Condit frustrates Diaz for interim belt

We saw the Stockton Slap but Carlos Condit executed his game plan to perfection in eluding Diaz’s boxing skills and a last round submission attempt to win the interim title. The bout was reminiscent of Frankie Edgar versus BJ Penn at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi. In that one, Edgar executed a game plan to perfection that by Round 5 you knew that the favorite was in trouble. Same here with Condit.

For Condit, a date with GSP is in the future. Despite his post-fight interview where he quit MMA, Diaz will likely be back and a Josh Koscheck fight seems about right. Even in defeat, a Nick Diaz post-fight interview is always entertaining.

Werdum outlasts Big Country

A solid debut for Fabricio Werdum who edged out Roy Nelson in a battle of BJJ black belts. A very good fight that won Fight of the Night honors. Werdum may not be ready for the top tier of this division but maybe a couple more impressive victories could earn him a return bout against Junior dos Santos.

Koscheck defeats Pierce

A closer bout than most thought. Arguably, Pierce could claim he should have won. Not sure why Josh Koscheck is such a hated man but Nick Diaz is gaining fans for being about as bad. Of course, Koscheck’s post-fight “salute” to the fans won’t help his plea for fans.

Attendance and gate

MMA Junkie reports that UFC 143 drew 10,040 fans for a gate of $2.3 million.

Bonuses

MMA Junkie also reported the fight night bonuses for UFC 143. Each fighter received $65,000.

Fight of the Night: Fabricio Werdum versus Roy Nelson
Submission of the Night: Dustin Poirer
KO of the Night: Stephen Thompson

Poirer and Thompson were the clear cut winners for their divisions as Poirer had an impressive submission and Thompson’s educated foot won him a KO.

Sponsors

The octagon included a couple new logos including the UFC’s new official corn nuts sponsor, Corn Nuts. Also, the History Channels’ new show, Full Metal Jousting. The show is from the producers of the Ultimate Fighter. It also included MetroPCS which also ran commercials during the prelims. In addition, UFC Undisputed 3 was featured as the UFC is pumping up the game for its release as you can purchase the game via GameStop. The Octagon also had its usual mainstays of Harley Davidson, Musclepharm, Tapout, Dodge and Bud Light.

The Corn Nuts sponsorship included a “corn”er cam. A nice play on words. It will be interesting to see what future activation plans it has with the UFC. MetroPCS  also sponsored the Judge’s Call which occurred right before the judge’s decision.

The US Marines, as always, sponsored the Tale of the Tape for Koscheck-Pierce. RYU was also a featured sponsor although its signage was not featured.

Every time Josh Koscheck fights I’m reminded that Lugz is still around.

Roy Nelson was sponsored by the History Channel’s new show for his fight. Maybe it was fitting that his white shorts were stained with blood for “Full Metal Jousting.”

UFC Primetime

Good reviews for this set of shows. It was a little weird for the show to feature GSP’s rehab but this may have compensated for the lack of Diaz information. An interesting snippet from the last episode of Primetime: Nick Diaz didn’t know who was playing in the Super Bowl. We will try to update you with ratings if we can obtain them.

Post-UFC 143 Headlines

Condit versus GSP. Its not the matchup that most, including GSP, wanted. But we will see this fight sometime later this year. Perhaps, this is Montreal’s fight to have since its spring card was delayed.  It should be a good battle although the UFC could have marketed a Diaz versus GSP fight easier. Nonetheless, the UFC could get Diaz versus Koshcheck which could get a lot of interest albeit not for a title.

What would Nick do? UFC Primetime got more out of Nick Diaz than most have seen. But, how likely would Diaz do another behind-the-scenes look after this loss. His disdain for any type of media coverage is evident. But, he’s a compelling figure that many have grown to like (or hate). Regardless of what fans think, he’s an asset for the UFC that they must manage.

Dustin Poirier may be the only hope for the 145 division against Jose Aldo. An impressive fight with some great jiu jitsu. We’ll see how he progresses.

Odds and Ends

- I liked the new intro to the PPVs. I’m wondering why they didn’t go with something like this earlier. Long live Gladiator Man.

- Good move by the UFC and Fox to go back to the weigh-ins without commentary. I think for those that tune in to watch them, they like to see and hear the whole thing rather than get analysis.

- What do you think Nick Diaz was saying to Lorenzo Fertitta right after the fight?

-Diaz said he was paid way too much for MMA in his post-fight in Octagon interview. I thought his complaint was that he wasn’t paid enough.

- It will be interesting to see the numbers for the UFC in 3D in theaters. Based on twitter, there were very positive reviews but we’ll have to see if that equates to good attendance.

- We saw the first commercials for TUF on FX.

- For those watching the Super Bowl, here’s the Kia ad with Chuck Liddell. He’s in the commercial briefly around the 1:00 minute mark.

Conclusion

A good night of fights but Diaz-Condit didn’t have the star power of GSP. The co-main events and undercard featured good match-ups but only for hardcore MMA fans. How many casual viewers knew Mike Pierce? It will be interesting to see how much the 3D in theater attendance takes away from the PPV buy rate. A buy rate above 250,000 should be considered a success.

Although the attendance figures were solid, the gate figure pales in comparison to UFC 90 when the gate exceeded $2.8 million. On that night, Anderson Silva defended his title against Patrick Cote.

Via MMA Weekly:

The promotion’s last trip to the Chicago area was the Allstate Arena in the suburb of Rosemont for UFC 90. That event drew a slightly lesser attendance of 15,359, but drew more than double the live gate, totaling $2.85 million.

The gate did beat the first event televised on Fox at the Honda Center in Anaheim. That event drew 11,600 for a gate of slightly over $1 million.

In addition, MMA Junkie reports the bonuses were announced and each received $65,000. All of the prelim fights received the night’s bonuses.

Lavar Johnson: KO of the Night
Charles Oliveira – Sub of the Night
Evan Dunham and Nik Lentz – Fight of the NIght

According to Junkie, a late sales and media push had most of the lower bowl in the 19,000 seat venue full. The last time the UFC held an event in the arena was in April 2009. That show, a UFC Fight Night, garnered 10,267 fans for a $626,077 gate.

