of. I see through your web of lies and deceit.
bone_and_sinew
breaking down barriers in gratuitous nudity
killamajig
Member
So I watched The Hammer. The Matt Hamill story. ( Its on Netflix)
It' centers on Matt's college wrestling. No UFC stuff. A very by the numbers inspirational story. Had that After School Special feel. It would be a good movie to watch with your junior high/HS age kids I guess. Or something to have your mom watch if she thinks all MMA guys are low IQ brutes.
There is a cameo by a former middle weight champ as a wrestling coach. Can you guess?
I give it 2 out of 5 head kicks to Mark Munoz.
It' centers on Matt's college wrestling. No UFC stuff. A very by the numbers inspirational story. Had that After School Special feel. It would be a good movie to watch with your junior high/HS age kids I guess. Or something to have your mom watch if she thinks all MMA guys are low IQ brutes.
There is a cameo by a former middle weight champ as a wrestling coach. Can you guess?
I give it 2 out of 5 head kicks to Mark Munoz.
Maklershed
Member
Came here to post that. DVR set. BONUS: Ziggy Marley is also on the show.
dream
Member
This is an update on the heavyweight picture. Dana White had announced Junior Dos Santos vs. Cain Velasquez for the 9/22 show in Toronto originally, but then said it wouldnt happen there. Then there was talk of it happening later in the year, likely in December, either on the 12/8 FOX show or the 12/29 Las Vegas show. On Saturday, after the show, Dana White said that Dos Santos doesnt want to fight Velasquez, that he thinks Alistair Overeem is a punk and wants to beat his ass. White wouldnt have brought that up unless they were at least contemplating giving Overeem the next shot. The issue is that Overeem cant even get a hearing to get a license based on his testosterone test failure until 12/27. It would be impossible for UFC to advertise a fight involving Overeem until hes licensed or else it makes the licensing procedure look rubber stamp. So even if they were looking at Overeem fighting anywhere, let alone challenging for the title in a main event, youre pushing it close for even the Super Bowl weekend show. There was talk that UFC would try and get his licensing hearing moved up with the idea hes not fighting until after 12/27, when his suspension (hes not technically suspended, hes not licensed nor allowed to apply for a license until that date, and that was cutting three months off their own regulations as far as if you apply for a license and get turned down, which is what happened with Overeem, you arent allowed to apply again for one year) would be over. Keith Kizer had said this week that they could not give him a hearing until after 12/27, making an Overeem fight on 12/29 seemingly impossible. So UFCs choice would be to put Velasquez in a December fight and have Overeem fight the winner, or put the heavyweight title on hold until February, and do Dos Santos vs. Overeem. If thats the case, then realistically while it would be possible to have the next heavyweight title match on the Memorial Day weekend show in Las Vegas, that would be if the winner of that fight isnt hurt at all, and the July mega show would be more likely. Velasquez doesnt want to fight anyone but Dos Santos at this point, but waiting until Memorial Day or July, which would mean hed be out of action one year to 14 months, would be a risk on his part. You go from risking the automatic shot to risking going in with some ring rust and going a year without a big payday during your career prime. With Frank Mir out of the picture, who Velasquez was originally going to fight in May before Overeem got pulled, that would leave Fabricio Werdum as the most logical opponent. Velasquez and his camp were trying to push for a date or a match, as right now theyve gotten nothing definitive from UFC, since UFC was waiting for Dos Santos to make a commitment. This has led to all kinds of talk in MMA like Dos Santos is ducking Velasquez, to Velasquezs side shouldnt be able to talk since Dos Santos knocked him out with one punch so he doesnt deserve a shot and Overeem does. Then you have the idea that you take the title shot away from the guy who earned it in the cage, and give it to the guy who failed the drug test and couldnt even be licensed. First off, Dos Santos isnt ducking anybody. However, every fighters management is in the game of wanting to make the most money for their fighter with the least risk. Dos Santos vs. Overeem can be pushed as a grudge match, because Overeem will talk the talk and Dos Santos will respond. Dos Santos vs. Velasquez wont have that dynamic. As far as who is the most dangerous opponent for Dos Santos, that is debatable although virtually everyone weve spoken to about this (who dont have dogs in this fight) believe Velasquez is more dangerous, so from the Dos Santos management side, taking a fight that will do better (its not a lock Overeem will draw more on PPV as a challenger because Velasquez does have the drawing power that belies his charisma level because of his being able to draw from the Hispanic market with a Mexican-American going for the world heavyweight title, but outside of that demo, Overeem at worst