MMA Fighting reports that the ratings for Bellator’s Fightmaster have increased 26% from initial debut to an average of 545,000 viewers for a 0.4 rating. This week, episode 2 did not run opposite the NHL.
Via MMA Fighting:
The number is hardly a major success given Spike’s prime time average rating for the prior week was 700,000 viewers and this is first-run original programming. Still, this has to be somewhat welcome given the first episode only did 432,000 viewers, which Spike executives blamed on the NHL playoffs.
According to the article, the key demos of 18-34 and 35-49 were strong for the second episode.
Payout Perspective:
Maybe a sigh of relief from SpikeTV as the ratings corrected itself if we take into consideration the NHL competition. Still, the rating is lower than prior week which has to still draw some concern. As the series progresses and viewers get to know how the episodes will run, we will see the amount of retention and increase (or decrease) in viewership.
No NHL and fans could have found out it was on but thats still not a good number.
They will need to do 700-800k imo for it to be acceptable. Plus they are off next week. A month to get through the prelim fights is way too long.
I think this is where they will settle in, 500-650 per week. But thats not a great number.
If it does t get up to 800k viewers. I don’t think Spike will renew the series. Personally I think the team selection process and banter between the coaches is interesting. But I don’t see how it stays that way. Once the teams start competing. It is the same old crap.
I’m just worried about their ratings in the fall.
Where is Sampson to tell us how terrible these ratings are? Oh thats right he only shows up to hate on the UFC and suck off boxing.
My bad. Same with TOps.
When you post the Floyd/Canelo fight selling out in a day and doing a record gate they will both show up to hate on mma and ride boxings nuts.
The show needed around 800k to survive. Less than 700k and there’s really no purpose for it. The main purpose for a reality show is to drive viewers to the live events and the brand…. this show has failed.
This is a bad indicator for what’s to come when they move to friday nights.
This rating is shitty. MMA sucks as a whole once AGAIN
I think we are slowly going to what I think will ultimately be what is best for the sport. Right now the UFC is the embodiment of the sport. They have so much content out there. That there isn’t much demand for a non UFC product like there was a few years back. Just as there is so much NFL, NBA, and MLB product that there is no market for Arena football or any of the semi pro leagues. Soon all these networks trying to find their UFC type ratings without paying UFC prices(milk MMA fans for ratings for cheap) will stop disrespect our sport by trying to use us.
IMO non UFC promotions have done way more harm to the sport than they have contribute to the sport. Of course it is always great to have that random Bellator show between a UFC event and it is nice to see a little different approach now and then. BUt even that gets old. More often than not. These promotions show no respect for the hard work than has went into getting the sport where it is. They often act irresponsible and make the sport look back. Like the IFL promoting someone leaving on a stretcher and there being a blood bath. Now you have Bellator trying to make Warmachine into a super star. They even use constant footage of him in jail. Anything to make a buck and they don’t care about the image hit the sport takes. After all. Why would they? They didn’t invest any money to get the sport legalized. They didn’t spend money trying to change the image of MMA to where it is now a sport. They just want money and are not committed to the sport.
Then you have the UFC spend years waiting for the right TV deal. Passing on many so they can make sure when the time comes that the network is committed to the sport and not just trying to milk it then toss it to the side. As soon as the UFC was close to making a network deal. Elite XC swoops in and gives Showtime and CBS an MMA product for no money and no commitment. So they kept money from coming into the sport. TV deal did nothing for the sport. The only thing they accomplishment was to make the sport look bad in front of millions of people seeing it for the first time as they made Kimbo Slice the face of the sport.
Now once again all of the sports resources are going to fight between each other rather than growing the sport. A house divided can not stand. The NFL would not be what it is if the NFL and AFL were still competing. NBA wouldn’t be the sport it is if it was still competing with the ABA. Same for MLB if NL and AL were not under the same league. It was the mergers and eliminations of this inside fighting that allowed these sports to focus on making the sport better and bringing in new fans rather than still fans and athletes from each other while they slowly died. MMA will never have the success of other leagues until people stop supporting imitation UFC promotions. Then the networks and sponsors will stop trying to get MMA for peanuts. Then the sport (Fan base, salaries, and talent) will reach new heights. With WSOF getting 200K ratings and Bellator down in the 500K range. We might be seeing this finally come to fruition.
Hey I have another disgruntled ex employee war machine regarding the UFC pay…
Check what he said
Well, the number one enemy is the UFC. They’re the ones that set the pay so low. They have a complete monopoly on everything, and they’re the ones that are setting the standard. They’re the ones that are screwing everybody. The second enemy is us, the fighters, for taking all their shit. We are so broke and desperate and eager to get into the cage and fight, so eager to make a living from it, that we accept anything.