In addition, the bonuses handed out were $45,000 each. Nick Denis, Jim Miller, Pat Barry, and Christian Morecraft all received the bonuses. Denis won for KO of the night, Miller won sub of the night and Barry and Morecraft earned Fight of the Night. There was some controversy for the FOTN choice, as many believed Jared Papazian and Mike Easton won that honor. Listening to his followers, Dana White tweeted that Papazian and Easton would “take care of” for their work Friday night. So, it sounds like another bonus may have been paid to Papazian and Easton.

Payout Perspective:

A decent event that was caught in between UFC 142 and the UFC’s next card on network TV. Thus, not too much buzz leading up to the Friday night event. The attendance reflects this fact but the figures fall in line with a UFC on Versus card. One would think more fans would come out since its been 2 plus years since the UFC visited Nashville. But, it might be the quality of the card that kept people from spending the money. It will be interesting to see the ratings for the event as it debuted on FX.

Aldo finishes Mendes and celebrates in crowd

Jose Aldo’s explosive power was on display as a knee coming out of a clench ended Chad Mendes’ title shot. After the fight, Aldo ran into the crowd which provided a great moment albeit a gasp for UFC security.

Realistically, Aldo’s security breach is much ado about nothing. He knew that he had the crowd behind him and he wanted to celebrate with his fans. Sure, someone could have done harm to him, but as I stated, he knew his audience. If someone wanted to do harm to him, they could have done so on the walkout. While the trampling of fans may have occurred, it seems as risky as when fans storm the court or field as they do in football or basketball. Do fans feel concerned when a Green Bay Packer does a “Lambeau Leap” after a touchdown? Yet, this was a “teachable moment” for UFC security for next time. It was awkward seeing Aldo trying to shake UFC security as he was trying to celebrate. Even Reed Harris tried to step in to direct Aldo back to the cage.

For Aldo, he’s cleaned out the Featherweight division. It will be interesting to see what he’ll do next. A possible superfight with Frankie Edgar (or Ben Henderson) would be a great matchup and something that could be promoted as a battle of current division champs.

Belfort chokes out Johnson

What a bad trip for Anthony Johnson. A failed weight-cut, losing a portion of his show purse, a first round submission and Johnson returns to the United States without a job. Johnson weighed in on Friday at 197 pounds for his middleweight fight. That means he was 11 pounds over (considering the 1 pound allowance). Belfort, understandably would agree to take the fight if Johnson weighed no more than 205 pounds on Saturday. If Johnson didn’t make it, it certainly would have killed the top end of the PPV. Fortunately, he made weight Saturday.

Still, making Dana White sweat the night before whether one of his fighters would make weight was the likely nail in the coffin for Johnson’s UFC career.

Johnson has had past problems with cutting weight. He definitely is a chiseled athlete, but an athlete that should fight at 205.

For Belfort, its another step back toward Anderson Silva’s title.

Attendance and Gate

According to the Wrestling Observer (subscription required), the attendance at the HSBC Arena garnered 10,605 paid fans for a gate of $2.8 million. The arena is said to hold 14,000 so we may extrapolate the number of comps assuming the arena was at capacity.

In Brazil, UFC 142 was seen on Globo, its top-rated network. Although the three live fights were shown between 12:45am to 2:00am, it garnered 23 million viewers (Wrestling Observer).

Bonuses

MMA Junkie reports that the bonuses were worth $65,000 each. Edson Barboza won KO of the night for his spectacular spinning heel kick of Terry Etim. Barboza and Etim also won Fight of the Night. The leg lock machine, Rousimar Palhares won for submission of the night.

UFC Prelims on FX

This was the first time that the UFC Prelims appeared on FX and it received an 880,000 viewer average. The ratings were lower compared to its regular showings on Spike TV. We will try to update you with the UFC 142 Countdown rating  on Fuel.

Sponsorships

The Octagon included MetroPCS, Xyience, Burger King, Bony Acai, Manguinhos Refinaria, and IntegraMedica with Bud Light in the center of the Octagon. In addition to these sponsors, the UFC advertised its upcoming video game UFC Undisputed in the Octagon.

Burger King also ran a promotion with Anderson Silva in which he would have lunch with a fan that won a contest for what the Spider should do to celebrate 1 million twitter followers. The Burger King sponsorship has only been in Brazil but we shall see if the relationship will extend to the United States.

KMart is back with the UFC as it placed a voiceover at the beginning of the first round of each fight for its new promotion offering $10 off for UFC 143. It was a nice form of brand activation as its logo and the promotion reminded viewers at the beginning of each first round on the PPV.

MMA Junkie reported on soccer clubs getting into the sponsorship of UFC fighters in Brazil. The UFC was said to be cautious about the newfound sponsor money due to the intense rivalries between the clubs.

Along with his normal pre-fight sponsor banner, Belfort had another banner in honor of his kidnapped sister. He also spoke about the rash of kidnappings in Brazil at the post-fight press conference.

Silva also participated in the UFC’s #Hunt4UFC promo where he gave out tickets to lucky fans.

It will be interesting to see how much value the Brazilian sponsors such as IntegraMedica and Manguinhos will bring to the UFC and vice versa.

Odds and ends

-Another set of fights which ended with first round stoppages. UFC 134’s main events all ended in the first round and the same occurred for UFC 142.

-Aldo’s crowd surf and Barboza’s heel kick were featured on Deadspin right after the fights. Barboza’s heel kick made number 3 on ESPN’s top plays of Saturday night.

-No word whether there were any glitches with the XBox Live platform as many of those shut out of UFC 141 were given 142 for free.

-For you pro wrestling fans, Aldo’s run in the crowd, reminded me of DDP of WCW fame heading into the crowd after a match.

-Mike Pyle embraced the “heel” role in his victory over Brazilian Ricardo Funch as he egged on the crowd after his victory.

Conclusion

UFC 142 was a success from the perspective of its further ties with its Brazilian fan base. There were many PR events during the week including UFC fighters taking surf lessons and open workouts. No doubt the UFC has reengaged with the fans and it bodes well for local viewership of the first international Ultimate Fighter held in the country this year. But, the U.S. buy rate will not reflect the same as it ran opposite the NFL Playoffs. In addition to the playoffs, the fact that this card catered to Brazilian fans meant less known names to the U.S. fan base which will affect the final buy rate results. We also have the factor that a lighter weight division was at the top of the card which has meant (in recent history) a lower buy rate.

