Injuries, Scheduling Affect the Atmosphere at UFC 106

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer makes note of the impact that injuries and a host of prior MMA events had on the attendance and atmosphere of UFC 106:

Whatever it was, in the days leading to UFC 106, it didn’t feel like days before a major PPV event. A lot of it may have been simply too many shows in too short a period of time. With UFC 105 coming one week earlier, while not a PPV, it was still pushed as a big event headlined by a major star, and left UFC 106 with only one week of direct promotional time. Plus, with all the injuries, it was a weak lineup from a marquee standpoint on PPV.

 

Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin on paper should have some drawing power. Ortiz is one of the company’s historically biggest draws ever, and it was his first match back in 18 months. Griffin is coming off two straight shows where he topped 900,000 buys, and no matter what people who meet him have to say, he may be the company’s first or second most popular fighter right now along with Georges St. Pierre.

 

The match was a rematch of a bout from three-and-a-half years ago that went to a split decision where it was very much debatable over who won the fight. It was also a very exciting fight, and it was Ortiz who got the nod. From a psychological standpoint, you had more than enough time between fights, two personalities that people know, the guy most fans hate (Ortiz) against a guy most fans like (Griffin) and it is Griffin going for revenge, saying the right things like he’d fight Tito for free.

 

But Griffin was also coming off two straight knockout losses, and the latter, to Anderson Silva, was the first time he ever looked like he didn’t belong in a fight. Plus, after losing, he ran to the back after the fight, only the second time the public saw the Griffin that people within the sport know.

 

And there was nothing to support the main event. As much as Josh Koscheck vs. Anthony Johnson really was a strong and an interesting fight to make on a few weeks notice, Johnson is still not a star people see as a semi-main eventer.

 

As a show itself, it over achieved. Most of the fights were very good, and every key fight delivered. But in the building, something was missing most of the night. It was clearly a crowd that had seen so much UFC they were starting to become burned out on the product. I can’t give one numerical example as much as a feeling from being there, but the atmosphere felt like going to WWE live events of late: the idea of seeing a once popular entity that felt like it was past its peak. The place was empty early on. There were probably only about 5,500 fans in when the Spike TV airing started. Nobody had ever seen so few people for any UFC event until it filled up several hours into the show, even before the television era.

Payout Perspective:

Dave’s Wrestling Observer, as it usually does, has inspired some thinking of mine. There are some that might read his piece and panic, but I’m not sure that was his intent, nor is panic necessary.

The UFC reached an all-time high in popularity last July, which was the result of a perfect storm of positive factors: the video game, UFC 100, and unprecedented media coverage, to name a few. They were racking up large gates and huge PPVs with seeming ease.

Now, however, the story is very much different, and can probably be related to a different perfect storm of sorts: unrealistic expectations combined with a seriously unlucky string of injuries and other roster issues. The expectations of some are literally such that if the UFC doesn’t earn $3 million at the gate and 600k on PPV, the event is a failure.  Those kinds of expectations are difficult to meet at the best of times – with all hands on deck – let alone one with a roster plagued with injuries or other commitments.

Yet, in a perfect world the second half could have looked like this for the UFC:

104: Machida vs. Shogun, Velasquez vs. Rothwell
105: Penn vs. Sanchez, Couture vs. Vera
106: Lesnar vs. Carwin, Tito vs. Forrest
107: Rampage vs. Evans, GSP vs. X
108: Silva vs. Belfort, Machida vs. Shogun II, Nogueria vs. Velazquez

Just compare what might have been the back half of 2009 to what has actually happened. Is anyone really surprised that things have gone as they have regarding attendance, gate, and PPV buys?

Everything went right for the company early on in the year, and now many things are going wrong . But this is exactly the sort of volatile year that many growing companies experience on their way to the top. Some make it, some don’t, but thus far the UFC has done a fairly good job of weathering this latest, less-than-ideal perfect storm.

Moreover, it’s times like these where having a strategy, and sticking to it, really pays dividends. It would be easy to panic and make a bunch rash decisions on the UFC’s part, but the market is still there, the fighters will eventually return, and there are some sound opportunities awaiting the UFC and MMA in the future (new markets like Boston, Abu Dhabi, Sydney, Mexico City, and Vancouver; intriguing match-ups across the board in 2010; another round of the UFC video game to come in May; and potentially the unicorn that is a major network distribution deal).