UFC PPV Start Time Comparison
October 17, 2011
News broke last week that the UFC was planning to move the its PPVs back to a 7pm/10pm start time starting with December 30th’s UFC 141. In April at UFC 129, the UFC moved the start times up to 6pm/9pm to accommodate the east coast viewers.
In Jason’s perspective yesterday, he asked the question, “It would be interesting to know if the breakdown in PPV buys this year led the UFC to conclude that the 6pm start time did not influence PPV buys“.
I wondered the same thing, so I though I’d take a closer look at the numbers and try comparing buyrate averages leading up to the April 30th change to the subsequent events that followed.
So here I compared the buyrate averages from the 7 events prior to the change to the 7 events that followed.
UFC 121 to 128 covered the period between November 23 2010 and March 19 2011. The estimated average number of buys over this stretch was approximately 576,000. In comparison, UFC 129 to 135, which covered a time period between April 30 2011 through to September 24 2011 had an estimated 414,000 buys. That’s a decrease of 28% after the start time was moved up to 6pm/9pm at the end April.
NOTE: If we exclude UFC 121, we see a drop of approximately 17% after the change to 6/9pm (498k pre/414k post)
Payout Perspective:
It’s hard to say for certain if this is the primary reason for the drop. There was a rash of injuries and health issues in the spring which effected main events and many argue that an over saturation of the product is causing consumer fatigue. But the move by the UFC signals they feel strongly that the change is having enough of an impact on their product that they are willing to revert back to the original start time less then a year after making the change.
UFC moving back PPVs start time starting with UFC 141
October 11, 2011
Dave Metzler at F4Wonline.com is reporting that the UFC is returning its PPVs back to the 7pm/10pm start time starting with December 30th’s UFC 141. The UFC moved up the start time starting with UFC 129 in Toronto to accommodate its east coast viewers.
As we noted when the announcement to move the PPVs up one hour, it would hurt west coast viewership. Considering the fact that prelim fights on Facebook would start mid-afternoon for west coast viewers, most west coasters would still be out and about. The theory was that the 6pm move made sense from the perspective that the UFC wanted as many east coast viewers to see the PPVs. Now, it appears that the UFC’s experiment is over.
Payout Perspective:
The sagging PPV buys are the likely reason why the UFC is moving back the start times. It would be interesting to know if the breakdown in PPV buys this year led the UFC to conclude that the 6pm start time did not influence PPV buys. Certainly, the UFC is hoping for a big spike in buys for 141 considering its PPV bell cow, Brock Lesnar, is on the card.
UFC 136: Payout Perspective
October 9, 2011
Welcome to another edition of Payout Perspective. This time we come to you from the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas where fans saw one of the best cards of this year.
Edgar bullies Maynard
The first round of Edgar Maynard III looked a lot like Edgar Maynard II. Instead, Maynard remained composed throughout the rest of the round. However, Maynard seemed too lax in the second and Edgar got to Maynard in the fourth.
Maynard looked stunned after the match. Not sure who looked more crestfallen: Maynard or Kenny Florian.
Aldo outlasts Florian
Jose Aldo controlled the match and defeated a game Kenny Florian. When the final round ended, Florian had a look of a defeated fighter and someone that knew his career (at least trying to win UFC gold) was over.
Sonnen outclasses Stann
Chael Sonnen returned to the Octagon to beat Brian Stann. This was a definite step up in competition for Stann and it showed. Sonnen had his way with Stann and used the arm triangle to choke him out.
But what was more interesting than the fight was the post-fight interview. Short, brief and concise. Sonnen challenged Anderson Silva (who was in attendance and sitting next to Charles Barkley) to a loser leaves match (Silva leaves division or Sonnen leaves the UFC). A textbook pro wrestling promo: 1) Insult opponent, 2) challenge said opponent to a fight, 3) state when the fight is happening, 4) state stipulations and 5) leave.
Silva thought the promo was hilarious and the UFC attempted to diffuse the situation by panning the camera to Barkley.
Phan outlasts Garcia – Third fight upcoming?