In addition, MMA Junkie reports The Korean Zombie, Frank Mir and Jon Jones and Lyoto Machida received bonuses. Chan Sung Jung won for his KO of Mark Hominick, Mir was the choice for submission of the night and Jones and Machida won the fight of the night. Each fighter received $75,000 for their efforts.

MMA Payout will have more on UFC 140 tomorrow.

Henderson defeats Rua in instant classic

It appeared that Dan Henderson would make short work of Mauricio Rua as it appeared that Rua was a goner in the first round. However, Rua survived, the referee did not stop it prematurely and fans saw an epic back and forth fight. Rua came back in rounds 4 and 5 but it wasn’t enough. While both fighters were gassed at different points of the fight, this is probably the reason why the UFC wanted main events to go 5 rounds. Both fighters showed a warrior mentality and left it all in the octagon.

Silva KOs Le

Sandstorm may be heard again in the UFC. Wanderlei Silva defeated Cung Le in front of Le’s hometown crowd. The win likely ensures that Silva will fight once again in the UFC. For Le, it appeared that he lacked the cardio needed to fight three rounds. A disappointing debut.

Faber submits Bowles; another rematch with Cruz next

Urijah Faber choked out Brian Bowles to earn another shot at Dominick Cruz. It seemed as though Faber’s presence on this card was undersold. Yet, there are rumors that Faber and Cruz will be the next TUF coaches. Based on Faber’s post-fight trash talk, this isn’t a bad idea considering the solid ratings this season’s TUF. The animosity between the two fighters and its debut on the FX channel should propel next season’s TUF.

Attendance and Gate

MMA Junkie reports attendance of 13,173 for a gate of $1.268 million. In comparison, Fedor vs. Werdum in June 2010 drew 12,698 fans for a gate of $1.1 million at the HP Pavillion in San Jose.

Bonuses

MMA Junkie reports the bonuses for UFC 139. Each fighter received $70,000. Interesting that there was a tie for Fight of the Night. In my opinion, Rua vs. Henderson was the clear winner for FOTN honor. If there was a tie, I would have given the bonus to Chris Weidman for Sub of the Night.

Fight of the Night: Cung Le vs. Wanderlei Silva; Mauricio Rua vs. Dan Henderson
Submission of the Night: Urijah Faber
Knockout of the Night: Michael McDonald

Sponsorships

-The usual suspects were in the octagon for UFC 139. Xyience, Dodge, Tapout, Harley Davidson, MusclePharm and Bud Light had the center of the Octagon a well as the side pads. The UFC also advertised its Ultimate Fight Collection just in time for the holidays.

- Clinchgear was featured via Dan Henderson. I really like Henderson’s branded DH apparel.

- Tom Lawlor was sponsored by XBox as part of its Kinect Sports 2 launch. He sported a t-shirt at weigh-ins and XBox 360 on his shorts. It was the only sponsor on his shorts. According to an XBox rep, this is just a one-time opportunity as it was specifically for the launch. Pat Barry had a similar sponsor opportunity with XBox 360. Demetrious Johnson remains as the only UFC fighter to continually be sponsored by XBox 360.

Twitter

Notably, Dan Henderson and Shogun were trending an hour after the PPV. In Brazil, Rua and Wanderlei Silva were trending topics after the PPV. The Henderson-Shogun battle received a lot of buzz via twitter. On another note, Bellator’s Chandler-Alvarez fight received its share of twitter buzz too.

Post-UFC 139 Headlines

- What’s next for Hendo? Does Dan Henderson fight at 205 or 185? Either division would present interesting title match-ups. At 205, Henderson would come up against Jon Jones, a guy almost 20 years his junior. At middleweight, Henderson could get a rematch with Anderson Silva.  Or, a Team Quest alum fight with Chael Sonnen. Either middleweight match-up seems more attractive than Jones.

- Cruz-Faber trilogy. Can this rivalry assist the lighter weight divisions? Certainly this season’s TUF is helping draw a steady viewership. A possible TUF with the animosity of these fighters should propel next season’s version.

Odds and Ends

- Talking about a guy’s widow’s peak and hair gel is pretty personal Mr. Faber. This rivalry is heating up and that’s a good thing.

- I wrote about the interesting weigh-ins this time around and the opportunity for a fighter to create their own personal branding. It also helps to make weight.

- Was Stephan Bonnar’s post-fight apology attempting to mitigate any possible lawsuit from Josh Koshcheck about making t-shirts with his likeness?

- For as good as Hendo-Rua was Dana White stated that the fight would have been too violent if it had aired on Fox as the UFC is still in the “education process.”

-UPDATED: Fighter Wear and fighter entrance music here courtesy of FighterxFashion.

Conclusion

After the big UFC on Fox airing, UFC 139 seemed like an afterthought. It was a very good card but lacked the buzz. One reason may be that Fuel aired the one hour countdown show instead of Spike TV before Spike aired it late Thursday night. Second, many casual viewers may not know Dan Henderson or Mauricio Rua. Certainly, these guys showed that they could put on a good fight. Yet, they aren’t known names. Finally, there is a level of fatigue the casual viewer (or perhaps every viewer) has with these PPVs. It seems like every other week fans are spending money on fights.  With the holidays coming up, some budgeting has to take place and that may mean a decline in PPV purchases. Based on the last couple of PPVs (UFC 136-225K buys, UFC 137-280K buys), it would not be out of line to state that UFC 139 is in the neighborhood of 250K buys. With that being said, it may be time to recalibrate how many PPV buys makes a card successful.

The event took place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California and featured the HW title fight between Cain Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos. This was the only fight scheduled to air on the FOX network (60 minute time slot reserved from 9:00 pm-10:00 pm ET). The prelims portion was headlined by Ben Henderson vs Clay Guida, which aired on Facebook, FOXSports.com, and on Fox Deportes in the USA.  FOX Deportes aired Velasquez vs Dos Santos, Guida vs Henderson, and Garza vs Dustin Poirier. Facebook.com and FOXSports.com aired the rest of the prelims.

