The 20th edition of Ultimate Fight Night aired live on Spike TV on Monday, January 11th from the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia. The event featured a host of TUF alumni including a match between Gray Maynard and Nate Diaz, in addition to the appearances of Amir Sadollah, Efrain Escudero, and Tom Lawler.
Attendance
The announced attendance for UFN 20 was approximately 8,500, which generated over $730,000 at the gate.
Ratings
UFN 20 delivered a 1.2 HH rating drawing an average viewership of 1.7 million. Both the M18-34 and M18-49 demographics collected a decent 1.6 rating. The live fight card ranked #2 with Men 18-49 behind WWE on USA. The card peaked with 2 million viewers for the Diaz-Maynard main event.
Payouts
(Courtesy of Sherdog.com)
Gray Maynard — $40,000 (including $20,000 win bonus) def. Nate Diaz — $48,000
Evan Dunham — $18,000 (including $9,000 win bonus) def. Efrain Escudero — $15,000
Aaron Simpson — $22,000 (including $11,000 win bonus) def. Tom Lawlor — $10,000
Amir Sadollah — $30,000 (including $15,000 win bonus) def. Brad Blackburn — $13,000
Chris Leben — $60,000 (including $30,000 win bonus) def. Jay Silva — $6,000
Rick Story — $10,000 (including $5,000 win bonus) def. Jesse Lennox — $7,000
Nik Lentz — $7,000 (no win bonus awarded for draw) vs. Thiago Tavares — $15,000
Rafael dos Anjos — $16,000 (including $8,000 win bonus) def. Kyle Bradley — $8,000
Gerald Harris — $12,000 (including $6,000 win bonus) def. John Salter — $6,000
Nick Catone — $14,000 (including $7,000 win bonus) def. Jesse Forbes — $6,000
Total Disclosed Payouts: $363,000
Bonuses
Fight of the Night: Aaron Simpson vs. Tom Lawlor ($30,000 each)
Knockout of the Night: Gerald Harris ($30,000)
Submission of the Night: Evan Dunham ($30,000)
Total Disclosed Bonuses: $120,000
Business Story Lines:
Maynard victorious, but will need at least one more win to earn title shot:
The win was not impressive enough to earn Maynard a shot against BJ Penn. The UFC’s lightweight champion will face Frankie Edgar at UFC 112 – an event rumored to be hosted in Abu Dhabi – a man whom Maynard dominated at UFN 13 on April 2nd. With another win, Maynard may be in-line for a title shot. However, if Kenny Florian wins his up-coming bout against Takanori Gomi, that could vault the Massachusetts native into a title shot on the August 28th UFC PPV that is to be held in Boston.
UFN 20 gate the second highest in UFN history:
The approximate gate of $730,000 is second only to UFC 13 which drew $753,429 from 6,742 fans at the Broomfield Events Center in Broomfield, Colorado on April 2, 2008. UFN 20 continues the growth trend we’re seeing in the size and drawing ability of the UFN shows, which started out as the size of some current WEC shows (2,000 seat facilities and $150,000 gates) to shows pushing the $600,000 range on a consistent basis.
UFN 20 largely over-shadowed by news that ownership sold a 10% stake in Zuffa:
MMAPayout.com has and will continue to cover the story regarding the 10% stake in Zuffa that was sold to an investment arm of the Abu Dhabi government, Flash Entertainment, in October but uncovered late last week.
Quiznos replaces Burger King, Spike sponsors fighters:
There were a few new sponsors unveiled on the UFN card: most notably the key sponsorship of Quiznos, which took the place of fast-food chain Burger King. Many of you may also have noticed the Spike TV signage on particular fighter shorts advertising Entourage or other shows to be viewed on Spike this winter.
Nice wrap up of the event Kelsey.
Cleaver how Spike is pushing Entourage as a way to channel viewers into the much simular “Blue Mountain State”. Good show but if it can pick up some of the original Entourage viewers Spike may be sitting on a gold mine. Either way they are killing 2 birds with one stone by boosting ratings of Entourage and BMS with a sponsor.