would be even and at best be ahead) and is less risky is the way to go. UFC is going to go with the fight they think they can make the most money on, and thats not an open and shut case either, because Overeem has the look and charisma, and my gut thinks will be a better challenger for one night. But there is a strong argument that for UFC purposes, Velasquez would be the best champion of the three. Hed absolutely be more valuable to them than Dos Santos. Overeem is a totally different animal. He looks like a guy who would be what youd want as a champion and he carries himself and talks like a superstar. But he also has the drug stigma which is a negative for the company, and would be a lightning rod if he should win the title. So there are no easy answers here. We did an Observer poll and 79% felt Velasquez should get the shot. That it was more for Velasquez wasnt a surprise, but that much a margin surprised me. Of those, 30% said it should be Velasquez because he earned it winning the fight with Antonio Silva, and another 30% said it should be Velasquez because they felt Overeem shouldnt get an immediate title shot without winning a fight due to his drug test situation. Right now, most feel it is going to Overeem (including those in Velasquezs camp) and Overeems comments on UFC Tonight on 8/7 were something everyone in a debate about a title shot should learn from. I think hes afraid of me, said Overeem about Dos Santos. He was happy that the last fight on May 26 didnt happen. I approached him at the UFC Fight Summit in Vegas and said, lets do it. Lets prove something to the world and lets fight. Then he suddenly acted like he didnt understand English and how he wants to fight Cain first. The fact of the matter is, Im the No. 1 heavyweight in the world and if he wants to be the No. 1 heavyweight, he has to come through me. When Overeem was told that Dos Santos in fact, has asked to fight him because he wants to shut him up, Overeem responded that he thinks Dos Santos is saying that because he expects that fight wont happen. Youve already fought Cain. That would be just another win. But a win over me would give you the No. 1 spot. Without a win over me, theyll always question your championship. So bring it to the table, my friend.
The Ontario Athletic Commission has decided going forward to no longer drug test fighters. In the case of UFC 152, the UFC will handle the testing on its own. Ken Hayashi, the controversial head of the Ontario commission said that were was no legal requirement for hockey or football to have drug testing in Canada, and that in those sports its left up to the organization, so he feels it should be here as well. Thats a nice argument except it has one flaw. What is the athletic commission there for? Its to regulate and make sure cheating doesnt exist in the sports they regulate. Football and hockey dont have a commission regulating them from the outside. If there is a reason for a commission, and there is a drug issue in the sport, then there is a reason commissions if they regulate the sport should drug test, even if the current standards in most places are very lacking. UFC and Marc Ratner will be handling the testing as they do when they go out of the country in places where they dont have athletic commissions.
White has changed his position on testosterone replacement therapy. A month ago, White said, To me, the bottom line is you dont need that junk. If you dont abuse stuff younger in your career, youll never need to use that junk. He said at the time he wished it was banned in the sport. Now he said, Its absolutely 100% legal. As sports medicine continues to advance, this is one of those things where every guys testosterone level starts to drop as they get older this is basically sports science now where they can bring it back up to a normal level. And I think its great. Its absolutely fair. Its legal. The problem is, there are guys who say if this much is good, this much must be great, so have you have guys who are always trying to do more than theyre supposed to. The big job is policing it, making sure that its not being abused, that guys are using it the way its supposed to be used.
Roy Nelson then responded on Twitter by posting a series of Alistair Overeem photos going from 205 pounds of muscle to 263 pounds of muscle and wrote, The juice is good. Dana White says so as long as you dont overdo it. Now I know why Overeem is okay now.
White met with Nate Diaz on 8/6 regarding a new contract. Both sides basically agreed to terms. They talked about Diaz getting the Benson Henderson vs. Edgar winner perhaps in December. The way things are timed if nobody gets hurt (big if) theyve got heavyweight, light heavyweight and lightweight titles all ready in December so they could do two on the 12/29 PPV and one on the 12/8 FOX show. Anderson Silva should be ready about then as well, but theyd probably want him for early 2013. White and Diaz didnt finalize the number of fights. Diazs camp apparently wanted four fights while White wanted a longer deal. Nate Diaz of late has been working a lot as a sparring partner for boxer Andre Ward, being brought in to mimic the style of Chad Dawson, who Ward faces on 9/8.
