UFC 114: Payout Perspective

Welcome to another edition of Payout Perspective! This week we’ll be taking a look at UFC 114: Rampage vs. Evans, which was held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 29th, 2010. The event featured a light heavyweight contender bout between Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans and coincided with the second ever UFC Expo.

Rashad prevails and earns title shot

It’s very difficult for grudge fights to ever live up to their hype. Rampage vs. Evans didn’t exactly deliver the KO fireworks that some fans might have expected, but the bout was thoroughly entertaining and had most on the edge of their seats. The bout was an exhibition of first-class MMA between two fighters with wildly different styles and game plans. It was just about anyone’s best guess as to whom would come out on top — would Rashad get the takedown and dictate the fight with his speed or would Rampage catch him with a hook?

The fight was well-hyped and received a great deal of interest from the media and casual fans. I suspect this will be enough for the UFC to make Rua vs. Evans in September or October of this year.

Rampage defeated, but more popular than ever

Rampage may have come out on the losing end of the fight on Saturday, but he definitely won the popularity contest. This is very interesting to me, because Rampage had a difficult time catching on with the UFC crowd as champion – he wasn’t as popular as he maybe should have or could have been. Now, however, it would appear as though his popularity is at an all-time high and that’s important for the UFC moving forward.

If Brock Lesnar is set to fight in July, Silva and Edgar in August, and GSP in December, only the light heavyweight title is guaranteed to be available from September through to December. I think you could make a case for the winner of the Lesnar-Carwin fight to turn around and defend in November, but that still means the UFC is going to need one or two solid non-title main events to headline cards in this period. The popularity of Rampage makes him an obvious choice (should he be healthy and willing) and I tend to think that a Rampage vs. Forrest rematch makes a lot of sense here because it’s relevant and it’ll draw well.

Just to finish that thought: if Chuck Liddell is successful in his comeback in two weeks, he’d be another capable headliner the UFC could fit into that September-December gap (possibly against a healthy Tito).

ESPN2 extends agreement with MMA Live through August

The news of an extension is certainly welcome, but I think this was pretty easy to predict: the UFC has a monster summer coming up – Lesnar at 116, Couture vs. Toney at 118 – and ESPN definitely wants a piece of that to really gauge how far this “MMA thing” can go.

Note: MMA Live on ESPN2 averaged something around 130,000 viewers in May, which is higher than what the network normally draws in that time slot.

UFC 114 gate and PPV success

Dana White announced at the post-fight press conference that the event did $3.895 million at the gate on the strength of 15,081 fans, which is the strongest Las Vegas gate the company has had since UFC 100 (and the second strongest gate, period, since UFC 100). Moreover, the event benefited from an incredible level of hype that likely pushed the PPV broadcast into the 700-800k mark, which would make it the best-selling non-title event ever.

Just to recap, here’s some of what the UFC used to promote the fight:

• UFC Primetime
• MMA Live on ESPN2
• The launch of UFC Undisputed 2010 on May 25th (note the crucial timing – fight week)
• The UFC Expo (which you might attribute to the sell out and rather strong gate).

Prospect watch

It was an interesting night for our prospect watch segment:

Todd Duffee, the former NCAA Division 1 middle linebacker and owner of the UFC’s fastest knockout (7s), was dominating his fight against Mike Russow before getting buckled with a right hand and then smashing his head on the canvas. I don’t think this changes anything in terms of Duffee’s career trajectory – he still figures to be a top heavyweight in 2-3 years from now – but it probably will delay his development as a contender. He’s got to work on his gas tank, but I’m also inclined to believe he needs time to become more comfortable with the cameras and the spotlight.

John Hathaway, on the other hand, looked outstanding against Diego Sanchez. His striking was crisp, footwork was good, and he showed great poise against a veteran like Sanchez. For all the noise about Bisping, Hardy, and Daley, this Hathaway kid could prove to be the best of the bunch (along with, perhaps, Ross Pearson).

Cyrill Diabate is not a prospect, but deserves mention for a great performance as well. He was the guy, if you remember, that Dan Henderson brought in to mimic Anderson Silva before their fight at UFC 82. Joe Rogan commented on his improved ground game and if that holds true, he could be a legitimate contender at 205.

Sponsorship watch

It was a pretty interesting night on the fighter sponsorship side as Reebok, Bud Light, and Boost Mobile jumped into the fray. Dong Hyun Kim’s shorts and banner featured a Reebok Zigtech ad, which might surprise some people considering Reebok hasn’t announced any entrance into MMA within North America. However, Kim is extremely popular in Korea and has become a great asset for the UFC in the country – the Reebok sponsorship, as with the rest of his sponsors, were geared towards the Korean viewership of UFC 114. Bud Light sponsored both Efrain Escudero and Rashad Evans, which continues the company’s growing activation around the UFC sponsorship (although I’m still not convinced it’s where it needs to be). Rampage Jackson, was sponsored by Boost Mobile,  which caught my eye because the UFC has really been devoid of cell phone sponsors since Amp Mobile filed for bankruptcy.

There were also a couple of things I noted from a property perspective:

• UFC 114 presented by UFC Undisputed 2010, but the spike card was sponsored by another video game — Split/Second.
• BSN sponsored an interesting segment at the end of the night — the BSN Finish First “Finish of the Night” — but overall the company is doing little to draw an association between their brand and the UFC (at least on television, perhaps they’re doing more at retail POS locations). I find myself wondering what exactly BSN is hoping to accomplish with its sponsorship of the UFC.

Note: the MMAPayout.com Sponsorship Blue Book has been updated.

UFC 114 provides solid night of fights, reason to come back for new fans

Overall, the event has to be deemed a success: the gate was excellent, the PPV sales will very likely be stellar, and show delivered with plenty of memorable moments to motivate repeat business in the future.

I’ve talked about the role momentum plays in PPV sales before and I think this might be a case where that comes into play again: UFC 115, in two weeks, isn’t a super strong card, but it’s got Chuck Liddell and will benefit from a reinvigorated UFC crowd. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the show do 500k.