Fighter Disclosed Payouts

Note: that the money reported below is only the money required to be reported by the commission, which does not take into account undisclosed bonuses or “locker room” bonuses, as they are referred to in MMA.

Courtesy of MMAJunkie:

The total disclosed payroll for the event was $666,000.

Junior Dos Santos: $220,000 (includes $110,000 win bonus)
def. Cain Velasquez: $100,000

Ben Henderson: $60,000 (includes $30,000 win bonus)
def. Clay Guida: $40,000

Dustin Poirier: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
def. Pablo Garza: $8,000

Ricardo Lamas: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
def. Cub Swanson: $15,000

DaMarques Johnson: $28,000 (includes $14,000 win bonus)
def. Clay Harvison: $8,000

Darren Uyenoyama: $12,000 (includes $6,000 win bonus)
def. Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto: $15,000

Robert Peralta: $16,000 (includes $ win bonus)
def. Mackens Semerzier: $8,000

Alex Caceres: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
def. Cole Escovedo: $6,000

Mike Pierce: $36,000 (includes $18,000 win bonus)
def. Paul Bradley: $18,000

Aaron Rosa: $12,000 (includes $6,000 win bonus)
def. Matt Lucas: $6,000

Attendance and Gate

MMAJunkie reports that UFC on FOX held at the Honda Center in  Anaheim officially drew 11,607 in attendance for a $1.07 million gate. 1,700 tickets were unsold and 1,743 were comps. The average paid ticket price was $108.70.

It was not a great event in terms of gate and attendance, but that was to be expected as the UFC purposely lowered the ticket prices to try and pack the event as much as they could to give the UFC on FOX event a great atmosphere. In terms of gate and average paid ticket price, it will probably be one of their lowest numbers for a domestic event with the caliber of fighters on the card.  These numbers reflect what typical Ultimate Fight Night or UFC on Versus events would do, though those have a considerably lower payroll and don’t typically have title fights with much smaller venues.  This event also had the benefit of being held in Southern California where Cain Velasquez won the HW title against Brock Lesnar and had the novelty of being the UFC’s first network TV event, so by those standards, not selling out has to be a bit of a disappointment.  On the other hand, the main event was going to be televised for free on Network TV and all prelims were streaming for free on Facebook, so it may not be as bad of a number as it seems.

Ratings

MMAPayout reported this weekend that the UFC on FOX event on Saturday night averaged 5.7 million viewers (3.1 rating) and peaked at 8.8 million viewers. The demos were: M18-34: 4.3 (peak rating 7.19) and M18-49: 4.0.  This was the largest audience ever to watch an MMA event in the United States, breaking the record of 5.3 million (3.7 rating) by The Ultimate Fighter episode on Spike TV which featured Kimbo Slice vs Roy Nelson back in 2009.

Other notable high rating MMA shows include Ken Shamrock vs Tito Ortiz on Spike TV in 2006 which averaged 4.3 million viewers (3.1 rating) and UFC 75: Henderson vs Rampage in 2007 on Spike TV did 4.7 million viewers (3.1 rating).  The reason why the rating numbers don’t match the viewers is due to the increase of reach Spike TV has increased in the past few years.

On Network TV, the previous rating champ was the EliteXC Primetime event which featured Kimbo Slice vs James Thompson, which avaged 4.85 million viewers (3.0 rating).

FOX TV Rating Breakdown (Quarterly):

- UFC on FOX (9:00 pm-9:15 pm): 5.25 million viewers

-UFC on FOX (9:15 pm-9:30 pm): 5.48 million viewers

-UFC on FOX (9:30 pm-9:45 pm): 7.09 million viewers

-UFC on FOX (9:45 pm-10:00 pm): 4.88 million viewers

- Overall: Average of 5.7M viewers watched the fight live or via DVR playback within the same day. (Nielsen)

FOX TV Rating Notes:

- If you combine the FOX and FOX Deportes telecasts (one in Spanish, one in English), it would have received close to a 3.5 rating with 6.2 million viewers and a peak of 8.8 million and a M18-34 rating of 4.7. It is believed a peak close to 9 million was achieved combining both.

- The 4.3 rating in Males 18-34 beat every college football game this season except the LSU vs Alabama game on CBS.

- The 4.3 rating in Males 18-34 beat 65% of the playoff and World Series baseball games this season on FOX.

- The 4.3 rating in Males 18-34 was the third highest rated television show of the year for FOX Deportes.

- The show drew 1.7 million women over the age of 18.

- The median age of viewers for the telecast was 35 years old.

- The 5.7 million viewers was the most watched fight in broadcast on US television since HBO’s Lennox Lewis vs Vitali Klitschko back in 2003

- UFC programming delivered a total of 6.7 million impressions across all FSMG television networks.

- The peak of 8.8 million lasted as long as the fight did, which was 1 minute (fight started at 9:40 pm).

- By 9:45 pm, the viewership had dropped to 5.9 million. Kimbo Slice vs James Thompson peaked at 6.51 million and lasted for 10 minutes and 38 seconds. (Sports Illustrated) … about 25% of the audience had left at the end of the main event.

- UFC on FOX began with 5.2 million viewers and dipped as low as 4.4 million before viewership started to climb around 9:36 pm, as the fighters were starting to make their way to the Octogon. (Sports Illustrated)

Fuel TV Ratings:

- Two Hour UFC Pre-Fight Show (4:00 pm-6:00 pm ET) averaged 77,000 viewers (0.21 rating) making it Fuel TV’s highest rated program of the year. The prefight show also drew an average of 58,000 viewers in the M18-49 demo, the largest since the network become nationally rated.

-The UFC prefight show ranked as a top 20 show in the time period for Men 18-34 (.29), performing about as well or better than widely distributed networks like History Channel (.31), USA (.25), SyFy (.19) and AMC (.13).  FUEL TV also performed well in the Men 18-49 demo (.31), close to or matching ubiquitous networks like Discovery (.36), Comedy Central (.35) and MTV (.31).

- The One-Hour UFC postfight show (7:00 pm – 8:00 pm ET) drew 37,000 viewers.