Tito Ortiz was on MMA Uncensored and said that he tore his ACL before the fight with Griffin and would be undergoing both another knee operation and another neck operation shortly. He said he is absolutely done fighting and that hes tired of fighting injured and undergoing surgeries. He said if he didnt undergo all the operations he would still be fighting, but with them, he has no hunger to fight whatsoever.
The UFC put on its best FOX show to date on 8/4 from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, which saw four fighters compete in the game of who could look the most impressive and get a championship match.
The winner was Lyoto Machida, who knocked out Ryan Bader. At the end of the show, Dana White announced that Machida would face the winner of the Jon Jones vs. Dan Henderson match for the light heavyweight title. No time frame was set for the match, and cant be until after the 9/1 Jones vs. Henderson fight takes place in Las Vegas to see how banged up the winner is.
There wasnt much of a decision. Machida, who came into the fight at a surprising 201 pounds, which means he either cut way too much weight which would be stupid, or didnt cut at all (which is what he indicated), looked more like a middleweight, particularly since Bader looked like a powerhouse at 225 pounds next to him. But Bader couldnt touch him, eventually rushed him and left himself open to a counter shot that knocked him out in the second round.
While the main event, where Shogun Rua stopped Brandon Vera in the fourth round, was the more exciting fight, Rua got tired in the second round and struggled against a fighter who had only won once since 2009. While Vera gained respect and for his career, this was a symbolic win, this Shogun would have been in a lot of trouble against most top light heavyweights. In an Observer poll, 84% agreed with Whites decision, which to me was a no brainer.
The next question becomes what is next when it comes to UFC on major network television. The rating was almost identical to the 5/5 show. Because of the Olympics, there was the built in and very valid excuse. Granted, Raw, Smackdown and Impact this past week all went head-to-head with the Olympics and held up well, those are shows where the audience comes from familiarity. A UFC show which is not weekly on FOX, derives its appeal based on star power and garnering attention. Its hard to get much significant mainstream sports coverage, although FOX did advertise the show better than the prior show. They pushed the names in the main event, did a one-hour Countdown show six days earlier, and there was one commercial building the show around Rua as one of the greatest fighters of the last decade appearing on FOX.
Still, there is still a problem. The question is, what level of star power does UFC need to give away on FOX to now do even the kind of ratings that Elite XC and Strikeforce used to pull on CBS? You could argue the 5/5 show lacked in star power, but this show had Rua and Machida, both former champions, who had each headlined a number of successful PPV shows. The best usage of FOX is to do fights that will create a top contender who then challenges for the title on PPV. The show was up slightly in the key demos, but overall was the same as the last show, and roughly half of the show in January. The Olympics hurt, no doubt, doing 26.08 million viewers.
The show did a 1.44 rating (the 5/5 show did a 1.45) with 2.44 million viewers (up from the 2.42 million of the 5/5 show). CBS doing MMA with Elite XC and Strikeforce never fell below a 1.75, and that was with Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith as the main event.
Those numbers were lower than any sports event on Saturday night network television besides the last show in the past three months. But UFC is looked on to target market Males 18-34, and this show did a 1.89 in that demo (up from a 1.64 the prior show). It did a 1.51 in Males 35-49 (down from 1.72 for the prior show). In Males 18-34, it did beat a lot of the sports events on Saturday night. In 18-49 overall, the 1.24 rating (up from 1.15 last time) was ahead of the lowest rated CBS MMA shows and did best the Stanley Cup playoffs and almost every major league baseball game in the time slot, and did so against tougher competition. The male-female split was 68.5% male, which is the same as a usual episode of Raw. Still, as a rating, it was identical to what Urijah Faber vs. Jens Pulver pulled in 2008 on Versus.
