Welcome to another edition of Payout Perspective! This week we’ll be taking a look at the Showtime event headlined by MMA legend Dan Henderson, as he made his return after losing his Strikeforce debut on CBS back in March, against challenger and former Strikeforce LHW champ Renato “Babalu” Sobral.
The event took place at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri and featured 5 fights: Dan Henderson vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral, Paul Daley vs Scott Smith, Robbie Lawler vs Matt Lindland, Antonio Silva vs Mike Kyle, and Ovince St. Preux vs Benji Radach.
Fighter Disclosed Payouts
Not available.
Attendance and Gate
MMAJunkie reports that Strikeforce: Henderson vs Babalu achieved an attendance of 7,146 (the gate is not available). The attendance number stands as the 6th most attended event for Strikeforce this year.
– 11,757 spectators, “Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum” (June)
– 8,635 spectators, “Strikeforce: Houston” (August)
– 8,196 spectators, “Strikeforce: Nashville (April)
– 8,136 spectators, “Strikeforce St. Louis: Heavy Artillery” (May)
– 7,559 spectators, “Strikeforce: Diaz vs Noons II (October)
– 7,146 spectators, “Strikeforce: Henderson vs Babalu II (December)
– 7,010 spectators, “Strikeforce: Miami” (January)
– 5,259 spectators, “Strikeforce: Los Angeles” (June)
Ratings
MMAJunkie reports that Strikeforce: Henderson vs Babalu II averaged 341,000 viewers for a 1.2 rating on Showtime this past Saturday night, but peaked at half a million viewers (465,000) for a 1.6 rating for the main event between Dan Henderson and Babalu. The average number is the third lowest rating for a major show this year but the peak number is very good for an event that didn’t feature any big names. A key number to observe here is the peak number, which means more for Showtime because of the correlation between how many current and new subscribers are watching Strikeforce, which differs from the UFC, WEC, Bellator, and other promotions with TV deals (with non-subscription channels) which are ad and rating dependent.
The average viewer numbers stands as the 5th most watched event for Strikeforce this year but the peak number is a good indicator that fans tuned in to see the main event between Henderson and Babalu.
– 517,000 viewers (peak not available), “Strikeforce: Miami” (January)
– 412,000 viewers (700,000 peak), “Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum” (June)
– 367,000 viewers (470,000 peak), “Strikeforce: Houston” (August)
– 350,000 viewers (509,000 peak), “Strikeforce: Diaz vs Noons II (October
– 341,000 viewers (465,000 peak), “Strikeforce: Henderson vs Babalu II (December)
– 308,000 viewers (448,000 peak), “Strikeforce St. Louis: Heavy Artillery” (May)
– 164,000 viewers (197,000 peak), “Strikeforce: Los Angeles” (June) [Special Wednesday Show]
Storylines Coming Out of Event
There were quite a number of major story lines coming out of the event this past weekend.