FOX Deportes Ratings:

- Nearly 500,000 average viewers watched the event on FOX Deportes.

- The quarter-hour from 9:30 to 9:45 did about 900,000 viewers on Fox Deportes in Spanish.

- The Velasquez-dos Santos fight delivered a 3.9 coverage area HH rating, 487,000 viewers, and 352,000 A18-49 making it the highest-rated fight of any kind in Spanish language cable history.

- Saturday’s undercard coverage ranks as the second highest-rated fight-event in FOX Deportes history with a 3.4 HH rating, 365,000 viewers, and 237,000 A18-49 viewers.

- Saturday’s fight ranks as FOX Deportes’ highest-rated program since the Manchester United vs. Chelsea Premier League soccer match (5.0) on Sept. 18.

Spike TV Counter Programming Ratings:

- Spike TV’s Saturday night telecast of “Dos Santos vs. Velasquez: Unleashed for the Heavyweight Title” between 9:00-10:00 pm ET drew 719,000 viewers and a 0.6 rating with Men 18-34. List of ratings for “Unleashed” episodes pre and post UFC on FOX are listed below:

- At 8:00 pm: Before UFC on FOX went live, “Unleashed” drew 923,000 viewers .

- At 10:00 pm:  After the UFC on FOX had gone off air, “Unleashed” drew 787,000.

Brazil Ratings on TV Globo:

- The event peaked at 22M viewers in Brazil, and during the fight (1 minute), it reached a 20 rating and a 52% share (percentage of homes with TV’s). The ratings were above average for a Sunday morning. (Globo)

FOXSports.com:

- Tallied 257,000 total live streams for the nine undercard matches, while all the UFC content during and around the event generated over 1 million streams.

- Other than Super Bowl related content, this was the biggest video event in FOXSports.com history.

Top Rated MMA Shows (Average Viewers):

- 5.7M viewers (8.8M peak), “UFC on FOX: Velasquez vs Dos Santos”, FOX (11/12/2011)
- 5.3M viewers (6.1M peak), “The Ultimate Fighter: Kimbo Slive vs Roy Nelson”, SPIKE TV (09/30/2009)
- 4.9M viewers (6.5M peak), “EliteXC Primetime: Kimbo Slice vs James Thompson”, CBS (05/31/2008)
- 4.7M viewers (5.9M peak), “UFC 75: Dan Henderson vs Rampage Jackson”, SPIKE TV (09/08/2007)
- 4.2M viewers (5.7M peak), “UFC: Ken Shamrock vs Tito Ortiz 3″, SPIKE TV (10/10/2006)

Top Rated MMA Shows (Ratings):

- 3.7 Rating, M18-34: 6.9, “The Ultimate Fighter: Kimbo Slive vs Roy Nelson”, SPIKE TV (09/30/2009)
- 3.1 Rating, M18-34: 6.0, “UFC: Ken Shamrock vs Tito Ortiz 3″, SPIKE TV (10/10/2006)
- 3.1 Rating, M18-34: 5.7, “UFC 75: Dan Henderson vs Rampage Jackson”, SPIKE TV (09/08/2007)
- 3.1 Rating, M18-34: 4.3, “UFC on FOX: Velasquez vs Dos Santos”, FOX (11/12/2011)
- 3.0 Rating, M18-34: 3.2, “EliteXC Primetime: Kimbo Slice vs James Thompson”, CBS (05/31/2008)

- What we can take from these numbers is how impressive Spike TV has performed over the last several years with UFC content.  The 3.7 rating with a 6.9 M18-34 rating is almost unheard of at the moment, and even the UFC on FOX couldn’t top that, although FOX has a bigger reach than Spike TV, which is the reason why viewership is higher for FOX with the same or lesser ratings.

General Rating Notes:

- FOX scheduled the Velasquez vs Dos Santos bout to start at 9:40 PM, which was exactly when Stanford vs Oregon – a top 10 college football game – was going into halftime in order to acquire some extra viewers who may have been flipping channels.

- By starting at 9:40 p.m., if the fight went passed 3 rounds, it would go well past 10 p.m., when the local news was scheduled to start for FOX affiliate stations. At that point, a ton of new viewers would be watching the final rounds of what on paper expected to be an exciting fight a bump the ratings. A five round fight would have ended past 10:10, not accounting for reading the decision, nterviews, and wrap up, which would take you closer to 10:20.

- FOX was selling ads based on predictions of 4.5 million viewers, which means they easily met their goal (5.7 million). (Yahoo Sports)

- The strongest markets for the show were Las Vegas, Dallas, Phoenix, San Antonio, Tulsa, San Diego, Greensboro, New Orleans and Los Angeles. It aired in Las Vegas, San Diego and Los Angeles out of prime time.

Storylines

- FOX Flexes Promotional Muscle for UFC

Sports Business Daily did a great story on the FOX’s promotional efforts heading into the UFC on FOX event.

The early returns have been strong, Fertitta said. The “UFC Primetime” preview show that Fox aired after its NFL telecasts two Sundays ago drew a 1.3 rating, which equates to about 2 million viewers. That about doubled the audience for similar UFC preview shows on Spike. Saturday night’s prime-time debut was close to sold out shortly after it hit the street, Fertitta said. Fox typically gets about $50,000 for a 30-second spot during its Saturday night programming, according to survey results published by Ad Age. ABC gets about $85,000 for spots on Saturday night college football.
…
While Fox Sports co-President Eric Shanks would not discuss specific rates for the one-hour, one-fight show, he said they exceeded expectations.
…
“The first fight out of the gate, there is tremendous interest,” Shanks said. “We had no problem selling at a good rate. And we haven’t even started the seven-year clock yet.”

-  Not Airing Guida vs Henderson Proves Costly for the UFC. Did they Have A Choice?

Guida vs Henderson was exactly the type of fight that would have drawn plenty of viewers for the UFC before the big HW Title matchup.  It had all the ingredients needed to build up a viewing fanbase and could have possibly served as their new version of Griffin vs Bonner, which propelled their popularity over on Spike TV.  It was an exciting and technical fight, which breath-taking back and forth between the two which resulted in a Fight of the Year candidate. It also lasted 3 rounds, which is exactly what was the dynamic needed to show to the new MMA spectators tuning in: a fight can last all 3 rounds or 1 minute, but it will be exciting either way.