We dont have any quarters at press time but the show did grow for each fight, but you would figure that since thats the case on almost every network MMA show. Plus, this show was almost all action, with only Machida vs. Bader slow. We should get a more accurate number next week, but the main event appeared to have grown about 650,000 viewers, which is not super for a network main event, but does show there was some interest in the main event and the promotion of Rua helped, as it did a 2.0 rating and 3.3 million viewers. The strongest markets were Las Vegas (4.6), Louisville (3.0), New Orleans (2.8) and Tulsa (2.8).
With the heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, lightweight and even featherweight titles all on track timing wise for defenses in December and January, the question becomes what do you put on FOX on 12/8. Keep in mind this is the best chance to pull a strong number, and no matter what anyone will say publicly, FOX is itching and pressuring for something bigger. The heavyweight title would be out if they are going to Alistair Overeem, since he wont be licensed. You can put the lightweight and heavyweight titles together on 12/29 and save the middleweight and featherweight title for January, and still put the light heavyweight title on FOX. Granted, you are probably giving away a 500,000 buy show with a Jones vs. Machida rematch (some say it will be hard to sell since Jones finished Machida the first time, but this was an impressive win seen by a couple of million people and at this point I think Jones has shown that any Jones fight will do reasonably well). Even though you wouldnt think it at first, it may be just as big if its Machida vs. Henderson (since Henderson, even lacking traditional charisma, will become a Randy Couture style folk hero if he can beat Jones and win the title, and people will see Machida as a real threat to win the title). On TV, Jones as a winner would be the bigger draw since hes been marketed as one of the new faces of the company and FOX would market him like crazy building up the show. Plus, the December show has the advantage of being during football season, where FOX has its large captive audience every Sunday of male sports fans. And there are the obvious tie-ins with Jones, since two of his brothers may be NFL stars this coming season.
It was surprising to me that Jones wasnt even on this broadcast, although he is a few weeks away from defending his title. Henderson appeared on the Fuel show, but Los Angeles isnt far from where he lives and trains.
Another positive was the Fuel prelim show did 194,000 viewers, making it the fourth highest rated UFC show on the network this year and fifth most watched show in the history of the network. It was the highest rated of any prelims show to date on the network. In addition, the Nam Phan vs. Cole Miller fight set the station record for the most-watched segment of any show in network history, hitting 328,000 viewers, of which 68% were Males between the ages of 18-49, which is an usually high concentration for any show in that demo. It was also the most watched Saturday night in prime time in the networks history.
Phan vs. Miller was the only close fight on the card, a split decision for Phan which was not controversial. Our poll had 71% for Phan, 18% for Miller and 11% thought it was a draw.
The live show at Staples Center has to be considered a success, given the lineup and the advance. They sold about 4,000 tickets in the last few weeks, which is very unusual for a UFC event. Overall, they had a nearly full house of 16,080, which was significantly papered, but it was still 10,151 paid and a gate of $1,044,453, which Id have to consider good given the card, that it was essentially an afternoon show in the market and available on free television.
From a production standpoint, the show was also strong. A negative to me of UFC of late is that more and more, the shows seem designed for the fight fan and not to draw in fans. The idea of cramming in as many fights as you can within the time may satisfy hardcore fans (and I would consider myself in that group, but the big mistake a lot of people make is to market the shows for what they want and not for what will make it easier for new fans to like the show), but people need to know who the people are that they are watching fight, or the majority will not be interested.
Video features allowed people to know about Mike Swick battling back from an esophagus disease that didnt allow him to absorb nutrients, and robbed him off his muscle and strength, yet he still continued to fight. He was able to make a comeback through dietary changes and hes no longer allowed to eat many of his favorite foods. They also saw Jamie Varner coming back, Brandon Vera battling for respect and were given stories to go with every match far more than a usual UFC broadcast. Part of it also was there were people with more interesting stories than most on this show.
One of those stories not really gotten into was Machida at 201 pounds. Most middleweights cut from a heavier weight than that. But the idea of Machida going middleweight on the surface makes no sense, because the champion is Anderson Silva, a training partner and friend, who he will never fight. Anderson Silva is pushing for a fight with Georges St. Pierre, figuring at this age, hes looking for the biggest paydays possible. The two big ones are GSP and Jones, and he has made it clear he wont fight Jones.
