Jones outclasses Evans

Did the fight live up to its expectations?  Despite the hype, the outcome was never in doubt.  Jon Jones dominated Rashad Evans to win via decision.  Jones’ ability to utilize his reach and unique strikes did in Evans.

Both fighters received their share of boos from the crowd.  It’s interesting to witness that folks hate Jones.  Is it due to the perceived arrogance?

It appears that Jones is heading for a clash with Dan Henderson in a fight where most fans will be behind Henderson.

Next big thing?

Rory MacDonald may be the next dominant fighter in the sport.  He dominated Che Mills to continue his ascent up the welterweight ladder.  He is adamant that he’d never fight GSP if it came down to it. But, that scenario is down the line.  We will definitely see more of him and he’s still very young.

Rothwell ends Schaub quickly

Honestly, I went out of the room during introductions and I came back and this fight was over.  This was the second straight fight in which Schaub was knocked out. A good win for Rothwell who looked like he was in much better shape than his last fight against Mark Hunt.

Attendance and Gate

The UFC announced on Friday that 145 had sold out the Philips Arena.  We’ll update the numbers once we recieve them.  UPDATED:  MMA Junkie reports 145 drew 15,145 for a gate of $2.2 million.

Sponsorships

-  The big news for UFC 145 was that headliner Jon Jones would sport UFC branded gear.  As we noted, it appears that this will be a trend for the future.  Frank Mir, who will take Alistair Overeem’s place at UFC 146, will be the next fighter to wear UFC gear.

As it turns out, MicroTech and Xyience were secondary logos on Jones’ UFC gear.  Xyience had prominent space on the back side of Jones. In the end, is this new trend a conflict of interest?

Evans was sponsored by MMA clothing manufacturer Jaco.  But, he also was sponsored by Bony Acai, MusclePharm and Corn Nuts.  Three UFC Official Sponsors.  Coincidentally, MusclePharm was a prime sponsor of the main event.

Frankly, we do not know the relationship between Official UFC Sponsors and what opportunities each gets in terms of signage/visibility at each event.  So, it’s possible that the UFC placing its official sponsors on UFC branded fighters is a complementary piece to its existing partnership.  It could also charge its official sponsors for being secondary marks on the UFC branded fighters.  The UFC has indicated that branding fighters is a sign of the future.  As we hypothesized, the UFC could be inching out other MMA sponsors from the fighters in the Octagon.  As a result, there might be a time the UFC could entice more sponsors to become official UFC sponsors so that it could be on fight shorts or walkout shirts.

- Metro PCS, Dodge, RYU, US Marines and Corn Nuts all sponsored different portions of the night.  Metro PCS sponsored the weigh-ins on Friday.  MusclePharm sponsored the main event.

- Some new fight sponsors I noticed last night:

Kalapaki Joe’s – Its is a sports bar in Hawaii.  Interesting that a sports bar with locations in the islands decided to sponsor UFC fighters.  The good news is that one of its sponsored fighters was Rory MacDonald.

Square – Full disclosure.  I actually use this device.  It allows businesses to swipe credit cards remotely.

Majors Pharmacy – Mark Bocek’s sponsor on the back of his trunks.  It was easy to see and it helped that Bocek had top position most of the fight.

Husky – Rashad Evans was sponsored by this company although after an internet search I could not find them.  Always have your website with your logo folks.  I seem to think that this is an industrial-type company but if any reader can help, I’d appreciate it.  UPDATED:  According to a commenter, Husky is a tool and construction accessory company.

-  The UFC didn’t have its usual walkouts as the main and co-main events were the only walkouts shown.  This is a new trend that may hurt sponsors in the end.  As it turned out, with the KOs, there was some filler time between fights which could have been done with walkouts.

Bonuses

MMA Junkie reports that the bonuses for the night were $65,000 each.

Submission of the Night:  Great ji-jitsu by Travis Browne to submit Chad Griggs.

KO of the Night:  As I stated earlier, I missed the Rothwell-Schaub fight because it was so quick.  But after rewinding, it was an impressive KO.

Fight of the Night:  Eddie Yagin and Mark Hominick – Hominick included his customary pushups after the final bell rang.  In return, Yagin did some situps.  It was like they were completing a workout or something.

Pre-Fight Hype

The UFC Primetimes were pretty interesting but were hidden away on Friday night and with TUF Live as a lead-in.  For all the efforts in promoting the fight, there were not enough opportunities to see a pretty good Primetime lead-in for the fight.