All it takes is for Jon Jones or anyone of these big name guys to be backstage and go, ‘You know what? I’m not gonna f*cking fight tonight. I ain’t gonna fight until you guys sit down here, right now, and come to an agreement to pay us fairly.’ I guarantee you what will happen is that all the sudden, we’re going to get paid fairly. It just takes one of these guys that has the power to do it. They need to step up and have some balls. One of these big name guys does it, and it’s a wrap.
All these other fighters need to have balls, too. I can’t be the only one having balls. We all need to stand up. When a company offers us $1500 to wear a tee shirt on television in from of millions of viewers, we need to be like, ‘F*ck you.’ That’s what we have to say, but people are accepting it and not standing up for ourselves. It has to be on a big scale. It has to be a champion. It has to be somebody big, with power, to make the UFC change their ways.
They’re raping us. They really are. Did you know that Dana White is worth $150 million? Does he deserve money? Of course he does. He did a lot for the sport. At the same time, does he deserve to be that rich, where he can gamble away hundreds of thousands of dollars and have 25 Ferraris and all that bullshit? No, not if his fighters are all broke. Fighters deserve to make real money, and it’s gotta start at the top.
If I was a champ, the UFC would be in a world of shit. I have balls. I’ll put it on the line. All these guys are pussies. Dominic Cruz is a good friend of mine. He’s a nice guy. I used to live with him and he’s one of the best fighters in the world, but he has no f*cking balls when it comes to this kind of stuff. I seen it when we were younger, when we were nobodies. He just will not stand up to authority. These guys have to step up. They have to do it for everyone, for all of us.
The UFC is not going to give up any extra money if they don’t have to. They have so much power. God forbid if Dana White was gay. If Dana White was gay, he’d have fighters sucking dick. I guaranf*ckingtee it. If he was gay, every fighter would have to suck his dick to fight. That’s how much power they have. There would be dudes that fight the toughest guys in the world that would get on their knees and suck dick to get into the UFC. It’s the truth. We’re just lucky that Dana White’s not gay.
I’ve hard stories about Vince MacMahon and Joe Weider. Bodybuilders and wrestlers suck dick for jobs. It’s not that far fetched for thinking these things could happen. That’s how much power he has. They’re not going to give up a penny more than they do already, because they don’t have to. Fighters are stupid, and we’re desperate, and we’re so hungry to get on that big stage that we’ll fight for free.
We don’t need a union. We just need to be treated fairly. I saw this thing the other day, it showed the NFL, MLB and NBA – all these leagues – and like 70% of the money or profit goes towards the athletes’ pay. In the UFC, it’s something like 17% that goes toward the athletes’ pay. Why is the gap so big? These guys get in the cage and fight, but they’re not real fighters, not when it counts. Let Nick Diaz get the belt [laughs]. I bet things would change then.
One by one fighters are speaking out on UFC’s low pay…Dana’s mma Hype machine is now being exposed….haha
Can I ask you a question Tops? Why is it you come to here to only hate on mma? I understand you are a boxing troll but is that really your game? You go to mma sites to hate on the sport?
That shits is corny as hell.
As for War Machine it takes big balls to talk shit about an org you dont work for, how about calling out the org you do work for, the org that is fucking with Eddie, Cosmo, paid their BW champ less than what TUF losers make, Hollett, Brookins, Herman etc.
Someone with balls would say that about the org they work for but he’d get fired. War Machine, lol, guy is a total ass clown.
Why do Sampson and Tops come here? They clearly arent fans of this sport, I dont get it.
Just like if mma fans go and troll boxing sites, its rather pathetic. But trolls with no life need something to do I guess.
Christine is angry. Hope she stops bleeding soon
So lets see. We have a ex-con War Machine, Has Benn Fitch, never was Cholish, and a guy who has never fought in the UFC Kennedy. All speaking out. Wow what a list that is. You notice non of these guys have ever said anything about any other promotion. Including the one that is paying them even less than the UFC ever dreamed of. It boils down to these guys are like a hobo on the street who doesn’t want to earn anything and wants to take from everyone who has something. They want others to throw their career and opportunity down the drain for their benefit.