Those in UFC have openly talked this last week about wanting to make GSP vs. Silva if GSP retains his title against Carlos Condit. That fight would be expected to be the biggest UFC fight in history. St. Pierre is not going to move up to 185, and after he was around 190 in the cage against Jake Shields, and was slower than usual at that weight, his camp made it clear he was not going to put on weight or move up. That means to make the fight, Silva has to move down. Silva has fought as light at 167, but that was more than a decade ago and he looked like a marathon runner at that weight and not a fighter. Still, he has told people in the past he can make 170. If he can, he has every right to face GSP, even though hes taller, has more reach and is a naturally much bigger person. The way it was told to me is that if he drops to 170 and challenges for the title, Machida may then drop to 185 and get in the mix with the other top middleweights and go for that title if it is vacated. Of course, if Machida was to beat Jones (or Henderson), there is no point in doing that.
Joe Lauzon got $50,000 bonuses both for having the best fight, with Jamie Varner, and also for best submission. That gave him 11 career bonuses. That is not a UFC record. As far as official bonuses go that have been announced publicly, Lauzon would have nine, including eight in his last eight fights. UFC has given out bonuses for years but didnt open press conferences and announce them to the public early on. Lauzon got two that were not announced at the time, giving him 11. Anderson Silva holds the record with 12. The best knockout bonus of $50,000 went to Swick.
The Ontario Athletic Commission has decided going forward to no longer drug test fighters. In the case of UFC 152, the UFC will handle the testing on its own. Ken Hayashi, the controversial head of the Ontario commission said that were was no legal requirement for hockey or football to have drug testing in Canada, and that in those sports its left up to the organization, so he feels it should be here as well. Thats a nice argument except it has one flaw. What is the athletic commission there for? Its to regulate and make sure cheating doesnt exist in the sports they regulate. Football and hockey dont have a commission regulating them from the outside. If there is a reason for a commission, and there is a drug issue in the sport, then there is a reason commissions if they regulate the sport should drug test, even if the current standards in most places are very lacking. UFC and Marc Ratner will be handling the testing as they do when they go out of the country in places where they dont have athletic commissions.
White has changed his position on testosterone replacement therapy. A month ago, White said, To me, the bottom line is you dont need that junk. If you dont abuse stuff younger in your career, youll never need to use that junk. He said at the time he wished it was banned in the sport. Now he said, Its absolutely 100% legal. As sports medicine continues to advance, this is one of those things where every guys testosterone level starts to drop as they get older this is basically sports science now where they can bring it back up to a normal level. And I think its great. Its absolutely fair. Its legal. The problem is, there are guys who say if this much is good, this much must be great, so have you have guys who are always trying to do more than theyre supposed to. The big job is policing it, making sure that its not being abused, that guys are using it the way its supposed to be used.
Roy Nelson then responded on Twitter by posting a series of Alistair Overeem photos going from 205 pounds of muscle to 263 pounds of muscle and wrote, The juice is good. Dana White says so as long as you dont overdo it. Now I know why Overeem is okay now.
White met with Nate Diaz on 8/6 regarding a new contract. Both sides basically agreed to terms. They talked about Diaz getting the Benson Henderson vs. Edgar winner perhaps in December. The way things are timed if nobody gets hurt (big if) theyve got heavyweight, light heavyweight and lightweight titles all ready in December so they could do two on the 12/29 PPV and one on the 12/8 FOX show. Anderson Silva should be ready about then as well, but theyd probably want him for early 2013. White and Diaz didnt finalize the number of fights. Diazs camp apparently wanted four fights while White wanted a longer deal. Nate Diaz of late has been working a lot as a sparring partner for boxer Andre Ward, being brought in to mimic the style of Chad Dawson, who Ward faces on 9/8.
Tito Ortiz was on MMA Uncensored and said that he tore his ACL before the fight with Griffin and would be undergoing both another knee operation and another neck operation shortly. He said he is absolutely done fighting and that hes tired of fighting injured and undergoing surgeries. He said if he didnt undergo all the operations he would still be fighting, but with them, he has no hunger to fight whatsoever.
The UFC put on its best FOX show to date on 8/4 from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, which saw four fighters compete in the game of who could look the most impressive and get a championship match.