In the fight of the night, Nam Phan defeated Leonard Garcia in another entertaining slugfest. How is it that Leonard Garcia got more post-fight interview time than Nam Phan? It seems like the UFC is trying to package these guys together. Initially, Phan said in the post-fight interview he didn’t want another fight with Garcia but seemed more receptive later. I think Phan is thinking about moving up and on but the UFC may sign them up for another fight.
Garcia will never be cut by the UFC although he really must try something different. All of his fights look like he’s swinging like a guy in a bar at last call. He’ll be in the same category as Pat Barry and Dan Hardy. Entertaining fighters but not successful.
Attendance and Gate:
MMA Fighting’s Mike Chiappetta reported attendance of 16,164 for a gate of $2.3 million. According to the Toyota Center web site, the arena houses 18,300 for basketball and 19,000 for concerts. Not sure The attendance figure is better than the UFC’s last event at the arena, UFC 69. However, 69 produced a bigger gate: $2.8 million.
Bonuses
MMA Junkie reports that the bonuses for UFC 136 were $75,000 each.
Fight of the Night: Nam Phan vs. Leonard Garcia
Submission of the Night: Joe Lauzon
KO of the Night: Frankie Edgar
Promotion of UFC 136
The UFC had an off beat promo for UFC 136 entitled, “The Great Debate.” It currently has over 191,000 views on YouTube.
The UFC also held another #Hunt4UFC, where White gave hints on places around Houston to be at for fans to win tickets.
UPDATE 10/10: Forgot to include this great interview on CNN with Frankie Edgar.
Sponsorships
Upcoming movie release, Immortal, Tapout, Dodge, UFC Trainer, UFC.com store, Xyience, SafeAuto Insurance, Toyo Tires and Bud Light with the center were in the cage tonight. Is it me or is the UFC.com store being promoted much more.
Fighter walkout shirts are here. I like the track jackets that some fighters are using. Although its hard to pull over the gloves, its still another piece that clothing brands can market.
We saw for the first time the video game cover for the UFC video game, “Undisputed 3”. As reported by USA Today, Anderson Silva was voted to be on the cover after THQ conducted a poll to see which UFC champion should be on the cover.
Xyience took the fighting check point. It appears that its a revolving sponsor although Harley Davidson had the checkpoint for some time.
There was a huge push for the movie Immortal. Chael Sonnen wore it on his fight trunks and had an Immortal hat on during a taped interview in the pre-fight hype package.
UFC Fan Expo
The UFC held another fan expo in Houston which gave fans, sponsors and fighters the ability to interact. No word on attendance at the expo but we will follow up. With the first one going on in Toronto for 129 and this one happening for 136, we should expect at least a couple expos in 2012.
Post-UFC 136 storylines
Sonnen vs. Silva – Super Bowl Weekend. The event is not on the schedule yet but I guess we have our first fight. This will be a big event and should help jumpstart 2012 with a big buy rate. Sonnen will be in full promo mode and with the help of Fox, we’re going to be seeing Sonnen’s face all over the Fox networks. There are talks of this being in Cowboys Stadium although that seems like talk at this point.
Aldo vs. Mendes – An interesting matchup but what will be more interesting will be how much longer Aldo will stay in the Featherweight division. He’s had trouble with the weigh cut and an Aldo-Edgar, Aldo-Melendez fight would bring some spark to the lighter weight divisions.
Edgar vs. Melendez or Aldo? – The worst kept secret is that the Strikeforce lightweight champion is coming to the UFC to “unify” the titles. The matchup makes sense and would draw interest. But when will it happen. Melendez is slated for a Strikeforce title defense in December. But, Dana White is bullish on Melendez in the UFC lightweight division. White also said that he’s interested in Edgar going up against Jose Aldo.
PPV Buys
Last night marked the end of a three week period where four UFC titles were up for grabs. UFC 136 was one of the best, if not the best card the UFC has put on this year. Top to bottom, the card was exciting. It will be interesting to see what the PPV buys will end up at. Does anything lower than 400K say anything about fan perceptions of the lower weight divisions? Or is it just that there are too many PPVs going around that fans just can’t buy them all?
Odds and ends
Rashad Evans got booed again when the camera panned to him. What was funny is when the camera widened fans cheered for Forrest Griffin who was sitting next to him. Griffin looked back at Evans and playfully laughed at him. Pretty funny considering these two fought for the title a couple years ago.