UFC Primetime Episode 1: 462,000 viewers
UFC Primetime Episode 2: 573,000 viewers

There was a lot of mainstream promotion for Jones-Evans.  The two traded verbal jabs on ESPN, UFC 145 sponsored a segment of Sportscenter (and I thought Dana White said the network hated MMA and the UFC?), they made an appearance on the NBA on TNT’s post-game show featuring Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal and Jones was featured in the Wall Street Journal.  The TNT appearance probably was due to the fact that the event was in Atlanta where TNT studios are located.

Mashable also had an article which featured the UFC’s social media strategy. In the article, it reports the UFC purchasing Promoted Tweets for UFC 145 which should increase trending visibility for the event. Despite paying for tweets, many UFC Fighters were trending topics last night on twitter organically.

The UFC is also starting to use Pinterest – which I still am not clear on how it works.

A criticism about the promotion of this card is the fact that not enough was done to promote the undercard.  There was little time spent on MacDonald-Mills, Rothwell-Schaub or any of the other fights.

Post-UFC 145 Headline

- Henderson next for Jones:  The only one real headline after the PPV.  The young lion versus the old vet.  Will Henderson have a chance against Jones?  Can he pull a Randy Couture?  Henderson packs more of a punch than Evans but will face the same reach disadvantages as Evans.  Also, Jones’ conditioning is phenomenal and one need only look to the Rua slugfest at 139 to see that Henderson may be in trouble.

Odds and Ends

- If the UFC is coaching certain fighters in interviews, it must have talked to Michael McDonald when he said he was going to party after his fight, “But not with alcohol, with the sweets.”  Ben Rothwell is another for thanking strangers, who he revealed were the fans of the UFC. Of course, I am joking about this.  I was chastised on twitter about making light of McDonald.  Now I know how Cage Potato feels.  Ok, not exactly.

-  Che Mills had the best walkout music of the night.  Too bad he faced Rory MacDonald.

-  I had hoped that Rashad Evans would have come out with his Bill Gates Mug Shot T-Shirt (FighterXFashion has the backstory).  The same one he wore after his knockout of Chuck Liddell at UFC 88 in Atlanta.  Evans did walkout to the same music at 88.

-  Anyone else think that the “Jones vs. Evans” lettering on the poster for UFC 145 was an odd choice?

Conclusion

In the end, the success of this PPV will hinge on the main event as the UFC put all of its marketing and promotional force behind the one fight.  It received some good mainstream acknowledgment which should help.  Also, Jones and Evans are great ambassadors for the sport.  This was the first PPV in which you could see some tweeks which could be influenced by Fox.  This included the elimination of walkout entrances of most fights except the main and co-main events. Venturing a guess as to the PPV buys, I would speculate we see somewhere in the 500K neighborhood.

The event took place at the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden.  It set attendance and gate records for the venue.  There is no local athletic commission in Sweden so there will not be any official figures aside from the figures provided by the UFC.

In addition to the attendance and gate, Dana White announced the fight night bonuses.  Each received $50,000.

Fight of the Night:  Damacio Page vs. John Maguire Brad Pickett (sorry for the mistake)
Submission of the Night:  Brad Pickett for a perfect armbar reversal from a kimura attempt.
KO of the Night: Siyar Bahadurzada

Usually the FOTN does not end in a submission but the UFC decided to give it to Page and Maguire.  As an aside, does anyone else remember Page from TapouT’s reality show on Versus in 2007.  Page was actually featured in the very first show.  

Payout Perspective:

The attendance and gate figures reflect the global popularity of the UFC brand and its likely that we will see venture into new areas in Europe and Asia.  It will also think about returning to Sweden based on the crowd.  It would also help if Alexander Gustafsson becomes a contender in the light heavyweight division.

WWE stock is up slightly at $8.83 near the close of Monday’s trading.

Via WWE press release:

The previous Sun Life Stadium attendance record was 77,912 for the BCS National Championship in 2005. Its highest grossing entertainment event was U2 on June 29, 2011, grossing more than $7.5 million. WrestleMania XXVIII surpassed the 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania in Houston, which grossed $7.2 million. This marks the third consecutive year WrestleMania broke the gross entertainment event record of the host venue.