The question is who’s call was this and did they have a choice? According to Ben Grossman from Broadcasting and Cable, “For those wondering, Fox did not have the rights to show the rest of the fights Saturday night on air, as Spike TV technically still owns those rights until the end of the year, so what turned out to be the best fight of the night – the one before the main event — was only available online.” I believe this is the reason why prelims, including the Guida vs Henderson fights were only shown to international viewers and on FOX Deportes, a Spanish broadcast.

-  Culinary Workers Union Picketing UFC Headquarters During Weekend

Over the weekend, the Culinary Workers Union was picketing UFC headquarters in Las Vegas and trying to mobilize people to send messages to FOX to cancel its TV contract with the UFC.  They have already made their voice clear sending a letter to the FTC regarding the UFC’s practices and also creating multiple websites highlighting Dan White’s past rants and vulgar language as well as “Unfit for Children” propaganda. The has also been activity by the union to back the anti-MMA legislators in New York as well as sending letters to major UFC sponsors encouraging them to drop the MMA promotion.

- Critiquing UFC on FOX Broadcast

Luke Thomas of MMA Nation had a great article on some of the things UFC and FOX can tweak in order to improve future broadcasts (10 Steps To Improving UFC On Fox Broadcasts) … Loretta Hunt gives her own opinions and suggestions on SI.com (Three thoughts on UFC on Fox 1). Having Dana White as an analyst in the post-fight wrap-up provided some cringe-worthy moments for fans, as both Thomas and Hunt mentioned. It has been a common complain heard from within the MMA media circle, how Dana White criticized Valasquez plan and questioned Dos Santos stamina, as he appeared nervous and angry at the outcome.

- Social Media Activity Backfires on the UFC

FightOpinion has done a great job documenting the Penn State sex scandal and how Forrest Griffin’s jokes on Twitter were not taken very kindly by various media outlets and anti- sex and child abuse organizations.  The Culinary Workers Union was also quick to point the controversy out on their anti-UFC website. Loretta Hunt was invited to NPR to talk about the matter. The segment’s title was “Misogyny in the UFC” (45 minute mark).

Odds and Ends

- The UFC painted over the blood on the Octogon before going live on FOX, per FOX’s request.  Dana White said they wanted to go on air with a nice clean presentation package and that it had nothing to do with FOX reacting negatively towards blood on the mat.

- For a brief moment at the beginning of the UFC on FOX broadcast, FOX flashed the following message: “The following might be the most exciting live sporting event in the history of television, and it’s our duty to say: VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED”

- Bellator purchased some ad spots during the UFC on FOX broadcast in the Florida market in order to promote an upcoming event.

- The next UFC on FOX event has been scheduled for January 28th, 2012 being held in the United Center in Chicago.

- The first UFC on FX event will take place on January 20th and will be headlined by Jim Miller vs Melvin Guillard. Sydney, Australia and Nashville Tennessee have both been rumored as potential sites to host the event.

- FOX Sports Media Group Chairman David Hill stated that FOX specials would be 90 minutes, airing from 8:30 to 10 p.m. on Saturday nights with two or three fights. The UFC on FX live cards will take place on Fridays and would be 2 hour shows. Fuel TV events will be 3 hours in length and will also air all prelims.

- UFC 2012 Target Schedule:  14 PPV events, 4 UFC on FOX events, 6 UFC on FX events, and a minimum of 6 UFC on FUEL TV events. The Ultimate Fighter will also have around 24 live events on FX, Friday nights.

Mainstream Thoughts on UFC on FOX

- Notes And Thoughts About UFC On Fox (Broadcasting & Cable)

UFC on Fox could have gone better but it definitely could have gone much worse.  The fact of the matter is Saturday night showed that Fox is exactly what UFC needed, and UFC can be a major player for Fox, FX and whatever Fuel ends up being down the road, for a long, long time.

- Quick KO good or bad for UFC on Fox? (ESPN)

Fox Sports chief executive David Hill admitted he and president Dana White discussed the “tactics” of booking a single, heavyweight fight in hindsight, but added he was overwhelmingly satisfied with the product.
…
“It absolutely delivered everything I hoped it would,” Hill told ESPN.com. “I spoke to Dana and maybe, tactically, Dana didn’t play it the right way. But this is what you get in this sport. This is world heavyweight champion action.”

- UFC’s Fox debut neither home run nor strikeout (Yahoo)

Saturday night was a similar step, just on a larger scale. Instead of Spike TV, it was the Fox network. Instead of two unknown scrappers, it was the two best heavyweights in the sport..
…
Unfortunately, MMA is unpredictable. As president Dana White said over-and-over in promoting the Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos heavyweight title match, the company’s live network TV debut on Fox, it could end in 30 seconds, or it could go five rounds.

- UFC’s network TV debut a success, despite lasting all of 64 seconds (Sports Illustrated)

That doesn’t go just for the Fox telecast, either. While the early undercard was playing out to a smallish crowd of diehards inside the arena, there was a brightly lit red carpet set up outside, where celebrities from MMA to the TV B-list — most from Fox programs, naturally — passed through a gauntlet of cameras, asked the same questions by every microphone wielder, smiling the same smiles for every lens. Inside, once the preliminaries were out of the way, the building had filled with a deafening roar, the octagon mat was cleaned of undercard blood stains. Don’t want to make a bad first impression with squeamish new viewers.

- UFC on Fox: What the Media Is Saying (Hollywood Reporter)

The bout lasted a little over a minute, with Dos Santos knocking Velasquez to the ground with a punch to the temple and a beat down that followed until the referee stopped the fight.
…
Reaction to the broadcast ranged from the humorous to the general consensus that Fox has a winner with the franchise.

- A few thoughts about tonight’s UFC fight … (San Francisco Chronicle)

No mercy, indeed. The heavyweight Junior Dos Santos/Cain Velasquez fight ends with Dos Santos knocking out Velasquez after just over a minute in the first round. I would say that was the second-worst case scenario with UFC’s historic first fight on network TV. (Worst case scenario by far was a gruesome injury.)

