As those who have been following know, the UFC threatened to sue the state of Oklahoma for its 4% tax on pay per views.  As a result, there was a possibility that the state would have to shut down the regulation of MMA events within the state.  Since the initial issues, the state Attorney General reviewed the PPV tax and determined it could not defend the constitutionality of the law.

So we postulate on what the AG could have looked at to determine why it could not support the law.

State regulations and state taxes that burden interstate commerce can be challenged under the dormant commerce clause of the US Constitution if they place an undue burden on interstate commerce.  Essentially, even if Congress has not acted with respect to a state/local law affecting interstate commerce, it would fall under the purview of federal law. Under the Dormant Commerce Clause, there is a strong presumption against state discrimination against out-of-staters. Any tax related to this would be struck down. The US Supreme Court has made it clear that states cannot use their tax systems to help in-state businesses at the expense of out-of-state businesses.

In general, taxes specific to out of state commerce are never allowed while nondiscriminatory taxes are much more likely to be permitted.

In Complete Auto Transit, Inc. v. Brady, the issue was whether a tax was unconstitutional because it was applied to an activity that was a part of interstate commerce.  A tax was placed on Complete Auto as it hauled General Motors vehicles from out of state to in state car dealers. The US Supreme Court upheld the law and applied a four part test in concluding that a state tax does not violate the commerce clause.  The four part test ask if:

1) It is applied to an activity with a substantial nexus to the taxing state;
2) It is fairly apportioned so as to tax only the activities connected to the taxing state;
3) It does not discriminate against out-of-staters; and
4) It is fairly related to services provided by the state.

Without going through an exhaustive analysis of the test (since the issue has been decided), arguably the state PPV tax could fall within the Complete Auto test if the tax was similarly applied to in-staters (#3, the nondiscrimination element).  However, as explained in this article, most of the OK State Athletic Commission’s revenue came from out of state PPVs. The AG probably looked at the likelihood of successfully arguing in favor of the PPV tax and determined that the law could not be successfully defended.

Obviously, there were other legal issues it factored into its analysis but this was one of the likely hurdles the state decided it could not overcome.

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The information in this post is opinion only. In addition, and because this is my opinion, it is not intended to be (and is not) legal advice or an advertisement for legal services. This post provides general information only. Although I encourage interested parties to contact me on the subjects discussed in the article, the reader should not consider information on this site to be an invitation for an attorney-client relationship.  I disclaim all liability in respect to actions taken or not taken based on any contents of this post. Any e-mail sent to me will not create an attorney-client relationship, and you should not use this site to send me e-mail containing confidential or sensitive information.

According to all sources, the HBO number is verifiable as opposed to buy rates coming from promoters.  The numbers generated come second only to the Mayweather-de La Hoya (for non-Heavyweights) fight which exceeded all PPV buys/revenue records.

Payout Perspective:

Darren Rovell stated via twitter that if Mayweather-Pacquiao ever happens an effort should be made to put it on network television.  Rovell cites advertising and sponsorship would make it work.  We assume this means that the money generated from ads/sponsors would exceed the money made from PPV.  This is an interesting scenario.  If the fight ever were to happen, it would definitely exceed all boxing records on PPV. Rovell also tweeted that if Mayweather-Pacquiao went to PPV it would make $200 million in revenue.  It would also exceed the 2.4 million buys of Mayweather-de La Hoya.  But, the Mayweather pay structure for his fights, the drug test issue and the unwillingness to compromise make all of this a moot point right now.  Yet, it could be good for the sport of boxing.  It would have people talking about the sport and could bring it back to prominence.

Considering that most did not believe Cotto had a chance against Mayweather, yet 1.5 million still bought the PPV shows that the public is still interested in big fights.  Perhaps the undercard of Alvarez-Mosley helped a bit as well.  It will be interesting to see how Pacquiao-Bradley does next month in comparison to Mayweather-Cotto.

If I am reading the WWE’s release correctly, the gross sales includes the live gate which was originally reported as $8.9 million. The buy rate broke the 2007 WM which was 1.25 million buys according to F4WOnline.  That Wrestlemania featured Donald Trump in a cameo role.