Payout Perspective:

While it is a press release from the WWE, if the attendance and gate are in the ballpark of the figures, the WWE’s annual event did not disappoint. The PPV buy rate should be good as well considering The Rock and the added promotion for the event.  For a company that has suffered some setbacks (e.g. WWE Network) lately, its a needed boost.  With the addition of Lesnar (and the subtraction of the Rock), the WWE will hope to continue the momentum from Sunday.

Additional numbers and news from the WWE:

- The Rock/Cena Countdown show, “Once in a Lifetime,” which first aired last Monday right before Raw on the USA Network scored 2.13 million viewers for a 1.47 rating according to Dave Metzler.  The rating was low for the time slot but was twice as much as most UFC Countdown shows.  This can be discounted slightly considering the uniqueness of the Rock/Cena show.

-  The Atlantic had an interesting article pre-Wrestlemania asking the question of whether there would be blood in the HHH-Undertaker match.  It’s an interesting read on the business versus entertainment decisions behind blood in the match.  In the end, there was no blading  (although HHH did bleed unintentionally).

-  And the big news for UFC fans is that Brock Lesnar has signed with the WWE.  Although he didn’t make his appearance last night, you may want to tune in tonight to see if Lesnar shows.  His contract is rumored to be for one year with limited appearances but big money.

Henderson takes title from Edgar

It was worth the price of the PPV. A back and forth fight that saw the fight turn on a vicious upkick which rocked Edgar. Henderson was the aggressor despite Edgar landing more strikes. Edgar showed the heart of a champion but the size disparity was clear.

For Henderson, the win was redemption from the “Showtime Kick” almost 14 months earlier. How ironic that Anthony Pettis headkick of Joe Lauzon propelled him into a title shot against Henderson…the man he took the WEC belt from with that highlight reel kick.

For Edgar, it seemed too soon to ask about dropping a weight class. If anyone deserves a rematch, its Edgar, the guy that upset the legendary BJ Penn…and then dominated him to prove it wasn’t a fluke in the rematch. We’ll see what’s ahead but the initial outlook sounds like a move down to face Jose Aldo.

Bader gets win against overweight Rampage

A couple fights removed from reviving Tito Ortiz’s career, Bader took control of his own by defeating an unimpressive Rampage Jackson. This was not the best Jackson as he missed weight and claimed a knee injury as the reason. Still, a win is a win and gets Bader back on track.

For a guy that begged to be on this card, Jackson didn’t look like it. He was probably the most popular of the non-Japanese fighters on the card, yet it was clear he wasn’t at his best. Does this mean the end for him or does he get motivated once again for another run in the division.

Okami upset

Tim Boetsch came back from a 2-0 round deficit by knocking out crowd favorite Yushin Okami in Round 3. Okami was dominant in the first two rounds and looked like the guy that was supposed to fight Anderson Silva in Brazil. Unfortunately, he didn’t finish the fight and was upset. It stunned the crowd and Joe Rogan went nuts.

Attendance and Gate

A very good crowd for a Sunday morning in Tokyo. Although no numbers were made official, the UFC indicated that ticket sales were going well. There was a late surge in ticket sales and WOWOW confirmed at least 15K seats were sold (H/t: Tony Loiseleur of Sherdog). The Saitama Super Arena could house 22,000 for an event.

Bonuses

According to MMA Junkie, bonuses were $65,000 each and went as follows:

- Anthony Pettis – KO of the Night
- Vaughn Lee – Submission of the Night
- Edgar/Henderson – Fight of the Night

Sponsorships

The Octagon included some Japanese signage (WOWOW, Shindai and Unity) along with the core of Tapout, Xyience, Toyo, Corn Nuts and Bud Light. UFC Undisputed 3 and Jason Staham’s upcoming movie “Safe” also were in the Octagon.

Zach Arnold of Fight Opinion noted the lack of Japanese sponsors. Its interesting considering that in Brazil, there was more of a presence of Brazilian sponsors as they sponsored fighters.

Full Metal Jousting took a more active role as it sponsored the tale of the tape. As an aside, I’ve actually started watching the show after hearing about it. This article thinks it could be the next UFC.

No MetroPCS this time in the Octagon although it was still a named sponsor.

Anthony Pettis had Corn Nuts, Toyo Tires and Xyience as his prime in ring sponsors. Certainly, sponsors think highly of Showtime.

I think if more agents want to get more visibility for his fighter and their sponsors should tweet their sponsors:

#ufc shorts of @JoeLauzon – @MicroTechBUZZ @Venumfight @TrainingMask @PunchDrunkGamer@kaiwaaoficial @alienware lockerz.com/s/185952470

— KOreps.com (@ko_reps) February 21, 2012

Although not shown, the tweet includes a picture of Lauzon’s fight shorts. Its a good use of twitter and cuts out having to squint to see the logos.