The winner was Lyoto Machida, who knocked out Ryan Bader. At the end of the show, Dana White announced that Machida would face the winner of the Jon Jones vs. Dan Henderson match for the light heavyweight title. No time frame was set for the match, and cant be until after the 9/1 Jones vs. Henderson fight takes place in Las Vegas to see how banged up the winner is.
There wasnt much of a decision. Machida, who came into the fight at a surprising 201 pounds, which means he either cut way too much weight which would be stupid, or didnt cut at all (which is what he indicated), looked more like a middleweight, particularly since Bader looked like a powerhouse at 225 pounds next to him. But Bader couldnt touch him, eventually rushed him and left himself open to a counter shot that knocked him out in the second round.
While the main event, where Shogun Rua stopped Brandon Vera in the fourth round, was the more exciting fight, Rua got tired in the second round and struggled against a fighter who had only won once since 2009. While Vera gained respect and for his career, this was a symbolic win, this Shogun would have been in a lot of trouble against most top light heavyweights. In an Observer poll, 84% agreed with Whites decision, which to me was a no brainer.
The next question becomes what is next when it comes to UFC on major network television. The rating was almost identical to the 5/5 show. Because of the Olympics, there was the built in and very valid excuse. Granted, Raw, Smackdown and Impact this past week all went head-to-head with the Olympics and held up well, those are shows where the audience comes from familiarity. A UFC show which is not weekly on FOX, derives its appeal based on star power and garnering attention. Its hard to get much significant mainstream sports coverage, although FOX did advertise the show better than the prior show. They pushed the names in the main event, did a one-hour Countdown show six days earlier, and there was one commercial building the show around Rua as one of the greatest fighters of the last decade appearing on FOX.
Still, there is still a problem. The question is, what level of star power does UFC need to give away on FOX to now do even the kind of ratings that Elite XC and Strikeforce used to pull on CBS? You could argue the 5/5 show lacked in star power, but this show had Rua and Machida, both former champions, who had each headlined a number of successful PPV shows. The best usage of FOX is to do fights that will create a top contender who then challenges for the title on PPV. The show was up slightly in the key demos, but overall was the same as the last show, and roughly half of the show in January. The Olympics hurt, no doubt, doing 26.08 million viewers.
The show did a 1.44 rating (the 5/5 show did a 1.45) with 2.44 million viewers (up from the 2.42 million of the 5/5 show). CBS doing MMA with Elite XC and Strikeforce never fell below a 1.75, and that was with Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith as the main event.
Those numbers were lower than any sports event on Saturday night network television besides the last show in the past three months. But UFC is looked on to target market Males 18-34, and this show did a 1.89 in that demo (up from a 1.64 the prior show). It did a 1.51 in Males 35-49 (down from 1.72 for the prior show). In Males 18-34, it did beat a lot of the sports events on Saturday night. In 18-49 overall, the 1.24 rating (up from 1.15 last time) was ahead of the lowest rated CBS MMA shows and did best the Stanley Cup playoffs and almost every major league baseball game in the time slot, and did so against tougher competition. The male-female split was 68.5% male, which is the same as a usual episode of Raw. Still, as a rating, it was identical to what Urijah Faber vs. Jens Pulver pulled in 2008 on Versus.
We dont have any quarters at press time but the show did grow for each fight, but you would figure that since thats the case on almost every network MMA show. Plus, this show was almost all action, with only Machida vs. Bader slow. We should get a more accurate number next week, but the main event appeared to have grown about 650,000 viewers, which is not super for a network main event, but does show there was some interest in the main event and the promotion of Rua helped, as it did a 2.0 rating and 3.3 million viewers. The strongest markets were Las Vegas (4.6), Louisville (3.0), New Orleans (2.8) and Tulsa (2.8).