Broken down, the 1.3 million buys means about 700K domestic and 600K international.

Payout Perspective:

Is 1.3 million buys a disappointment?  While there was an ESPN reporter that tweeted that the buy rate was closer to 2 million buys, we now know that was more speculation than reporting.  The fact that the Rock was involved in the main event in his hometown and there was a year long run-up to this event makes 1.3 million somewhat of a disappointment.  We shall see what this means for the WWE’s stock for the rest of this year.  Last year, the company rode the financial wave of WM 27 so this could be a good sign for the company in its next earnings call.

WWE and “Deadliest Catch” team up for show premiere

The Discovery Channel’s “The Deadliest Catch” and the WWE have teamed up where WWE stars are promoting the show’s premiere.  The debut promo occurred during the Wrestlemania PPV two weeks ago.

According to a Discovery Channel press release, “We could have just bought an ad, but to have an opportunity to bring these two brands together and really engage the fans with our content was really important to us,” said Discovery’s Chief Marketing Officer David Shackley.

Running through mid-April for the 100th episode of the popular Discovery show, WWE will post exclusive videos with WWE Superstars and Divas promoting Deadliest Catch, homepage takeovers, Facebook alerts from WWE talent and live events presence.

Payout Take: An interesting partner for the reality show although it’s likely that the demos crossover a bit.  

Tito Ortiz to the WWE?

Cageside Seats via an interview with MMA Heat’s Karyn Bryant states that the Huntington Beach Bad Boy may be thinking of a run in the WWE after his MMA finale with Forrest Griffin this summer.   As most know, Ortiz changed his nickname to “The People’s Champ.”  Not sure if paperwork was actually filed to do this although I’m sure he consulted with Sean Combs aka Puff Daddy aka Diddy (j/k).

Payout Take:  Ortiz actually participated as a ref with the TNA organization in 2005 so a run in pro wrestling is not out of the question.  He definitely would have the persona and attitude for sports entertainment.

WWE Raw ratings drop slightly despite Lesnar’s second appearance

PW Torch reports that the April 9th edition of Raw ratings dropped by 10 percent as it received a 3.1 rating down from the preceding week’s 3.4.  It averaged 4.29 million viewers for Lesnar’s second appearance back with the WWE as opposed to 5 million for the April 2nd edition of Raw.

Payout Take:  Television by Numbers reports that Raw was second to “Pawn Stars” for highest rated cable show for April 9th. The WWE announcers promoted (and Lesnar used in his promo) his UFC background.  He also delivered a real blow to John Cena which busted Cena’s face (not sure if it was scripted or not).  Wonder if the transition from real to fake may actually be hard to do?

Wrestlemania 28 buy rate

The Wrestling Observer reports that the initial buy rate for the WWE’s biggest show of the year scored 1.1 million buys which is off from the ambitious prediction of 1.9 million. Last year, WM 27 scored 1,059,000 buys with the Rock playing a minor role at the show.  

Payout Take: This could be seen as disappointing considering the year long build-up for The Rock vs. Cena matchup.  It will be interesting to see what the WWE does with the build-up for Lesnar in the main event in New Jersey next year.  Already, the WWE will have Lesnar in the arena more than The Rock which should help.  

Hall arrested again

For those that watched the E:60 piece on Scott Hall late last year, you would think that he was trying to turn around his life of addiction.  Looks like it has not.  Hall was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence.  TMZ reports that he had been “drinking for days.”

Payout Take:  No real take hear except the fact that it’s a sad look at the many issues with pro wrestlers.  Most of us grew up watching Razor Ramon and to see him deteriorate right before our eyes is depressing.

After the debut episode, each of the following weeks saw a decline in viewership and overall, the three-part series averaged 540,000 viewers on FX. In January of 2011, the same time period on FX averaged 1.2 million viewers.