Chad Mendes was announced as the newest member of Team Edge. Good for him considering he may get the next title shot against Jose Aldo.
Another loss by Tiequan Zhang. He was thought to help garner interest from Chinese fans. But, his losses are mounting and it seems like the UFC may have to look to someone else to make inroads into the Chinese market.
The Spike Prelims featured Anthony Pettis and Demian Maia. Good match-ups which should mean another good rating.
Among the writeups for UFC 136, there was this one on Nam Pham.
UFC debuts on XBox 360 in December
October 8, 2011
Kotaku reports that the UFC PPVs will be available on XBox 360 Dec. 1st and its first live event will be UFC 140. Dana White made the announcementabout PPVs on the game console this past summer at E3.
Via Kotaku:
Watching the the MMA promotion’s fights on Xbox 360 will let you and your XBL friends predict winners, with the results of the pseudo-wagering kept on a leaderboard. The PPVs will stream in 720 and you’ll be able to navigate through the content with Kinect, if you like actually moving your arms.
Here are some more amenities that the Xbox 360-UFC deal will provide. (via Middle Easy through the UFC press release):
- Live and On-Demand Video – Event previews, UFC Countdown, press conferences, weigh-ins, interviews, workouts, highlights, and more, together for the first time on your big screen.
- Streaming HD Quality in 720p – UFC fans demand stunning HD viewing, and Xbox LIVE brings the most premium streaming HD to the big screen.
- Pay-Per-View with Ease – The biggest pay-per-view fights available to all Xbox LIVE members in HD and SD pricing options. Purchase directly with your credit card, Microsoft Points not required.
- Interactive Fight Card with Predictions – Size up the fighters with the tale of the tape and view their past fight results. Predict upcoming fights, compare results with friends for points and bragging rights, and see where you stand against them on the leaderboard, all accessible while watching the fight so you’ll never have to leave the excitement of the Octagon.
- Control the action with Kinect – Focus on the fight instead of looking for the remote. Navigate through the video content, bring up the Interactive Fight Card, or play, pause, and rewind that big punch, kick or submission…all with the magic of Kinect.
No word on the price of purchasing the PPV on Xbox 360 or if you can use XBox points toward the purchase. I’m not up on using the “points” on the system but I will ask a source (my 9 year old nephew) and get back to you.
The initial announcement stated that the UFC PPV would be available only to XBox 360 Live subscribers.
H/t: MMA Metrics
Payout Perspective:
As we pointed out back when the UFC made the initial announcement, the partnership with Microsoft means another mainstream sponsor comes on board with the organization. You may also see more fighters being sponsored by Xbox 360 on the 140 card for branding purposes. No word if Demetrious Johnson (XBox 360’s sole sponsored fighter) will be on the card but it would not be surprising if he made it back in time. Regardless, the UFC-XBox 360 partnership is one reason why Jon Jones was put on this card (as well as it being in MMA crazed Canada) to defend his title. It also is another experiment in finding other platforms for the UFC to air PPVs.
UFC hints at two events in one night
September 30, 2011
Yahoo! Sports reports that the UFC may hold two events in one night according to UFC president Dana White. The UFC would rely on multiple UFC teams to logistically handle events on the same night.
While promoting UFC 139 in San Jose earlier this week, White let it be known of his vision for two UFC events in one night. “When we go to Japan next year, we are going to be putting on a show at the same time in Las Vegas,” he said.
White indicated that the UFC would be running multiple shows in the future. However, White did not elaborate on the details.
MMA Junkie reports that the UFC would have the capability to have two teams cover each event. Former WEC head Reed Harris hosted the UFC on Versus 6 pre-event press conference and touted the fact that the UFC’s multi-team approach makes hosting two events in one night possible.
There is still the question of airing both shows. The UFC wants to air both live and same-day-delayed shows in prime time slots. UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi is an example of this. While the PPV played in its usual prime time slot, it was offered live during the day.