With the heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, lightweight and even featherweight titles all on track timing wise for defenses in December and January, the question becomes what do you put on FOX on 12/8. Keep in mind this is the best chance to pull a strong number, and no matter what anyone will say publicly, FOX is itching and pressuring for something bigger. The heavyweight title would be out if they are going to Alistair Overeem, since he wont be licensed. You can put the lightweight and heavyweight titles together on 12/29 and save the middleweight and featherweight title for January, and still put the light heavyweight title on FOX. Granted, you are probably giving away a 500,000 buy show with a Jones vs. Machida rematch (some say it will be hard to sell since Jones finished Machida the first time, but this was an impressive win seen by a couple of million people and at this point I think Jones has shown that any Jones fight will do reasonably well). Even though you wouldnt think it at first, it may be just as big if its Machida vs. Henderson (since Henderson, even lacking traditional charisma, will become a Randy Couture style folk hero if he can beat Jones and win the title, and people will see Machida as a real threat to win the title). On TV, Jones as a winner would be the bigger draw since hes been marketed as one of the new faces of the company and FOX would market him like crazy building up the show. Plus, the December show has the advantage of being during football season, where FOX has its large captive audience every Sunday of male sports fans. And there are the obvious tie-ins with Jones, since two of his brothers may be NFL stars this coming season.
It was surprising to me that Jones wasnt even on this broadcast, although he is a few weeks away from defending his title. Henderson appeared on the Fuel show, but Los Angeles isnt far from where he lives and trains.
Another positive was the Fuel prelim show did 194,000 viewers, making it the fourth highest rated UFC show on the network this year and fifth most watched show in the history of the network. It was the highest rated of any prelims show to date on the network. In addition, the Nam Phan vs. Cole Miller fight set the station record for the most-watched segment of any show in network history, hitting 328,000 viewers, of which 68% were Males between the ages of 18-49, which is an usually high concentration for any show in that demo. It was also the most watched Saturday night in prime time in the networks history.
Phan vs. Miller was the only close fight on the card, a split decision for Phan which was not controversial. Our poll had 71% for Phan, 18% for Miller and 11% thought it was a draw.
The live show at Staples Center has to be considered a success, given the lineup and the advance. They sold about 4,000 tickets in the last few weeks, which is very unusual for a UFC event. Overall, they had a nearly full house of 16,080, which was significantly papered, but it was still 10,151 paid and a gate of $1,044,453, which Id have to consider good given the card, that it was essentially an afternoon show in the market and available on free television.
From a production standpoint, the show was also strong. A negative to me of UFC of late is that more and more, the shows seem designed for the fight fan and not to draw in fans. The idea of cramming in as many fights as you can within the time may satisfy hardcore fans (and I would consider myself in that group, but the big mistake a lot of people make is to market the shows for what they want and not for what will make it easier for new fans to like the show), but people need to know who the people are that they are watching fight, or the majority will not be interested.
Video features allowed people to know about Mike Swick battling back from an esophagus disease that didnt allow him to absorb nutrients, and robbed him off his muscle and strength, yet he still continued to fight. He was able to make a comeback through dietary changes and hes no longer allowed to eat many of his favorite foods. They also saw Jamie Varner coming back, Brandon Vera battling for respect and were given stories to go with every match far more than a usual UFC broadcast. Part of it also was there were people with more interesting stories than most on this show.
One of those stories not really gotten into was Machida at 201 pounds. Most middleweights cut from a heavier weight than that. But the idea of Machida going middleweight on the surface makes no sense, because the champion is Anderson Silva, a training partner and friend, who he will never fight. Anderson Silva is pushing for a fight with Georges St. Pierre, figuring at this age, hes looking for the biggest paydays possible. The two big ones are GSP and Jones, and he has made it clear he wont fight Jones.
Those in UFC have openly talked this last week about wanting to make GSP vs. Silva if GSP retains his title against Carlos Condit. That fight would be expected to be the biggest UFC fight in history. St. Pierre is not going to move up to 185, and after he was around 190 in the cage against Jake Shields, and was slower than usual at that weight, his camp made it clear he was not going to put on weight or move up. That means to make the fight, Silva has to move down. Silva has fought as light at 167, but that was more than a decade ago and he looked like a marathon runner at that weight and not a fighter. Still, he has told people in the past he can make 170. If he can, he has every right to face GSP, even though hes taller, has more reach and is a naturally much bigger person. The way it was told to me is that if he drops to 170 and challenges for the title, Machida may then drop to 185 and get in the mix with the other top middleweights and go for that title if it is vacated. Of course, if Machida was to beat Jones (or Henderson), there is no point in doing that.