Here are the viewership numbers for all three episodes:

- “UFC Primetime: Diaz vs. Condit” (Episode 1): 657,000 viewers
- “UFC Primetime: Diaz vs. Condit” (Episode 2): 520,000 viewers
- “UFC Primetime: Diaz vs. Condit” (Episode 3): 442,000 viewers

Here is a list of the viewership numbers for all Primetime debut episodes:

“UFC Primetime: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos” (UFC on FOX): 2,000,000 viewers (FOX)
“UFC Primetime: Rampage vs. Evans” (UFC 114): 1,200,000 viewers (Spike)
“UFC Primetime: St-Pierre vs. Hardy” (UFC 111): 1,000,000 viewers (Spike)
“UFC Primetime: Lesnar vs. Velasquez” (UFC 121): 974,000 viewers (Spike)
“UFC Primetime: St-Pierre vs. Penn II” (UFC 94): 880,000 viewers (Spike)
“UFC Primetime: Diaz vs. Condit” (UFC 143): 657,000 viewers (FX)
“UFC Primetime: St-Pierre vs. Shields” (UFC 129): 610,000 viewers (Spike)

Estimated PPV Numbers for Primetime Featured Events:

“UFC Primetime: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos”: N/A
“UFC Primetime: Lesnar vs. Velasquez” (UFC 121): 1,050,000
“UFC Primetime: Rampage vs. Evans” (UFC 114):  1,050,000
“UFC Primetime: St-Pierre vs. Penn II” (UFC 94): 920,000
“UFC Primetime: St-Pierre vs. Shields” (UFC 129): 800,000
“UFC Primetime: St-Pierre vs. Hardy” (UFC 111): 770,000
“UFC Primetime: Diaz vs. Condit” (UFC 143): 400,000

Payout Perspective:

The “UFC Primetime: Diaz vs. Condit” three-part series was one of the lowest rated in the history of the Primetime specials.  It also sold only 400,000 PPV buys, which is almost half the next lowest Primetime special PPV event – St-Pierre vs. Hardy for UFC 11, which sold an estimated 770,000 PPVs.

Now, we should take into account that the Primetime special was supposed to be GSP vs Diaz, which would have done much better numbers. Curiously after GSP pulled out due to injury, the UFC scheduled Diaz vs Condit for the Interim WW Title and went ahead and continued their plans to film the Primetime special.  As a result, it was one of the lowest “Primetimes” ever.  Another factor here to consider is the cost of producing these Primetime specials, which is estimated to be between one and two million dollars.  You have to wonder if the ROI for this event was worth it for the UFC.

In terms of viewership on the new FX platform, the Primetime special numbers depict a negative trending pattern as viewership started to decline after the first episode.  As for reasons for the lower than expected viewership numbers, the time slot is not a desirable one considering that historically, networks have struggled to keep the 18-34M demographic in front of their TV sets on Friday nights. Another factor to take into account is the difficulty to move a show over from one network to another. It appears that FX is still going through a transitional phase trying to migrate the UFC fanbase that has called Spike TV home for years.

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.

The show will mark the first time Zuffa will hold a card in Japan. The four hour card begins at 7pm PT/10pm ET which means that east coast viewers will have to stay up extra late for the card. Not sure if this will impact buys at all especially when you are talking about receiving an extra hour of fights.

Payout Perspective:

The additional hour and fight will be a bonus for those purchasing the PPV. More for your money? It should accommodate the 5 round championship fight between Edgar and Henderson without concern of running out of time. It will be interesting to see what happens if there are a lot of short fights on the card. How will the UFC compensate for it? We’ve seen in the past when fights run short, the UFC shows fights earlier on in the evening. But, with four hours, there could be a lot of filler time. I am interested to see how the UFC produces this show and if there will be anything different considering its the company’s first visit to Japan.

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.

Originally, XBox planned a big rollout of the UFC on its platform by offering UFC 141 to 30,000 users. Server issues appear to be the cause of the difficulties which left the 30,000 plus people that signed up out in the cold. A definite public relations disaster. MMA Mania provides us with an email received by affected users.

Via MMA Mania:

You’re receiving this note because you were one of the many fans who registered to experience UFC 141 on Xbox LIVE.

First and foremost, please allow us to apologize for the technical issues that impacted your access to UFC 141 on Xbox LIVE. We remain committed to providing you with the quality experience you expect, therefore we completed a thorough investigation into the issues that prevented you from enjoying UFC 141 on Xbox LIVE, and we’re confident that we’ve addressed the problems.