Payout Perspective:
PPV saturation or a forward looking plan for global expansion of the UFC? At this point, holding a show in the US and in Japan seems to be hedging its bets. Simply put, if the Japan show does not go well, it could be overshadowed by the US show. And if Japan does well, then that’s the story. But, it seems like the plan is to expand the brand globally. The question is whether holding two shows in one night is too much. Will the UFC have two PPVs in one night or will it have one event free and the other on PPV? For an average UFC fan on a budget, purchasing two events in one month is expensive. Will we see a day where we may pay over $100 for one night of PPVs? The other question is whether its too much. There is not much being made about the fact that in three straight weeks, there will be three UFC title defenses. It seems like it may be too much for the casual UFC fan as there is lukewarm interest in UFC on Versus 6 and much skepticism in the PPV buy rate for UFC 136. Time will tell to see how the UFC executes two events in one night.
UFC 135: Payout Perspective
September 25, 2011
Welcome to another edition of Payout Perspective. In the main event, Jon Jones defeated Quentin “Rampage” Jackson to retain the Light Heavyweight title.
Jones stops Rampage
Jon Jones handled Rampage Jackson to retain his Light Heavyweight title. Its becoming apparent that Jones’ length is his greatest attribute. Jackson looked motivated, in shape and had the correct game plan to deal with Jones. However, Jones was ready for Jackson and it was apparent that Jones could do whatever he wanted with Jackson. The 3rd round after the bell throw of Jackson and eventual choke served as notice that Jones is here to stay.
As for Jackson, it was weird for a loser of a bout to call out someone else. But, Rampage vs. Shogun Rua would help a UFC Japan card that has its share of skeptics.
Kos KOs Hughes
The fight was entertaining until the last few seconds of the first round when Koscheck poured it on and KO’d Hughes. For Hughes, the KO is the second of its kind as BJ Penn did the same to him last year. Its hard to say if Hughes will or should retire, but for a Hall of Famer to be knocked unconscious like that is not good for a legacy. For Koscheck, it was a nice return from December’s injury. The win should put him back into the welterweight title picture.
Attendance and Gate
Although not verified by the Colorado state athletic commission, Dana White announced the attendance at the Pepsi Center as 16,344 for a gate of $2 million. (h/t MMA Junkie)
Bonuses
MMA Junkie reports that the following fighters were awarded $75,000 each for their fights.
Fight of the Night – Jones vs. Jackson
KO of the Night – Koscheck
Submission of the Night – Nate Diaz
Diaz displayed his jiu jitsu proficiency in submitting Takanori Gomi. It was a textbook transition. Hopefully, in a push for an exciting fight, the UFC does not stray from its roots.
Promotion of the Fight
UFC Fight Night 25 featured a Jones-Rampage head to head debate. The same was done on ESPN. I have to say I am not a fan of these head to head debates. I know its supposed to draw heat but it seems forced.
More and more, UFC fighters are getting their chance on late night television. Jones and Rampage on Jimmy Kimmel to sell the fight.
It was a little weird to see the two sitting so comfortably close to each other and sharing their couch with Dr. Phil.
Press Conference
The Jones-Rampage press conference had its share of funny moments. The best being the picture of Rampage clowning Jon Jones’ “stare into the distance” when they both did the staredown at the initial press conference.
The drama of the alleged “spy” in Rampage’s camp brought some intrigue to the matchup. But, most people were interested in the matchup regardless of the “spy”.
Sponsorships
MMA Elite, Harley Davidson, MMA Authentics, Edge, Musclepharm, Xyience, Toyo Tires were all in the Octagon with Bud Light taking the center again. Video game Gears of War3 (for XBox 360) signage was also present in the Octagon. It also was the presenting sponsor for UFC 135. Noticeably a lot of different sponsors in the Octagon this time around.
Musclepharm – Not only did it announce its new partnership with the UFC earlier in the week, but its gym was featured during the UFC Countdown show as Rampage trained for the fight there. It also was the spot where Rampage discovered the “spy” from the Jones camp. Notwithstanding the implication that a MP exec was a spy, it was a good week of activation for MP. The MP gym was adorned with its memorable logo.
The US Marines maintained its Keys to Victory segment featuring Koscheck and Hughes.
FighterxFashion has a good rundown of the walk out wear from UFC 135 including Rampage “chains”. Just in time for Halloween…or your next street fight (j/k, I hope).
