(UPDATED) UFC on Spike: Wednesday Night Wrap-Up

Ultimate Fight Night 19 and the debut of The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 both aired Wednesday night on Spike TV.

UFN 19 was broadcast live from the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in front of 7,500 in attendance, which drew a gate of nearly $650,000. The event featured a headline bout between Nate Diaz and Melvin Guillard, in addition to a co-main with Gray Maynard and fan favourite Roger Huerta.

UFN 19 drew a 1.9 HH rating for an average of 2.5 million viewers. It also managed a 2.3 (1.3 million) rating in M18-49 and a 2.6 (762K viewers) in M18-34.

The debut of TUF 10 drew an impressive series record 2.9 HH rating with 4.1 million viewers. It also did a huge 5.1 (1.5 million viewers) in the male 18-34 demo, and 4.3 (2.4 million viewers) in the male 18-49 demo.

Payout Perspective:

UFN did a record gate in Oklahoma, and likely brought in a favourable household rating. Not only was the event a lead-in to TUF 10, but it was also the first Spike TV card since June 20th’s TUF 9 Finale – since then the UFC has gained considerable momentum and arguably added many new fans.

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Despite the ratings, the debut of TUF 10 was a little disappointing in the sense that they built the show and had the lead-in from the UFN card only to squander the opportunity due to poor commercial timing, awful Saw VI advertisements, and perhaps one of the most bloody fights in UFC history.

Spike would exit to commercial for a few minutes, enter back into the program for 30 seconds, and then exit back out for another minute. This isn’t a news program – teasers don’t work on network television. They make the viewer angry, because as soon as he/she sits down and quiets the conversation, the 30 second teaser is over and it’s back to another set of commercials. Ultimately, it creates such frustration that people would rather do without it, and so they stop watching.

The other problem wasn’t so much the fight between Madsen and Wagner – although it really didn’t showcase the diversity within mixed martials arts (yet who are we kidding, the calibre of fighting on the show has never been anything to write home about). Instead, it was the needless flaunting of Wagner’s cut and the extremely close zoom-in at the end of the show that did the damage.

The average viewer has a very short memory (also known as the “recency effect”). Perhaps a regular MMA fan was fine with the blood – after all it’s a part of the sport – but an individual watching MMA for the first time could have done without the dripping blood fight close-ups or the last second locker room shot of the gaping wound.

If MMA is trying to introduce people to the sport, throwing them into the deep end right away could be a little much – certainly if they don’t see all that it has to offer. Whatever that first time, skepitcal viewer may have thought about the UFN card or the first half of the TUF episode was immediately erased by the final impression made by the questionable footage at the end of the episode.

In the grand scheme of things it’s not an overly big deal, because anyone turned off by last night’s blood would have likely been turned off of the sport for one reason or another down the line.

However, the incident does raise the issue of production balance in MMA. While there’s no need to hide from the violence or bloody nature of the sport, some discretion and forward thinking is required to ensure the continued growth of mixed martial arts.

If there’s one thing that MMA production could improve upon, it would be how it covers and deals with injuries sustained by fighters. There are very rarely any updates on the conditions of injured fighters during broadcasts. Moreover, the broadcasts often go out of their way to show snaps, breaks, tears, blood, and groin shots repeatedly.

I’d argue the sport is now past the point of needing to use loud death metal, blood stains, and profanity-laced tirades to generate publicity for itself. Sensationalizing those aspects are not only risky to the sport’s future development, but also wholly unnecessary – MMA can and should stand on its own merits as a legitimate, safe, and financially viable sporting endeavour –

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Diaz managed to rebound from two consecutive losses to submit Melvin Guillard quite easily. In typical Diaz fashion he was knocked down and getting beaten to the punch very early. He managed to find his striking at the end of the first, and was able to frustrate Guillard into shooting for a terrible – and giving his neck for the guillotine.

I’d be surprised if we see Guillard in the octagon again, but he’s 1-1 since his latest comeback and his aggressive style makes him a popular fighter (and opponent) – anything is possible.

It’s interesting that of Diaz’s eight fights in the UFC, seven have been shown on Spike TV – either through the reality series or the fight night program. UFN 19 also marked the second time he’s headlined a Spike show (Josh Neer at UFN 15 was the other).

Does he have the marketability to be a top draw in the UFC? Likely not. However, his value as a mainstay on Spike shows is tough to deny: he won TUF, has fought on several of their cards, and is a familiar name to most casual viewers.

Speaking of lightweights: Gray Maynard has to be looking at either a contender’s bout or a title match in the future. His win over Huerta was another solid victory, and in addition to his wrestling, that right hand is emerging as a feared weapon. Gray is another guy who’s ultimate value as a draw is questionable, but he’s got the TUF pedigree working on his side and we’ll probably see him on another PPV pretty soon.