Strikeforce: Feijao vs Henderson Payout Perspective

Welcome to another edition of Payout Perspective! This week we’ll be taking a look at the Strikeforce Feijao vs Henderson event televised on Showtime and headlined by Strikeforce LHW champ Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante, as he made his first title defense against MMA legend Dan Henderson.

The event took place at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio coinciding with the annual Arnold Sports Festival and featured the Lightheavyweight title fight between Rafael Cavalcante vs. Dan Henderson, the womens Welterweight title fight between Marloes Coenen vs. Liz Carmouche, Tim Kennedy vs. Melvin Manhoef, and Billy Evangelista vs. Jorge Masvidal. The prelims – which were later streamed on Strikeforce.com –  were headlined by Jorge Gurgel vs Bily Vaughn and Welterweight prospect Roger Bowling vs Josh Thornburg.

 

Fighter Disclosed Payouts

Note: that the money reported below is only the money required to be reported by the commission, which does not take into account undisclosed bonuses or “locker room” bonuses, as they are referred to in MMA.

Courtesy of MMAJunkie:

The total disclosed payroll for the event was $439,500.

Champ Dan Henderson: $250,000 (no win bonus)
def. Rafael Cavalcante $28,000

Champ Marloes Coenen: $10,000 (no win bonus)
def. Liz Carmouche: $5,000

Tim Kennedy: $50,000 (no win bonus)
def. Melvin Manhoef: $10,000

Jorge Masvidal: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus)
def. Billy Evangelista: $20,000

Roger Bowling: $7,000 (includes $3,500 win bonus)
def. Josh Thornburg: $2,000

Jorge Gurgel: $8,000 ($4,000 win bonus)
def. Billy Vaughn: $1,500

Jason Freeman: $3,000 ($1,500 win bonus)
def. Jason Riley: $1,500

Brian Rogers: $3,000 ($1,500 win bonus)
def. Ian Rammel: $1,500

Mitch Whitesel: $3,000 ($1,500 win bonus)
def. Marc Cofer: $1,500

John Kuhner: $3,000 ($1,500 win bonus)
def. J.P. Feity: $1,500

Attendance and Gate

MMAJunkie reports that Strikeforce: Feijao vs Henderson achieved an attendance of 7,123. The number stands as the 8th most attended event for Strikeforce in all of 2010 and so far in 2011, only doing better than the Miami and Los Angeles events, noting here that the Los Angeles event was a special Wednesday show coinciding with E3 . It would have to be considered a disappointing number considering that the WEC last year drew 8,345 fans.  The UFC set the U.S. attendance record in the same venue back in 2007, but saw declining figures ever since.  In 2009, UFC 96 drew 17,033 attendees but was only able to get 13,470 paid.  This year, the UFC skipped Ohio altogether choosing to go to Australia instead and the WEC is no longer around, which gave Strikeforce the chance to step in this year.

MMAPayout has not been able to get a gate figure for the event at press time.

– 11,757 spectators, “Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum” (June, 2010)
– 11,287 spectators, “Strikeforce: Fedor vs Silva” (February, 2011)
– 9,059 spectators, “Strikeforce: Diaz vs Cyborg” (January, 2011)
– 8,635 spectators, “Strikeforce: Houston” (August, 2010)
– 8,196 spectators, “Strikeforce: Nashville (April, 2010)
– 8,136 spectators, “Strikeforce St. Louis: Heavy Artillery” (May, 2010)
– 7,559 spectators, “Strikeforce: Diaz vs Noons II (October, 2010)
– 7,146 spectators, “Strikeforce: Henderson vs Babalu II (December, 2010)
– 7,123 spectators, “Strikeforce: Feijao vs Henderson” (March, 2011)
– 7,010 spectators, “Strikeforce: Miami” (January, 2010)
– 5,259 spectators, “Strikeforce: Los Angeles” (June, 2010)

 

Ratings

MMAJunkie reports that Strikeforce: Fedor vs Silva averaged 412,000 viewers (1.8 rating) and MMAPayout has exclusively learned from sources that the main event between Henderson and Feijao gained an additional 100K viewers, creating a peak of around 520,000. The average number was good enough to rival the Strikeforce Fedor vs Werdum event which received 412k average viewers and peaked at around 700K viewers back in June 2010.  It ties the Fedor vs Werdum event as the 5th most watched MMA event for Showtime in terms of average viewership.