Interesting that Jon Jones did not have any special brand activation with any of his sponsors. If I missed it, let me know.
Odds and ends
- The high altitude coupled with the Heavyweight match-ups lead to two matches that slowed down considerably as the match progressed. Maybe some booking info to learn from in the future.
- Whenever Rashard Evans steps into the Octagon with a suit, he receives boos. It reminds me a little of Ric Flair. The pinstripes did add to the “heel” status he received last night. Notwithstanding, it was a little awkward for Evans after the stare-down with Jones since it looked like he wanted to leave but Rampage was still in the Octagon. It was like he was trapped a bit. It was a good spot but
- Don’t mean to talk about pro wrestling too much, but did Ben Rothwell come out to the Monday Night Raw theme?
- Did anyone notice Rampage’s corner-man whisper in his ear prior to his Rogan post-fight interview. It was like he reminded him to challenge Shogun in Japan.
UPDATE re PPV Buys
MMA Supremacy did an informal poll on the anticipated PPV buys for this pay per view. With Rampage, Jones, Hughes and Koscheck at the top of the card, many believed this to be between 500K-700K in buys with a smattering of people believing it to be 300-400K in buys. It will be interesting to see. Although Jones is the biggest rising star in the UFC, he has yet to become a PPV draw. The UFC hopes that this will change soon.
Is GSP the UFC’s biggest PPV star?
September 22, 2011
After the UFC 135 press conference yesterday, Dana White told reports that Georges St. Pierre is the biggest PPV star in MMA today. This, despite the numbers reflecting that Brock Lesnar should hold that distinction.
White did state that GSP’s fight style has changed. Nevertheless, White believes he’s the top draw regardless. White might be pushing this statement and its likely to hype GSP’s upcoming fight. But, the numbers reflect that Brock Lesnar is the top MMA draw when it comes to PPV.
Via the Blue Book:
Brock Lesnar
UFC 121 vs. Velasquez – 1,050,000
UFC 116 vs. Carwin – 1,160,000
UFC 100 vs. Mir – 1,600,000
UFC 91 vs. Couture – 1,010,000
UFC 87 vs. Herring – 625K
UFC 81 vs. Mir – 600K
GSP
UFC 129 vs. Shields – 800K
UFC 124 vs. Koscheck – 785K
UFC 111 vs. Hardy – 710K
UFC 100 vs. Alves – 1,600,000
UFC 94 vs. BJ Penn – 920K
UFC 87 vs. Jon Fitch – 625K
UFC 82 vs. Serra (GSP regains title) – 530K
The two have shared the same card twice: UFC 87 and UFC 100.
Payout Perspective:
Looking at the numbers, Brock Lesnar is the king of PPV buy rates for the UFC. We should see a huge spike in PPV buys as he takes on Alistair Overeem at the end of the year. But, I believe White is making the point that GSP is the standard for MMA. Definitely, losing to Matt Serra has caused a change in his style and while he is winning, he is not finishing off opponents. Could the GSP decisions reflect the PPV buy rate between the two fighters? Or, is it once again the fact that fight fans favor the heavyweights? In case you were wondering, Anderson Silva has not surpassed a 1 million PPV buys in any of his main events. The highest buy rate for The Spider was 725K last February against Vitor Belfort.
Alistair Overeem Signs with UFC, Set to Fight Brock Lesnar on December 30th
September 6, 2011
LA Times reports that Alistair Overeem has signed with the UFC and will be taking on Brock Lesnar on the December 30th NYE show being held in Las Vegas.
“Brock is a big name, a dangerous guy, and this is a dream matchup,” Overeem told The Times on Tuesday, just after signing a standard UFC fight contract in the office of Chairman Lorenzo Fertitta. “Brock’s a big guy, an exciting wrestler with his takedowns.
…
“I want to see this fight myself. Overall, I’m a different fighter. A striker, athletic, big. These are going to be two big trucks going at it on a collision course.”
VIDEO:
Payout Perspective:
Some notes from the announcement:
- The fight will be a 5-round non-title bout (PPV event). Overeem was stripped of the Strikeforce HW Title when he was released from Strikeforce just a few weeks ago.