Frankie Edgar had something similar.

Thanks to all of my sponsors for @ufc 144: @TeamGaspari, @Affliction, @TRXtraining, @Venumfight, @MicroTechBUZZ, @MetroPCS.

— Frankie Edgar (@FrankieEdgar) February 19, 2012

Pre-Fight Hype

The Philadelphia Inquirer had a piece on Frankie Edgar prior to Saturday night’s title defense.

The UFC Countdown show was very good and gave a great profile on Benson Henderson’s background including his relationship with his mother. Henderson can definitely be a face for the UFC and his story could be much broader than just North American audiences.  Although it dedicated less time to this, the Jake Shields portion was very good as it talked about the death of his father.

As we covered here, the UFC did “person on the street” interviews about the state of Japanese MMA. It also brought back some of the memories of Pride for the hardcore enthusiasts.

GSP paid a visit to a Japanese martial arts school. Also in the video, Dana White visits the mayor. Roy Nelson also took a tour of Japan which included eating some exotic foods.

As we indicated previously, Rampage Jackson was promoted heavily for his return to where he made a name for himself.

NY Giants defensive lineman Justin Tuck made a call to Frankie Edgar to wish him luck prior to his fight with Benson Henderson. As I stated in the earlier post, I thought Edgar was a Jets fan.

Post-UFC 144 Headlines

- The obvious headline is who’s next for the Smooth one? It looks like its Showtime although I wouldn’t be mad with a rematch with Edgar. I think Pettis gets the shot because its an easy sell for the eventual PPV. How many times will we see the Showtime Kick as a lead-in to the fight?

- What’s next for Edgar? It seemed like immediately after Edgar lost, he was being ushered into the Featherweight division. It was a close fight and he deserves a rematch for the belt. Yet, it almost was a foregone conclusion that he’ll drop down and get a shot at Jose Aldo. I’m not opposed to this, in fact I think they should actually make this fight at 155. But, I disagree with the circumstances in which Edgar is seemingly made to move on.

- What should Rampage do? When you look at the past couple years, God’s Street Soldier (a reference to his tat) is steadily declining. His return to Japan was promoted but his performance was hindered by a knee injury. Is it a matter of injuries or a matter of discipline? The UFC may have to consider what to do with Jackson next

- The UFC’s visit to Japan brought back memories of Japan’s MMA scene  and the problems surrounding it. Zach Arnold of Fight Opinion has much on this subject. It was also featured on both Spike TV MMA Uncensored and HD Net’s Inside MMA. Overall, most believe the UFC’s visit was a success. We’ll have to see whether or not it will make Japan an annual visit. And, what does this visit do, if anything, for the local state of MMA.

Odds and Ends

Disappointing night for Japanese fighters with Kid Yamamoto, Yoshihiro Akiyama and Yushin Okami. Okami especially disappoining considering he looked excellent through two rounds and then fell victim to the punches of Tim Boetsch.

Hatsu Hioki was one of the bright spots for Japanese MMA and is being considered as a potential challenger to Jose Aldo.

The interpreter did a great job at the weigh-ins and at the event. Either she had a great memory at the weigh-ins or she was making it up. At the event, she had a pad of paper to write things down as well as a spiffy pen topper.

Bart Parlaszewski shaved his sponsors and agency into his crooked mohawk. Do you get an extra bonus for this?

Very nice moment post-fight with Henderson finding his mom in the front row and her mom wanting an immediate picture of her son with the belt.

I may travel down to Tacoma and see if the UFC champ is minding the store at Peter’s Grocery this week.

While I was skeptical, the four hour PPV went well with only one match tacked on at the end (the Facebook match) as filler.

Conclusion

We may see a positive buy rate for UFC 144 considering the return to Japan, Rampage Jackson and the Edgar/Henderson title fight. Yet, with Edgar headlining in his past two fights, he’s averaged just 237,500 buys. Perhaps he wasn’t the problem as he faced Gray Maynard in both. But, UFC 136 was a rematch of a great fight and Chael Sonnen returned on the same card. And, it just received 225,000 buys.

The fact is, the lower weight divisions have yet to draw big numbers. Even with Rampage’s return to Japan, this card seemed like one for the dedicated fans and my guestimation would be around 275-300K buys.

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.