– Strikeforce Gets Positive Buzz From Event; Sparks a Strikeforce vs UFC Debate
Aside from the numbers, Strikeforce has to be thrilled on how great the event turned out for them this past weekend. It was truly the first show where I witnessed fans telling other fans and friends to watch the show due to the quality of the event. Coincidentally, the TUF 12 Finale was also televised that night on Spike TV, which was marred by a bad decision (a recent concern of MMA fans and bad judging) and decisions, a complete opposite of the Strikeforce event which saw 3 memorable KO’s and 1 TKO out of 5 fights. Due to both events being hosted on the same night, fans were quick to point out that Strikeforce “beat” the UFC on that night. Strikeforce and Showtime were thrilled with the card, and sent the following release citing the praise critics were giving the promotion:
ESPN.com – Dec. 6, 2010 – By Josh Gross:
“Strikeforce Exacts Its Pounds of Flesh From Fighters”
Head Kick Legend – Dec. 5, 2010 – By Dave Walsh:
“Strikeforce Knocks Out UFC”
Jersey City Examiner – Dec. 5, 2010 – By Chris Cella:
“Strikeforce a Clear-Cut Winner Over UFC On Saturday “
Fighters.com – Dec. 6, 2010 – By Oliver Saenz:
“Top Five Reasons Why Strikeforce Stomped UFC”
Crave Online – Dec. 6, 2010 – By Chad Dundas:
“Score One For Strikeforce”
Yahoo! Sports – Dec. 6, 2010 – By Maggie Hendricks:
“Daley, Hendo Top Two Stars of Weekend”
Opposing Views – Dec. 6, 2010 – By Rich Bergeron:
“A Wild, Exciting Night of Knockouts”
Republican American – Dec. 6, 2010 – By Mike Barger:
“Strikeforce and UFC Go Toe-To-Toe And It’s No Contest”
The Big Lead – Dec. 5, 2010 – By Stephen Douglas:
“Strikeforce’s Awesome Saturday Night Knockout Party”
ESPN.com / Sherdog.com – Dec. 4, 2010 – By Mike Whitman:
“A Star is Reborn: Hendo Stops Babalu in First”
MMA Torch – Dec. 5, 2010 – By Jamie Penick:
“Daley Destroys Smith in “Knockout Of The Year”
Post-Event Notes
– Josh Gross from ESPN: Antonio Silva, who began the cavalcade of knockouts after mounting an undersized Mike Kyle in the second round of their fight, said he’s ready to skip the holidays in Brazil to continue training in the U.S. if Strikeforce asks him to fight in San Jose, Calif., on Jan. 29. Based on what Strikeforce is telling fighters and managers, this event will be the start of its heavyweight tournament — the centerpiece of what Scott Coker called “a great heavyweight year.” There could be as many as four opening-round bouts that night, including, potentially, the return of Fedor Emelianenko.
– Josh Gross from ESPN: Henderson seemed unfazed by either and plans to “go after it pretty hard” in his Temecula, Calif., gym after the holidays. His deal with Strikeforce calls for two more bouts by June, and Coker is willing to oblige, telling ESPN.com that he plans on offering current Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante a bout against Henderson for March… MMAPayout: Rumor is that Henderson vs Feijao could headline the March 5th Strikeforce event being discussed for Columbus, Ohio in conjunction with the Arnold Sports Festival next year.
– Loretta Hunt from LA Times: Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said Walker could be re-scheduled to fight at the promotion’s Jan. 29 show at the HP Pavilion in San Jose… MMAPayout: Nick Diaz is also scheduled for the event.
– M-1, Showtime, Fedor, and Strikeforce close to agreeing on a 3-4 fight extension for Fedor to fight in Strikeforce. Four televised M-1 Challenge events aired on Showtime are said to be part of the deal as well. Only details holding back the announcement is scheduling between M-1 Challenge events, Strikeforce events, and Strikeforce-M-1 co-promoted events on Showtime. The announcement is expected to be made shortly.
– Roy Nelson Gives Strikeforce: Henderson vs Babalu Publicity on UFC’s Website (Twitter Feed): “DVR the fights, strikeforce does have Hendo, Matt and Daley, Im happy to hear that everyone is a fan great fighters of mma – Roy Nelson” and “Just started to watch the Strikeforce fights kyle did very well against bigfoot, I cant wait to watch the paul daley smith fight, and hendo-Roy Nelson” was posted on UFC’s main website as the Strikeforce and TUF Finale events were taking place.
– Gareth Davies: Strikeforce rumor. They may bring event to the UK if Paul Daley fighting for title. Just whispers put to me last week.
– Scott Coker on The MMA Show with Mauro Ranallo: I believe that we will” – regarding bringing Strikeforce to Canada in 2011
– Strikeforce vs DREAM Continues at FEG’s Dynamite Event in Japan: Josh Thomson to face top-ranked rival Tatsuya Kawajiri at “Dynamite!!” on Dec. 31 in Japan
Sponsor, Promotion and Marketing Watch
– All the usual sponsors where there for this event: FullTilt Poker, Rockstar, GoDaddy, ClinchGear, etc. As we like to point out here on MMAPayout, we always like to see more synergy between big sponsors and the promotions.
