MMA Junkie reports UFC on Fuel 4 garnered a viewer average of 211,000 last night with it peaking at 300,000 as fans saw a new challenger rise in the middleweight division. In addition, the event had a modest 4,250 in attendance for a gate of $163,495.
In addition to the ratings, attendance and gate, bonuses were $40,000 each:
Fight of the Night: Joey Beltran vs. James Te Huna
KO of the Night: Chris Weidman
Submission of the Night: Alex Caceres
The first two bonuses were obvious. I thought that TJ Dillashaw or Francis Carmont could have claimed Sub of the Night too.
UPDATED: Salaries via MMA Weekly
Issel Tamura $8, 000
Raphael Assuncao $17,000 (win bonus $17,000)
Dan Stittgen $6,000
Marcelo Guimaraes $6,000 (win bonus $6,000)
Rafael Franca Natal $12,000
Andrew Craig $8, 000 (win bonus $8,000)
Chris Cariaso $10,000 (win bonus $10,000)
Josh Ferguson $8,000
Alex Caceres $10,000 (win bonus $10, 000)
Damacio Page $11,000
Anthony Njokuani $14,000
Rafael Dos Anjos $20,000 (win bonus $20,000)
TJ Dillashaw $10,000 (win bonus $10,000)
Vaugh Lee $8,000
Karlos Vemola $14,000
Francis Carmont $10,000 (win bonus $10,000)
Aaron Simpson $23,000 (win bonus $23,000)
Kenny Roberston $8,000
James Te Huna Roper $14,000 (win bonus $14,000)
Jose Joey Beltran $15,000
Chris Weidman $22,000 (win bonus $22,000)
Mark Munoz $42,000
Payout Perspective:
While the gate was low, take into consideration that the event in San Jose started at 2:45pm west coast time to accommodate those on the east coast. The main card started right at rush hour so I can understand why attendance was sparse. Still, I think having the card on the “slowest sports day of the year” is a good thing. Perhaps the UFC can brand it like it has done with International Fight Week. The UFC must come up with some type of balance in promoting the Fuel cards despite coming off of a huge PPV. If it intends to continue with mid-week cards, there should be some promotion for the card and keep it to a particular weeknight (e.g. keep cards to a Wednesday instead of putting them on Tuesdays or Fridays)
Zuffa had hoped that there would have been more of a draw from NoCal fans considering Mark Munoz (originally from Vallejo) and members of Team Alpha Male were on the card. A 211,000 viewer average does not sound like good ratings but it makes the telecast the second highest behind UFC on Fuel 1.
Leave a Reply