- Alistair Overeem signed a multiple-fight standard contract, which means he is exclusive to the UFC and will not be allowed to participate in Kickboxing or Golden Glory events.
- It is expected that the winner of this bout will challenge the winner of Cain Velasquez vs Junior Dos Santos for the HW title.
- Overeem was offered a title shot against the Velasquez/JDS winner but Overeem didn’t want to wait that long.
- This event will take place on a Friday night, outside of the norm for the promotion who usually holds PPV events on Saturday nights.
- The UFC was looking to run the NYE show from Abu Dhabi this year from that same Friday night, but instead moved the event to Las Vegas on that same day.
- Yesterday night, the UFC announced that they would be heading back to Japan on February 26, 2012 and would be holding their event at Saitama Super Arena, which will be configured to seat 20,000 fans. Alistair Overeem would be be one of their biggest draws if they could get him on that card along with “Kid” Yamamoto and Yoshihiro Akiyama to name a few. Yushin Okami could also be used, but will have to bounce back after a crushing defeat to Anderson Silva in Brazil at UFC 134.
- With the addition of Lesnar vs Overeem, the UFC will most likely host a 1 million PPV buy event this year. The last time they went through a year without hitting one was back in 2007. Last year, the UFC hosted 3 1 million PPV buy events, two which were headlined by Brock Lesnar.
UFC 133: Payout Perspective
August 8, 2011
Welcome to another edition of Payout Perspective! This week we look at the much-maligned UFC 133 event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In the main event, Rashad Evans took out Tito Ortiz to cement his spot as the number one contender in the Light Heavyweight division.
Evans knees Ortiz for win
Rashad Evans looked phenomenal and displayed no signs of rust after a 14 month layoff. Tito Ortiz looked good too but Evans was too much for Tito and a knee to the chest ended Tito’s night. This was a fight that no one really lost. Evans secured his title shot and Ortiz spun his loss as “taking one for the team.”
Belfort takes care of Akiyama
Vitor Belfort made quick work of Yoshihiro Akiyama as he knocked out Akiyama in the first round. An impressive showing coming off of being KO’d by Anderson Silva. Interesting the finish came when Akiyama attempted and missed a front kick similar to that of Silva.
Ebersole KO’s Hallman and speedo
While most thought that Brian Ebersole’s “harrow” would be the quirky story of this match, it was Dennis Hallman wearing a speedo that convinced Dana White to award Ebersol a special KO bonus as well as banning all speedos from UFC competition. When I saw Hallman’s short shorts I immediately thought of what boxer Bernard Hopkins was thinking. As some may know, BHop used to hate MMA until the pubicity came to Philadelphia. He did get off one of the best takes about the sport on the Jim Rome show when he said he would lose to any MMA guy since he had notfought like that since “he was in prison or a kid.”
Ebersole received a “special” bonus as a result of his KO. For better or worse, the short shorts received mainstream notoriety from Deadspin and ESPN’s Page 2 created a list of “Worst Looks in Sports History” in honor of Hallman’s shorts.
Attendance and gate
11,583 were in attendance for a gate of $1.5 million according to MMA Junkie. The number of complimentary tickets were not provided. In comparison, 2009’s UFC 101 was a sellout with 17,411 in attendance for a gate of $3.55 million. The event, held in the same building as UFC 133, featured Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin.
Bonuses
MMA Junkie reports the following bonuses for UFC 133. There were no submissions, so no submissions of the night were awarded. However, White awarded Ebersole a $70,000 bonus for getting Hallman’s speedos off of PPV. Other $70,000 award winners included:
Fight of the Night – Evans vs. Ortiz
KO of the Night – Vito Belfort
PR for UFC 133
Rashad Evans workouts were featured on Yahoo! Sports. Evans and NFLers Maurice Jones-Drew and Larry Fitzgerald were featured in a weekly series on elite athlete workouts.
Many Philadelphia celebrities were in attendance including Charles Barkley and Bernard Hopkins. Interesting that Hopkins was in attendance considering that he had bad mouthed MMA for some time.
White and Ortiz appeared on the Jim Rome Show. Similar to NASCAR, the Rome show has embraced the sport by having UFC fighters on as well as talking about it on his show.