– Strikeforce and Rockstar Engergy Drink Holds “Holiday Hunt” in St. Louis
In the spirit of the holiday season, STRIKEFORCE and presenting sponsor Rockstar Energy Drink will hold a “Holiday Hunt” that will award lucky winners in St. Louis, each day between Monday, November 29 and Friday, December 3, a prize pack that includes, amongst other goods, tickets to the Henderson vs. Babalu Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) mega-event at Scottrade Center next Saturday, December 4.
Prize packs, some of which will also include STRIKEFORCE and/or Rockstar apparel, Rockstar canned beverages and a backstage tour at Scottrade Center during the event, will be awarded each day to a pre-disclosed number of winners who provide a codeword to a designated STRIKEFORCE or Rockstar representative stationed at a specific post in St. Louis at a particular time that day.
This was a great way for Strikeforce to promote the event heading into St. Louis, and in fact MMAPayout gave its readers a behind the scenes look at the #Hunt4UFC social media stunt, citing that it was a great social media tool to build the fan base and increase their brand awareness. Hopefully Strikeforce will keep these social media stunts growing since building a fan base is crucial at this stage of their development as a promotion.
– Strikeforce is slowly integrating the fighters and their brands with the promotion. If we take a look at the Strikeforce Store, we see that Henderson and Babalu were advertised on the front page with their own signature shirts for the event with the Strikeforce brand also on the t-shirt. We will keep a look out and see if they will keep this strategy for future big show headliners.
Twitter and Google Trends
Good news for Strikeforce here, as the key words “#Dan Henderson“, “#Paul Daley“, and “#Strikeforce” were all top twitter trends during the evening of the Strikeforce: Henderson vs Babalu II event. In fact, “Dan Henderson”, “Paul Daley”, and “Strikeforce” were all in the top 20 “Hot Searches” for Google in the U.S. on that evening, with Dan Henderson breaking the top 10.
That would make it 5 out of the last 7 events that have trended on Twitter for Strikeforce, with the previous being the highly anticipated rematch between Nick Diaz and KJ Noons back in October.
Lorreta and Josh picking Strikeforce over the UFC? wow. shocker.
It’s great the promotion is thriving. All the weight classes finally have meaningful competion amongst each other. There are world-class fighters in every division & it’s a match makers dream.
I will continue to support quality MMA. =)
SF is a waste. As a long term die hard fan i am really not impressed. 3 of the biggest punchers verses 2 has beens with no chins and a human punching bag. The worst match making ever. Not a single compelling fight. And this is better than even matched young prospects? If they cant make an attempt at getting or creating the best fighters in the world and have them fight each other then why bother. Im tired of these scripted one sided fights that are agenda driven.
And lol at the “news sources” or glorified blogger. Anyone who compares a TUF finale Which consists of rookies to a Premium channel large event is a fool. Its like comparing the challangers evemts to a UK event on Spike. Even still the UFC event was more successful. With fights more meaningful than anything SF has.
Also its strange how NOW Dan isnt cinsidered one of SF big draws but he was before this event. Only when numbers suck is he not a draw for them. Whatever makes the numbers look better than they really are.
el chango:
re: Lorreta and Josh – Did you read their notes? They had nothing to do with picking Strikeforce over the UFC.
nice writeup. i really enjoyed watching 2 mma events in one night. its been a while since i had the chance to do so. its always good press for SF to go head to head with some of the smaller UFC events, especially if their card is stacked with top 10 fighters like Daley and Hendo.
This is off topic, but Overeem just won the K1 tournament. Massive props to the man who I believe is a top 5 HW. I hope that SF can get these HW to fight next year as promised by Coker.
Some one on a forum I follow left this comment. I don’t know if it is true but it is possible. I know the local fighers there sell a boat load of tickets for the SF shows.
