Mark Gilbert of The Sun has confirmed that Randy Couture and Brandon Vera have in fact agreed to headline UFC 105 in Manchester, England on November 14th.
Randy Couture will make a quick-fire return to Octagon action against Brandon Vera at UFC 105.
The 46-year-old former heavyweight champion will take on The Truth in a light heavyweight clash in the main event at the MEN Arena on November 14.
UFC sources confirmed the bout is ON after matchmaker Joe Silva offered the pair the chance to headline the show this weekend.
Couture last fought two weeks ago — at UFC 102 — losing a unanimous decision to heavyweight Brazilian star Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
Vera also appeared on that card, overcoming light-heavyweight Krzysztof Soszynski — also via unanimous decision.
And now, after the UFC failed to land a marquee fight to headline the Manchester show, Dana White’s promotion have turned to The Natural and Vera to save the day.
Payout Perspective:
The UFC had been scrambling to find a headline for the event, and has apparently found the right bout to anchor the card in Couture vs. Vera.
While UFC 105 likely won’t suffer at the gate – it also features UK fighters Michael Bisping and Dan Hardy – I wonder how much the organization is actually gaining in the long run by hosting the event.
It’s clear that UFC 105 – or any UK event for that matter – isn’t being held to maximize the UFC’s short-term profit levels. The events themselves cost more to produce than the average North American event, draw at the lower end of the UFC’s live gate average, and seem to have a PPV ceiling of around 400,000 buys (if they’re not shown via tape delay on Spike TV, as is the case for UFC 105).
Rather, UFC 105 should and will be judged over a set of criteria skewed towards the long-term. The event will undoubtedly increase the organization’s exposure to new fans and media; and that exposure will likely lead to a growth in the UFC fan base, MMA talent pool, and a greater acceptance for the sport as a whole.
However, might those benefits come at the price of long term brand equity?
The UFC has stated its intention to push nearly three cards per month next year, and that has a lot of people – rightly or wrongly – talking about market saturation. The question has become, will the supply of MMA content exceed its demand?
While I’m not convinced that MMA is anywhere near its market saturation point, I am concerned that the sport of MMA – and the UFC in particular – is not prepared to handle the proposed supply of MMA. In other words, the demand exists for more top-flight MMA, but does the sport have the capacity to provide it?
A great deal of the UFC’s success is predicated upon the perceived quality of its product; the headliners. It’s not about the actual entertainment, but the perceived potential entertainment. How else might you explain the contrasts of the past month? UFC 101 was essentially a two fight event and faired considerably better than UFC 102 – a far more entertaining card, even on paper.
So if the UFC is struggling to find main events for two shows in one month, how might it find three?
Poor headliners place too much stress on the UFC brand to carry the commercial success of the card, and may ultimately drain the power of the brand when the actualy quality of product is unable to match the perceived quality associated with the UFC name.
Note: Randy Couture reportedly has a $1.5 million per fight guarantee under his new contract, which will allow him to cash in on the SpikeTV fight despite the absence of any points from the PPV revenue.
When Penn vs. Sanchez was first booked for UFC 105, it was widely believed that the UFC made a similar guarantee for Penn; someone who had openly stated his unwillingness to ever fight in the UK again, following his title defense against Joe Stevenson at UFC 80 which did an estimated 225,000 buys.
The UFC may have to make similar guarantees in the future in order to convince fighters to fight overseas, which is seemingly another reason why the UFC’s event in the UK shouldn’t be judged based upon their short-term returns.
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