- Fight Night in America (Esquire)

The hype on Fox was nothing short of lunatic. Dana White, the bald genius UFC president and probably the smartest sports executive in the country, wore a black suit. So did Brock Lesner, and so did Alistair Overeem when they cut to him octagon-side, which doesn’t sound so good, as if we were going to look back in thirty years on them as the new Ali and Frazier, which doesn’t either. Junior Dos Santos made his ring walk to “Gonna Fly Now,” which is the theme from Rocky. Cain Velasquez walked into the cage, petrified, and they stared at each other and they kicked some little kicks and then, a minute into the kicking and the staring, Dos Santos sent a loopy and rather laughably slow right hook to Velasquez’s left ear. Velasquez dropped to the canvas and then Dos Santos went and hit the shit out of him eleven times. The referee took his sweet time to stop it. It was over. There was no blood. It wasn’t very exciting.

- Ultimate fighting is too brutal to be considered a sport, even if it’s on TV (Washington Post)

Excuse me, but ultimate fighting is not safer than cheerleading. I’ve watched some ultimate fighting. It’s a brutal sport. In fact, I don’t think ultimate fighting is a sport at all. It’s violence presented as entertainment..
…
By showing fights on Fox, UFC is trying to turn ultimate fighting into a regular sport and to make kicking someone in the face as normal as shooting a free throw. Close to 6 million people watched the Saturday night fight. Fox plans to show more ultimate fighting in the next few months.

- Ultimate fighting is too brutal to be considered a sport, even if it’s on TV (Deadspin)

I’d planned to write something about the Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos fight today. But the fight lasted all of 64 seconds. Gotta feel for anyone who sat through eons of buildup only to make for the suds and miss the action. The UFC’s debut on Fox was a flop. A disappointment on a grand scale. A few leg kicks from Velasquez, one overhand right from Dos Santos and that was the end of it. Dunzo. The card in its entirety.

- UFC proves it’s here to stay (The Globe and Mail – Canada)

Rarely sticklers for journalistic purity, Fox used White himself as an analyst (Imagine Gary Bettman as the star of Coach’s Corner). Even as the main card tanked with headliner Cain Velasquez succumbing in just 64 seconds to challenger Junior Dos Santos, White and co-analyst Brock Lesnar kept pitching the gospel. White savaged Velasquez’s passivity. “I don’t understand why Cain wouldn’t go in for the shot, pressure him and not stay in his range. But what the hell am I? I’m not anybody’s coach or trainer.”
…
Right. Resistance is futile. UFC is here to stay. Or, as our mother used to say, until somebody loses an eye.

- UFC Was Never Meant For Network Television (IBTimes – New York)

It’s not the management of the UFC that will prohibit the sport from moving forward. The UFC will continue to expand its brand name recognition, and people will continue to tune in and watch the big fights. Mixed-martial arts isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and, therefore, UFC won’t be going anywhere either. But as for UFC being part of a dinner conversation in most American homes, that will never, ever happen. The sport is too volatile on too many levels.

- Dos Santos claims Velasquez’s UFC belt in Fox show (Chron)

The brief fight was the only event on a one-hour broadcast on Fox, which signed the UFC to a seven-year broadcast deal earlier this year. Any newcomers to the sport who tuned in got a taste of MMA’s violence, but not much else — particularly if they returned late from a commercial break.
…
Or even if they blinked.

- All Up in the Videos (The Classical)

And that’s how a typical display of MMA’s chaotic nature and dos Santos’ signature power were recast as a bad, stupid thing—the natural result of Velasquez fighting foolishly against a one-dimensional foe—which in turn recast a heavyweight title fight as an anti-climactic scuffle pitting an idiot against some non-athlete. At the risk of belaboring things, the person doing this was the president of the UFC, whose job is supposed to be spinning any result into a story that makes the viewers care. I’ve followed the sport for over a decade, and even I was starting to wonder if I should keep caring.

Social Media – Sports Business Circle Reactions After KO

- Michele Steele: “Huge night for UFC debut on Fox — hard to believe that UFC started w $2M investment 10 years ago, now $2 BILLION brand”

- John Ourand: “Wow. A knockout in the first minute?? Bad news for Fox. … What’s Fox’s filler programming now?”

- Bill Simmons: “UFC loses its network virginity to Fox and it’s over in under 90 seconds. Just like real life!”

- Darren Rovell: “UFC had the same problem years ago when ESPN put Chuck Liddell on SportsCenter & ESPN Mag. Then he lost in minutes.” … “If you’re a UFC newcomer, how do you feel after tonight? 46.2% less likely to watch, 32.4% more likely to watch, 21.4% have to see more.”

Twitter and Google Trends

Social Media on that Saturday was quite peculiar. There were literally no sporting events trending on that day (usually some of the hottest trends occur during sporting events). “Bendo” and “Clay Guida” were all trend topics for the night.  In fact, airing all of the prelims on Facebook seemed to have hurt the buzz for the show as these were the only two topics to trend before the UFC on FOX broadcast.  During the event, #UFCONFOX, “Cain Velasquez“, and “Dos Santos” were all trending along with “Pacquiao” and “Marquez“.

In Google under the “Hot Searches” section, “Cain Velasquez vs Dos Santos” (#17) and “UFC on FOX” (#20) were the only two items in the top 20 relating to the event on November 12 while “Manny Pacquiao” and “Marquez” were 4th, 8th, 10th, 11th, and 14th on the list.  College Football’s “Oregon vs Stanford” was #16.

From looking at some of these social media trends, it can be speculated that having no fights on a TV platform in addition to the Pacquiao fight and the head-to-head college football game affected some of the UFC’s buzz going into the event.  It can also be assumed that although the ratings were good for Fuel TV’s standards, it did not help build up and carry momentum into the UFC on FOX event.  Facebook fights still appear to have very little effect on getting more viewers to order or watch the fights at this point.

Airing the fights on FX and carrying the audience over to FOX on their next event should pay dividends for them and create more social media buzz that could bring more eyeballs into their next broadcast.  Social Media was heavily underutilized for this event.