>>” they lost a lot of the walk up ticket sales when Finney dropped out. He was cheered like he was GSP in Montreal at the Strikeforce show in St. Louis in May.Finney did a recent fight in suburban St. Louis that drew over 10,000 fans. Albeit tickets were as low as 10 bucks. But he’s very popular in his hometown and having to drop off the card cost Strikeforce. Finney meant more to the live gate than Hershel Walker. Obviously TV draw is completely different”
If Coker get the heavy weight tournament off the ground next week right after Ubereem won the K1 tournament they are going to have huge momentum going into 2011.
mmapayout did a story I think early this year or end of last year pointing out that the UFC does about a trillion dollars in merchandising sales at an event and SF did like $6. Has there been any signs that it is starting to turn around for SF with the new branding initiative and CLI getting involved?
jv:
Yes, Finney is the draw in St. Louis and is a big reason why a ton of folks buy tickets so we can assume ticket sales took a hit from that. It’s impossible to quantify it though since gate numbers were not released.
Scott has been adamant in insisting that 2011 will be a HUGE year for the HW division in Strikeforce and that fighters not fighting each other will not be an issue.
The new brand and marketing that SF rolled out as of a few months ago was to prepare for next year’s merchandising sales and brand initiative, which CLI had a key role in driving. I would expect them to have a much better merchandising sales year next year compared to previous. As always, I will keep you guys updated.
Brain Smasher:
Woodley vs Tarec is coming up on January 7th, surely you would agree that it is a great matchup between two promising WW prospects.
The good thing about labeling someone a draw in MMA is that numbers don’t lie and the fact that there aren’t too many out there. Lesnar, GSP, Gina and possibly Kimbo have been the biggest draws in MMA the past few years. Henderson is a good main event guy for Strikeforce and someone they can build an event around, but if he will ever be able to get numbers better than Gina or Herschel Walker solely on hi name is probably not likely.
mmaguru:
Strikeforce now has the best HW striker (Overeem K-1 Champ) and submission fighters (Werdum 2010 ADCC Champion) in all of MMA. Huge selling points for a HW GP next year if you ask me. =)
OK, I want to preface this with I fully expect responses that I’m a UFC fan-boy, etc. I really do enjoy SF and think they have some wonderful fighters and this was an entertaining event, however, there is really nothing here that SF should be rampantly optimistic about. It didn’t do great ratings for a “main” card show, this wasn’t a challengers event, granted they went against a UFC event, but it was a UFN, basically the same as one of their challenger cards. Realistically how would it have fared if it went against the Machida/Jackson PPV, be it on PPV or if it was on Spike or even a higher caliber UFC event. Also, attendance was average at best.
It generated “buzz”? I guess in some MMA circles, but did this reach the casual fans? The ones I know it didn’t and I didn’t see highlights on SC or coverage on more mainstream websites, this is the stuff SF needs to break this thing a little more.
SF has some great fighters, no doubt, but they need to start fighting each other. Coker promises all sorts of stuff, not a lot of it has happened. Again, the HW tournament sounds awesome, but they need better ways to sell to the casual fans and it needs to happen, not just talked about.
Purely from a force/relevancy business aspect, nothing to do with rosters, IMO the second Belator airs on FX it is a more relevant promotion than SF unless SF gets a CBS show scheduled between now and then, and I don’t think these ratings and attendance are going to drive CBS to do that.
Again, I enjoy SF as an MMA fan, think they have some excellent fighters, but I want to see far better match-ups in this promotion and from a business side, they need a more regular presence on TV.
Stan,
You make good points and SF is fully aware of it. They are working on a weekly syndicate show for next year as well as planning some big announcements for 2011. In terms of reaching the casual fan, its a tough thing to do for everyone. If Bellator lands on FX and puts on a show, (and I mean IF since I’ve heard Bellator on FX is not a done deal at all), do you think they have the stars on their roster to draw big ratings? If anything, we’ve seen that big stars like Lesnar, Kimbo, and Gina are the ones that can bring in the casual fans. MMA as a sport with no recognizable figures will struggle to get ratings as it is still a niche sport.