White gave away tickets for UFC 133 through its #Hunt4UFC twitter contest where White sent out tweets to locations of where to go if fans wanted free tickets.
Sponsorships
SafeAuto Insurance sponsored its usual band of UFC fighters as well as a contest, “VIP at the UFC.” The brand activation integrated social media into its fan contest. When fans “liked” the SafeAuto Facebook page and filled out a contest form they had the opportunity to win a trip to UFC 133.
Tapout had a similar contest for UFC 133 in which followers either liked the Tapout Facebook page and tweet out “#TapoutTickets” in order to qualify. The winner was announced during the appearance of Skyscrape and Punkass on The MMA Hour last Monday.
According to Bloody Elbow, Rory MacDonald’s fight banner never made it behind him before introductions. A faux pas if you want to keep sponsors. Here it is:
Training Mask made a big splash with the sponsorship of many of the fighters on the card including Rashad Evans. And, it also sponsored the front of Hallman’s shorts. Training Mask put out what seemed to be a tongue in cheek tweet about its sponsorship of Hallman stating that it has no control of what its fighters wear.
Middle Easy sponsored Brian Ebersole. It was interesting to note that at the end of the fight, Joe Rogan referred to Ebersole’s “Bloody Elbow” after pummeling Dennis Hallman. Coincidence?
The fighter fashions are detailed in this post. Notably, Evans sported a white Jaco track suit top with a subtle Jaco logo. Yet, he wore a Tapout shirt post-fight. Nam Phan wore a gi that he took off in the entryway so that his t-shirt sponsor, Throwdown, got the visibility during the walkout.
Conan 3D had the fighter checkpoint sponsorship. Fortunately, no interview with its star this time around.
Harley Davidson, Dodge, Gamefly.com, Xyience, Edge, Boost Mobile and Bud Light had the center of the ring.
Post-UFC 133 Headlines
Evans vs. Jones/Rampage Super Bowl Weekend 2012. Book it. Nobody get hurt.
Rory MacDonald. Probably the most impressive young fighter out there. It will be interesting to see what fights are ahead of the Canadian.
Tito Ortiz. Although he lost, he put on a good fight and it didn’t look like he was mailing it in. He’s regained respect with the UFC and will likely have a fight or two left with the company.
Despite many alterations to the card, UFC 133 had some entertaining, albeit short fights. If you wanted to see knockouts, UFC 133 gave it to you.
Odds and ends:
Did Shane Victorino help promote UFC 133 by starting a bench-clearing brawl Friday night?
Does everyone have Beats by Dre headphones that Evans wore at weigh-ins and walkout?
Joe Rogan mentioned Diamond MMA, a company specializing in compression shorts that hold cups in place to prevent groin shots, during the fights giving the company some good publicity.
The main card fights ended with almost an hour to spare. This happens when there are 4 KOs during the PPV. This was a night with lots of filler fights. It was a good chance to show the Facebook fights live.
UFC 132: Payout Perspective
July 3, 2011
Welcome to another edition of Payout Perspective. This time we look at UFC 132 from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The featured bout was Dominick Cruz defending his Bantamweight title againt Urijah Faber.
Cruz defeats Faber in entertaining matchup
Welcome to the UFC Dominick Cruz. A back and forth bout saw Cruz take control of Faber in the end to earn his first UFC win and successful title defense. As we discussed here, the UFC will need to start actively promoting its Bantamweight champ. An example of this can be found in last week’s print edition of the Sports Business Journal. The UFC has a full page ad on the back page were it shows its current champions: Velasquez, Jones, GSP and Edgar. It neglects to include Jose Aldo and Cruz. Last night’s action was fast-paced and entertaining. The UFC can get behind the lighter divisions and sell this type of action. We will see what happens in the future. Certainly, a Faber win would have made life easier marketing this division.
As for Faber, a rematch could happen sooner than later. But, he has lost his last four shots at a title. How many more chances can he get?
Axe Murderer KO’d by Leben, career over?