Sponsor, Promotion and Marketing Watch

- UFC on FOX Sponsors in the Cage: Uncharted 3 (PS3 Video Game), Muscle Pharm (Supplements), Xyience (Sports Drinks), SafeAuto (Insurance), Marines, G’zOne (Casio Phone), Bud Light (Anheuser-Busch), UFC Undisputed 3 (Video Game- THQ), and the main sponsor of the event was Dodge (US Automobile).

UFC on FOX TV Spots: Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (video game), Tapout (with kids practicing MMA inside a cage, which was an interesting choice of a spot to expose to the mainstream audience considering recent debates on that subject), Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (movie), UFC 139 promo, Jack in the Box,  AMPM, & a GOOD number of local spots.

Cain Velasquez Sponsors: Dethrone (apparel), Milwaukee Tools, MicroTech, Oak Grove Technologies, Lugz (footwear), BSN (supplements), California Wheels, and AKA (gym).

Junior Dos Santos Sponsors: TOTVS, Gillette, Renato Saraiva, Analise, Team Nogueira (gym), Pretorian (apparel), Siciliano, Bony Acai (sport drink), and his own brand Cigano… all were Brazilian based sponsors.

Pacquiao wins decision over Marquez

Unlike his past several fights, Pacquiao was not Superman as we can safely say that Marquez is Pacquiao’s kryptonite. Despite the loss, Marquez is the only boxer that can arguably claim he can hang with Pacquiao in three fights. While the judges’ decisions may have betrayed him, Marquez made a good showing. We now see that for all of Pacquiao’s popularity and wins, the strategy of fighting in upper weight divisions while maintaining his speed worked. But when facing a good counterpuncher, it presents problems.

The silver lining in this is that Floyd Mayweather, likely an attention grab during the trilogy’s pre-fight hype, announced he wanted Pacquiao on May 5th. What he saw Saturday probably affirmed his decision to fight Pacquiao next year.

As of today, it seems that the posturing for the fight has begun. The LA Times reports that Bob Arum has stated that Pacquiao would rather have a 4th Marquez fight before fighting Mayweather. Frankly, I think every business owner on the Las Vegas strip turned its stomach with this news as its likely that a Mayweather-Pacquiao matchup would be a boon for businesses across the Las Vegas strip. It would also mean a $100 million payday for the fighters.

Payouts

Speaking of payouts, USA Today reports Pacquiao earned $22 million Saturday night plus a share of the PPV revenue which is estimated at $30 million. Marquez receives $5 million plus another $5 from the PPV revenue.

Attendance – UPDATED 11/15

UPDATE: Pacquiao vs Marquez: Attendance: 16,389; Tickets Sold: 15,498; Comps: 891; Live Gate: $11.648 Million. It’s 9th all time in Nevada

Attendance was16,368 according to a tweet of Dan Rafael of ESPN. As indicated in the NY Times, the Pacquiao fight was a sellout within two weeks although ticket prices averaged $1,000.

Promotion of the Fight

For the second time, Time Warner utilized its networks to promote its HBO PPVs. This time around Piers Morgan of CNN interviewed Manny Pacquiao. The network also ran HBO’s 24/7 series which aired its usual 4 week series up until fight night.

The Audience Network ran Pacquiao-Marquez I and II which were the best vehicles to promote this trilogy in my opinion.

Manny made his usual appearance on Jimmy Kimmel. This time he sang a duet with Kimmel. He also did his share of interviews for the fight including one on the Jim Rome Show. Although he’s a very nice guy, Pacquiao’s interviews are lost in translation as one can tell that he’s trying to be honest while trying to follow some media training. He comes off as a genuinely nice guy but he doesn’t really answer any questions.

The promotion of the fight included the traditional press tour. It also included this gem with Pacquiao interviewing Marquez.

Via Top Rank (H/t Bad Left Hook)

Sponsors

MGM Grand, AT&T, Smart and Tecate were primary sponsors.

As most big fights, Tecate offered its $25 rebate when purchasing Tecate beer. The rebate is offered only in certain areas.

Telecommunications companies must have seen this fight with the belief that many people from the Philippines and Mexico use its services to communicate with people in the United States and vice versa. Juan Manuel Marquez wore a Cablecom hat to the ring and Smart, a leading Philippines wireless services provider, was a primary sponsor.

Pacquiao’s fight night sponsors included Motolite, LBC, Cafe Puro, Uno, Ricoa, Phoenix Petroleums and a Nike-sponsored ring robe.

Its obvious that both fighters’ in-ring endorsements are based on the draw they receive from their countries. This rings true especially with Pacquiao as we see a lot of mainstream Filipino sponsors. Most of these sponsors (Motolite, Cafe Puro, Ricoa) have been with Pacquiao for a while.

Odds and ends

-What was Jalen Rose doing as an emcee to the weigh-ins?

-One of the better Face-Offs with Max Kellerman was played post-fight to hype the Cotto-Margarito fight. It was heated discussion and much animosity between the two. What HBO intended for these things. An interesting plug for the iPad during the Faceoff as well as Cotto used the iPad to show that Margarito may have had loaded wraps during their last fight. Really a great promo vehicle for the iPad as the photo was clear and Cotto easily used the feature to magnify the picture. Its indirect marketing at its best.

According to the report, without an athletic commission governing, the figures will not be verified by an independent party.

In addition to the attendance and gate, the UFC announced its bonuses for the night. Each received $70,000.

Knockout of the Night: Che Mills
Submission of the Night: Terry Etim
Fight of the Night:Renan Barao vs. Brad Pickett

Payout Perspective:

It was interesting that the UFC chose to start its five round main events with this one. Munoz and Leben are heavy hitters and brought the action in the first two rounds. I didn’t think that they could continue the pace for five rounds. The crowd was hot for the main event and clearly behind Leben.

One observation of the main event last night was the doctor checking on Leben’s eye during the round. It appeared that the doctor stated they would stop the fight if he couldn’t see out of his eye. Then, it appeared that there was no tests to check his vision. They merely asked whether he could see or not. Of course, Leben would say yes with the alternative being ending the fight.

The sponsorship portion of the Payout Blue Book will be the next big project we will tackle. If anyone has any preferences, feedback, or ideas, please let us know.  We will keep you updated on the progress of the project and will inform you when that goes live.

Thanks for reading as always,
MMAPayout Staff