We’d love it if you’d give us a second chance, and we’d like to offer you another opportunity to experience UFC on Xbox LIVE free of charge with UFC RIO: Aldo vs. Mendes on January 14th, 2012. Instructions on how to access UFC RIO on Xbox LIVE are outlined below. In addition, we’re providing all those impacted by the UFC 141 technical issues with one month of free Xbox LIVE Gold membership.

As we continue to polish and refine the application, new functionality and features will be released. In the meantime, we believe we’re building the most compelling, interactive way to experience the fun and excitement of UFC in your living room, and now it is our job to prove it to you.

Thank you for being a valued Xbox LIVE member.

Sincerely,
The Xbox LIVE Team

UFC on XBox Live will also be showing the UFC 142 press conference live this morning.

Payout Perspective:

If you were an affected XBox user let us know if you received the above email. This appears to be a good response by XBox. Not only does it quickly address the issues by giving users the chance to see the next UFC PPV, but it gives them something else: a month free of its XBox Live Gold membership. The month free is minimal cost to Microsoft and gives users a chance to get hooked on the Gold membership. We’ll see if Microsoft actually gains Gold users from this. In the end, Microsoft acknowledge its error and is trying to make good.

While there still may be some skeptics about the service, its a swift response by the Microsoft. Of course, comparing the two cards, Brock Lesnar was still the big draw and going from Lesnar to an Aldo-Mendes main event may be disappointing. In addition, Saturday night’s Patriots-Broncos game may take away another segment of MMA fans due to the “Tebow effect”.

Overeem kicks Lesnar into retirement

There’s a reason why Lesnar went off as the underdog in Vegas. It was uncertain how Lesnar would do considering he came back from diverticulitis once again. The fight was a no contest for Overeem as one kick to the gut and Lesnar was done for the night.

Classy speech by Lesnar at the end of the fight. It was the right thing to do as his last two fights have been very disappointing. For Overeem, JDS is next in what should be one of the bigger cards of 2012.

Diaz boxes out Cowboy

A lot of trash talk before made this co-main event something to watch. Indeed it was the most interesting match of the night. Diaz used the “stockton slap” as the Cowboy just stood in front of him in the first round. Cerrone used some leg sweeps to score some points but did little actual damage to Diaz.

An impressive outing for Diaz as he’s moving up in the lightweight division albeit he came in at 157 pounds.

Hendricks knocks out Fitch

Johnny Hendricks left hand was lethal as he flirted with the UFC’s fastest KO record with a knockout of Jon Fitch. A disappointing end for Fitch who was coming back from shoulder surgery. The stoppage was warranted as Fitch went limp and Hendricks was right on top to deliver more punishment if he the fight wasn’t stop.

Hendricks puts himself in line for a title shot. He’s not in the express line to a shot but is definitely someone that should be taking a step forward in the next year.

Attendance and Gate

MMA Junkie reports that UFC 141 drew a reported 12,158 fans for a reported $3.1 million gate. The figures, as custom, were given by Dana White at the post-fight press conference. The numbers fall well short of the top 5 draws in MGM Grand history but it did much better than last year’s UFC 125.

Bonuses

The bonuses were $75,000 each and went to Johnny Hendricks, Nate Diaz and Donald Cerrone. Hendricks was the obvious choice for KO of the night while Diaz and Cerrone earned fight of the night honors. There were no submissions so no sub of the night.

Countdown to UFC 141 debuted on Fuel TV a week before the event and garnered a poor 15,000 viewers. Hopefully, the January 1st UFC marathon helped with marketing of the network as the new place for the UFC.

Salaries were released earlier than normal by the Nevada State Athletic Commission because lawyers for Golden Glory obtained an order to garnish the salary of Alistair Overeem. Of no surprise, Brock Lesnar topped the list. Overeem was set to earn $385K but was asked to garnish roughly 30%. However, it was revealed Monday that no bond was posted to garnish the salary as required by Nevada law. So, Overeem was able to receive all of his earnings. This will make the litigation between Overeem and Golden Glory much more contentious.