Joe Lauzon got $50,000 bonuses both for having the best fight, with Jamie Varner, and also for best submission. That gave him 11 career bonuses. That is not a UFC record. As far as official bonuses go that have been announced publicly, Lauzon would have nine, including eight in his last eight fights. UFC has given out bonuses for years but didnt open press conferences and announce them to the public early on. Lauzon got two that were not announced at the time, giving him 11. Anderson Silva holds the record with 12. The best knockout bonus of $50,000 went to Swick.
Maklershed
Member
drm pls
TheKaeptain
Banned
I hate you dream. Also lol tito.
Maklershed
Member
Dana: Just wrapped up another deal with @Natediaz209 and @cesargraciebjj
Maklershed
Member
I just noticed that pic below her biting the gold. It looks like she has a weird, reverse alien claw.
Holy shit!
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
How do you fight with a torn ACL? I'm guessing it was a partial-partial-partial tear, because anything more and the motherfucker wouldn't be walkin... oh it's Tito.
Tito fought with a cracked skull and 3 missing limbs. You think he can't handle a torn ligament?
I'm on my phone right now. When i get home you are totally banned.
TheNatural
My Member!
I've about had it with you mother fuckers. Whatever your name is .. get ready for the big surprise.
Ninja Scooter
Member
speaking of short, muscly masculine bodies, who do you guys think Urijah Faber will fight next?
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
TheKaeptain
Banned
Holy shit Parrot this Korean flick just made a joke about Asians being either 10 years older or younger than they look.
RBelong2Us
Member
So is Condit seriously not fighting until GSP comes back? More than any title limbo going on, that is the most ridiculous in my book. Dude is completely healthy and young yet his bitch ass is waiting on GSP?
I actually really like Condit but man, that is just complete dog shit. Fuck him and his camp for this one.
I actually really like Condit but man, that is just complete dog shit. Fuck him and his camp for this one.
TheKaeptain
Banned
Why risk a pay day?
RBelong2Us
Member
Well hopefully GSP is ready by November.
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
I would have forgiven the tactics played against Diaz if he had defended his belt. But yes, it's a complete bitch move. We could have had a decent fight against Hendricks or Ellenberger in the interim period. But Condit's motivations are just like his tactics...
... Got it in one. The play it safe mentality at work.
If not then I'm pretty sure that Condit will have a magical injury as well.
Or worst case scenario he gets promoted to proper champion while he waits for GSP to recover.
Maklershed
Member
Anyone watch Conan last night? How was the E Honda interview? I'm hoping Conan got her to put him in an armbar or something.
Exactly. When most of these guys talk about "oh man, I'm going to win because I love to fight, this other guy, he'll say the same thing, but I love to fight!" is a crock of shit.
These guys will sit out for ages if it means playing it safe for a future pay day.
parrotbeak
Member
Lol, Koreans are so racist.
http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/8/9/3230176/video-strikeforce-champ-ronda-rousey-on-conan-obrien
Conan looked excited when she explained how in the arm bar the arm goes between her legs.
parrotbeak
Member
http://www.bjpenn.com/mmanews/2012/...s-and-their-boring-fights-ufc-news-33836.html
I dunno if he saw Jones' last fight.Diego said:
Host Samurai
Member
Awesome. CM Punk is blasting Jones on his Nike sponsorship on twitter. War Punk. People should not be rewarded for drunk driving.
Ninja Scooter
Member
Yet he idolizes Steve Austin, who gets drunk and beats his wife. Punk is a fat bitch.
Host Samurai
Member
Punk wins via Anaconda Vice and SCSA didn't get rewarded with anything but getting arrested.
Does he actually beat her or does he just stomp his foot to make that sound?
Ninja Scooter
Member
Bones' Nike contract wasnt a reward for drunk driving anymore than Austin's well paying WWE gigs over the years were "rewards" for wife beating. It was a reward for being the best in the world at what he does, and for entertaining fans with his performances inside the octagon, like when he stole the manhood of the guy in your avatar. If Punk were really as much of a soapbox stomping moralist as he tries to come across, would quit the company he works for that employs and "rewards" a bunch drug addicts, drunk drivers and wife beaters but he will never put his money, rather than donuts, where his mouth is and instead will work programs with them and help them line their pockets.
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