Thanks for your comment and hope you post again soon! =)
UFC = more brand recognition = more homes, bigger network = hardcore MMA fans and casual fans (ratio depends on the fights on any given event) = better overall ratings, regardless of event quality
Strikeforce = premium cable = hardcore MMA fans
Strikeforce minus CBS deal = no new casual fans:(
Next smart move for Strikeforce = ?
Despite the mismatches, it was a good event. For those complaining about the mismatches, would you rather have a repeat of Strikeforce: Nashville? I know I wouldn’t. It was a night of exciting fights that did not have the very best MMA fighters in the world. This is their MO and I’m fine with it. However the issues above are not going to change anytime soon. Scott Coker needs to realize that simply putting on more events is not the answer IF he truly wants Strikeforce to continue to expand. TV deals will have to change.
Rock|Strikeforce|hard place
Machiel Van,
They are certainly working on it. Holding a show in Columbus for the Arnold Sports Festival, talking about holding events in Canada and the UK in 2011, and a weekly syndicate show while also exploring possibilities of a reality TV show is what SF is working on right now for 2011. If everything goes well, they will have some pretty big announcements soon.
They already have events booked up until March-April of next year, and their TV deal with Showtime will expire in 2012. I’ve heard some other networks have already expressed interest in airing SF content and programming… so stay tuned!
Not sure how things will work out for them next year, but from what I have been told they are definitely trying.
Thanks for the update. I don’t mean to say that they’re in trouble, just in a tough spot moving forward. If what you’ve heard is true (interest from other potential TV partners) that is a good sign. I didn’t know about the expiration date of the Showtime deal, hopefully they can get on non-premium cable with a new deal in 2012. While I certainly don’t think they will compete with the UFC for the top promotional slot (the media aftermath of TUF 12 finale vs Strikeforce: St. Louis was ALL smoke and mirrors), they have grown their organization and are in a good position moving forward. Their sole problem is exposure. I’m just not sure how much their exposure can grow under the Showtime umbrella in 2011, especially if there are no more CBS shows (Strikeforce and CBS just don’t seem to mesh well together IMO).
Machiel Van,
They will most likely be back on CBS/&PPV in 2011.
While SF hasn’t had good exposure in the US compared to the UFC. Keep in mind that for most of 2011 Showtime/SF have had better international deals that the UFC.
Sounds like Bellator has a deal with MTV2, haven’t seen details, if that is instead of FX deal than it’s still a big deal but not as big… MTV is very fickle about things and will launch it quickly if they get tired of it or there’s an upper management change there.
As far as big names drawing casual fans for bellator vs. strikeforce, when you’re talking casual fans you don’t really need big names to grab channel flippers, you need action. TUF was a major breakthrough for UFC and outside of the coaches the guys on TUF are about as no-name as you can get. You need exposure and luck. You need to get on a channel your target demo watches and then get “lucky” (and yes, I realize a lot has to do with matchmaking skill etc.) that the fights you put on are exciting.
The difference between the bigger numbers Kimbo, Gina, etc. did and what Bellator would be looking for it those were kind of one off events, meaning they weren’t a weekly or even monthly program, they were looking to pop a big number and somehow sustain momentum. Bellator would be looking to gain an audience week by week.
I think SF needs to be on CBS first half of 2011 to make a big push, I really hope they don’t try a PPV before one or two well rated CBS shows, I just don’t seeing that work. Who would they have that is a proven PPV draw? Fedor is an OK draw, but Affliction didn’t do gangbusters with him and Hendo on CBS and Showtime hasn’t drawn a huge crowd. I think with a few barnburner CBS cards showcasing their top fighters they can draw a good buy, however who knows what Zuffa has up their sleeve if they announce a PPV, they may put a good card on Spike or finally sign a network deal of their own and put it on that night.