Sponsorships

Clothing brand RYU and wireless service provider MetroPCS became sponsors of the UFC this month. RYU was a sponsor to the “backstage camera” and MetroPCS had signage in the Octagon. RYU also sponsored Jon Fitch. Unfortunately for Fitch, the RYU walkout shirt was seen much more than on his shorts as the fight lasted just 12 seconds.

With the addition of MetroPCS and Gina Carano’s new movie, “Haywire,” the regular sponsors (SafeAuto, TapouT, Harley Davidson, Toyo Tires, Bud Light) were in the Octagon. Speaking of Haywire, Carano was in attendance and was interviewed about the movie.

Harley Davidson pumped up its Hometown Throwdown contest again.

MusclePharm had a special graphic shown during the tale of the tape before Overeem and Lesnar.

The Cowboy has used his hat to put sponsors on each side of the hat in the past and now he’s used under the brim. Way to use the real estate. Maybe that’s why he got so upset that Diaz flicked it off his head.

Jimy Hettes had sponsors AzadWatch.com and Palooka.com as sponsors. I noticed these two sponsors since they were on the back of his fight shorts and maintained dominant position on Nam Pham most of their match. Good placement for the two sponsors.

It was announced prior to UFC 141, that Lesnar signed an endorsement deal with Everlast. I wonder what impact his retirement will have on the deal?

Post-UFC 141 Headlines

Lesnar retires, what now?

With the retirement of Brock Lesnar, the UFC lost its top PPV draw. A Lesnar card meant 1 million PPV buys was a certainty. With his departure, and the absence of GSP for most of the year and Anderson Silva out until at least June, the UFC is in a precarious PPV position as its lost its top three stars for the first half of 2012. Jon Jones could be the next PPV breakout star.

But, perhaps as when teams go without its star, it makes the rest of the team stronger and better. This can be a time that the UFC can build up its existing stars (Jones, Edgar, Diaz). Of course, Rashad Evans is another top PPV draw but will be on the Fox broadcast on January 28th. His next fight (fingers crossed) will likely be the long-awaited bout with Jon Jones sometime this summer (maybe Memorial Day weekend). What will the PPV buys look like in the first half of the year?

Young fighters impress

Jimy Hettes and Alexander Gustafsson made statements in their fights on the main card of the PPV. Hettes was impressive in his fight with Nam Phan and Gustafsson took care of the Vladimir Matyushenko. Both of these guys look to be moving up the ranks of their respective divisions.

Odds and ends

-Why no Joe Rogan post-fight interview for Jimy Hettes? He deserved some mic time.

-After Diaz flipped Cerrone’s cowboy hat earlier in the week, Diaz gave Cerrone his beanie after their fight. It looked like Diaz wanted Cerrone to give him his cowboy hat kind of like an exchange of opponent jerseys in soccer.

-The last live event on Spike occurred with little or no mention that the UFC-Spike relationship was ending. Of course, if you are Spike, you are still showing the UFC library so why mention it.

-I was in Canada last week and noticed Rogers giving a top 5 of Lesnar’s greatest fights. It was interesting to me that the number 1 moment was his win over Frank Mir and they showed his infamous rant after the fight (“going to have a Coors Light because Bud doesn’t pay me” and “get on his wife” comments). That’s something they would not play in the US anymore.

PPV issues

This was the first time that XBox users could purchase a UFC events through its XBox Live platform. As a promotion for this, XBox gave away 30,000 free PPV passes to watch the event.  Unfortunately, technical difficulties destroyed the opportunity for anyone to access the UFC on XBox. To make amends, the UFC promised all that purchased the event on XBox, it would be able to see another UFC event for free. The problem with this, is that consumers are now weary of this method of watching the PPV and less likely to use this platform. We see that there are some glitches in the system and the UFC must fix them, restore trust and address this PR problem as well.

In addition to the XBox problem, I received notice that Rogers in Ontario, Canada had technical difficulties as well. People that purchased the PPV were refunded money as the cable operator acknowledged the problems.

These problems do not bode well for the overall viewership of the PPV. Even with Lesnar at the top of the card, the final number could have been better but for these issues.