I find it LMAO quality that you would even quote War Machine. HIs logic shows he is operating on the same weak brain wave as you are. He claims the UFC is a monopoly while working for a rival competitor. How would that even be possible? Isnt that like Pepsi claiming Coke is a monopoly? He wants Jon Jones to walk out on the night of a fight. That’s pure genius. Can you guys how many fans he would have left if people paid for a fight and he fucked them? You think he got hell over UFC 151. His career would be over. Not to mention he would be sued for damages. The UFC has let many champs go before and have never missed a beat. No current champ would be any different. Because the UFC moniker is still the most valuable asset in MMA. With at the UFC brand on a fight. It isn’t worth any thing and that goes for the most popular fighters too. Look what it did for Rousey. She sky rocketed just by being a UFC fighter. So did Brock. Without it the fighters are nothing. Without the UFC the lower weights wouldn’t exist. Cruz would have to be the biggest fool in the world to rock the boat. Those weight have no leverage and it would be very hard for him to even get fights if the UFC let him go.
MMA fans need to take notice. Boxing fans know the best way to kill MMA is to support the greed of the fighters so fighter pay goes the direct of boxing. This is why these boxing clowns side with these losers. As pay rises. MMA can no longer keep its advantage it currently has over boxing. Which is all top guys fighting each other, top guys fighting more often, more big names fighters on every card(stacked events compared to only 1 known fight). Another effect it would have is it would prevent any decent fighter from ever going to the cities the UFC currently does. As pay goes up. The UFC is forced to put all the over paid guys in the same city. There will be no PPV level event in Indiana. No Couture, Hughes, Franklin in Columbus, Ohio. JUst like boxing. The big name guys never come to a city near you. People need to realize what they are going to get when fighter expense keeps increasing. Unless you are in one of 3 cities. You will never see a meaningful boxing match.
Rampage Jackson claims ’90-percent’ of UFC brass didn’t like him after he knocked out Chuck Liddell at UFC 71…..
Golovkin vs macklin on hbo….golovkin 26 wins 23 KO no loss….
Myths:
UFC cards are stacked.
UFC big names fight more than twice per year.
UFC is “real” fighting
Sampson Simpson fact, he was a Pride fan boy and when that promotion died, he clung on to any MMA promotion that wasn’t the UFC (or Zuffa owned WEC) because of some pathetic hate and now he realizes that Bellator wont compete, he starts going on about Boxing and Kick Boxing.
Compared to boxing. the UFC’as Ultimate Fight Nights are super bowl level. So yes their cards are stacked even if they are not so much as they used to be. Outside of the bottom couple fights, fight 10-12. JUst about every guys is involved in the title picture. Basically just about every fight is meaningful.
Jon Jones fought 4 times the year he won the belt. When was the last time a champion boxer did that?
“UFC” is as close to real fighting as sport fighting can get. Im never a fan of rules. BUt I feel the rules added to MMA didn’t have much effect on the realism. MMA is rooted in real fighting and I feel it still is. Anything that is banned that works in the street. Todays fighters still would adapt easily. They are already masters of positioning. So something like headbutts can easily be added to their already dominant position and almost impossible for someone in the street to use them against them. From my experience. Most people do not use groin or eye strikes knowing it can be used on them too. Even if you add those in as a factor. MMA fighters would be more likely to use them efficiently and have the skills to avoid them and control the positioning to avoid them.
Lets go back to boxing. Why are boxers always wrestling around as press conferences if boxing is so superior? Why does Mike Tyson say he always wanted top position in street fights? Boxing is a useless and out dated sport for the least developed brains. Unless someone is way over matched and they get blown right over in 1 punch. Even two boxers in a real fight do everything but box.
Yeah duck, Simple Simps is a troll, he wont even respond in a real way he goes on and on about some stupid shit.
I dont even know if he was a pride fanboy, I think he just is anti mma and takes shots at the UFC by riding whatever org he thinks will take them on.
and you are right notice how he hopped off Bellators nuts and now says mma sucks and rides boxings nuts.
If you dont like the sport thats fine, go away, to to boxing sites. He makes bets and doesnt keep his word.
He also said the UFC will be lucky to do 500k on FS1, I’d say lets make a bet, loser leaves the site for good but he isnt a man of his word, he is a troll.
You ladies cry as usual.
So predictable
Sampson Simpson is on the rag today.
@Chris,
Typically, when people hang around a web-based community that doesn’t want them, it’s to use the space as an outlet for excess negativity in their lives. Whether or not they stay depends entirely on whether or not the members of the community will respond to that negativity. Unfortunately, the people who consistently post on this site have chosen to consistently respond, and until that changes, they will continue to try and spread their negative feelings. Remember, if you don’t feed the trolls, they tend to go back under the bridge. If we all neglected to repond, the comments wouldn’t disappear entirely, but there would be a lot less of them, and the appropriate parties would be subject to the resulting frustration.