As predicted, the Wanderlei Silva-Chris Leben matchup featured a big knockout. It was a little surprising that it happened in the first minutes of the fight but Chris Leben took a couple haymakers and returned his own to KO Silva. Dana White essentially stated that Silva’s career is over in the UFC. Similar to Chuck Liddell, Silva will have to have someone tell him to stop fighting. Although he has an exciting fight style, the years are catching up to him and a body just can’t sustain that many shots.
Ortiz upsets Bader, keeps job
The gravedigger celebration was brought out once again as Tito Ortiz submitted Ryan Bader in the upset of the night. For as much heat Ortiz receives, the arena seemed to be at its loudest. Bad news for Bader as he will need to regroup after two straight losses.
Attendance and gate
MMA Junkie reports that UFC 132’s attendance was at 12, 947 for a gate of $2.3 million. The numbers are in line with its other Vegas shows this year: UFC 125 (12,753, $2.57M) and 130 (12,874, $2.174M) (h/t MMA Supremacy).
Bonuses
MMA Junkie reports the bonuses for UFC 132. Each received $75K.
Fight of the Night: Cruz vs. Faber
KO of the night: Carlos Condit
Sub of the night: Tito Ortiz
There were several KO of the night candidates including Chris Leben, Melivn Guillard and Rafael dos Anjos.
UFC Programming
Spike TV debuted the UFC’s Countdown show during the day Wednesday of fight week instead of its regular primetime spot. While subsequent airings were shown at night, it could be seen as passive aggressive programming as a result of the looming hole the UFC will leave Spike when/if it goes to another network.
Sponsorships
Bud Light Lime, MusclePharm, Dodge, TapouT, Harley Davidson and Xyience were in the Octagon. Bud Light Lime branding utilized the lime color as the ring girls donned lime attire at the weigh-ins and during the PPV. Also at the weigh-ins Bud Light Lime owned the space in front of the scale fo the weigh-in.
In the leadup to UFC 132, Form Athletics, a company co-founded by Faber, held an autograph session featuring Anthony Pettis and Mark Munoz and other UFC fighters to promote Faber’s main event. Pettis and Munoz also appeared at a Las Vegas ABC Store to sign autographs on behalf of its sponsor Xyience.
The movie Conan took over the Harley Davidson check point. It also made a mistake by having its star, Jason Momoa, try to hype the film. The Goldberg-Momoa interview was as awkward as the man-hug at its conclusion.
Matt Wiman sported a PETA-inspired sponsor on his shorts: Meet your Meat.com.
Twitter trends
Notably, Faber trended during and after UFC 132 but Dominick Cruz’s name did not. . Also trending were “Crippler” for Chris Leben and “Siver” for Dennis Siver. (h/t MMA Supremacy)
Also, Justin Bieber was at the fights and posted it on twitter. Pretty good mainstream publicity considering Bieber has over 10 million followers.
Post-UFC 132 Headlines
-More small guys? Saturday’s main event showcased the reason why fighters 155 and under should be on more PPV cards. While most are relatively unknown, hopefully Jose Aldo, Mark Hominick, Brian Bowles, Might Mouse Johnson and Dominick Cruz will become regulars on PPV cards.
-Melvin Guillard looks like he has resurrected his career. The Young Assassin looks poised to make a run at the Lightweight title
-Losing Faber. Urijah Faber is one of the most marketable faces in the UFC. His looks and athleticism have earned him mainstream appeal from the likes of Rosie O’Donnell and Jim Rome. The UFC would have loved to see Faber win the title as it would lend notoriety to the division. Despite losing, he still can be the face for the small guy in the UFC. It will be interesting to see how the UFC will book Faber because an upset loss in his next fight could be damaging .
Odds and ends
- Watching the replay, you can see Faber’s muay thai coach, Master Thong, peek over the shoulder of Bruce Buffer as he was announcing the judge’s scores. He saw the score before it was announced.
-Dominick Cruz was awarded his blue belt after his title defense. Cruz has to be the toughest blue belt around. Ironically, Faber was awarded his brown belt after his last fight against Eddie Wineland.
-If we saw Wanderlei Silva’s last fight in the UFC, someone must pick up his entrance music.
A second straight week of solid fights from the UFC. The night saw some great action, a W for Tito Ortiz and a great five round fight from Faber and Cruz.