Though this rating is a drop-off from the previous two shows which did excellent numbers, Henderson vs Babalu II – just a few months back in December – did 341k average viewers with a peak of 465K, so the average viewership for a card which was headlined by Dan Henderson in the span of about 3 months increased by about 70k viewers, which shows what type of momentum Strikeforce is currently riding in 2011. It is also key to note that the 3 big Strikeforce events in 2011 have placed in 1st, 3d, and 6th in terms of most average viewership for an MMA event on Showtime ever.

– 741,000 viewers (1.1 million peak), “Strikeforce: Fedor vs Silva” (February, 2011)
– 576,000 viewers (856,000 peak), “Strikeforce: Carano vs Cyborg” (August, 2009)
– 561,000 viewers (853,000 peak), “Strikeforce: Diaz vs Cyborg” (January, 2011)
– 517,000 viewers (peak not available), “Strikeforce: Miami” (January, 2010)
– 412,000 viewers (700,000 peak), “Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum” (June, 2010)
– 412,000 viewers (520,000 peak), “Strikeforce: Feijao vs Henderson” (March, 2011)
– 367,000 viewers (470,000 peak), “Strikeforce: Houston” (August, 2010)
– 350,000 viewers (509,000 peak), “Strikeforce: Diaz vs Noons II (October, 2010)
– 341,000 viewers (465,000 peak), “Strikeforce: Henderson vs Babalu II (December, 2010)
– 308,000 viewers (448,000 peak), “Strikeforce St. Louis: Heavy Artillery” (May, 2010)
– 164,000 viewers (197,000 peak), “Strikeforce: Los Angeles” (June, 2010) [Special Wednesday Show]

 

Storylines

Strikeforce Fills MMA Void In Arnold Sports Festival

– After the UFC decided it would be heading to Australia this year instead of the Arnold, a great opportunity came knocking for Strikeforce.  Not only would the Arnolds be full of sports and fitness enthusiasts, but also a good amount of businesses within the industry.  It created an opportunity for Strikeforce to spread the brand, convert new fans, and build some relationships within the industry.

Duane Finley of BloodyElbow was there and shares some of his experiences and observations from the show:

In addition to the event at the Nationwide Arena, Strikeforce looked to capitalize on the opportunity to connect with their fan base as they set up a large booth at the Fitness Expo which ran from Friday to Saturday at the Columbus Convention Center. As one of 700 vendors on display Strikeforce made sure their booth was visible as they pulled out all the stops to create one of the most visually appealing and visitor friendly stands. The entire booth was designed using the official Strikeforce cage where fans could filter through to meet the fighters or stop and have their pictures taken with the Rockstar/Strikeforce ring girls on the outer perimeters. At the entrance, Strikeforce set up a box office where tickets could be purchased for Saturday’s show in addition to signing up for raffle drawings that were held throughout the course of the weekend.

Once inside the cage fans and visitors could play EA Sports MMA on several monitors in addition to signing official Strikeforce placards that were being sent, along with the cages used for the weekend’s events, overseas to the U.S. Military. Strikeforce also gave visitors a chance to interact with their All-Star roster as the organization scheduled appearances and presentations allowing fans, new and old, to meet some of the top fighters and personalities on their roster. Josh Thomson and Frank Shamrock held meet and greet sessions during the opening portion of the Expo on Friday while current welterweight champion and one of the world’s pound for pound best Nick Diaz held court on both Friday and Saturday afternoons. Also making appearances were MMA legend Pat Miletich, Antonio “Big Foot” Silva and recent Strikeforce signee Josh Barnett, who is preparing to make his official Strikeforce debut when he faces Brett Rogers on June 18th in the opening round of the heavyweight tournament. The convention center was jammed packed from the time the doors opened until they closed and Barnett, who had a massive turnout, had this to say in regards to the insanity.

It’s huge,” Barnett exclaimed. “It’s busy as hell. This is a great venue for Strikeforce to be in. New fans…in addition to us getting a chance to make an impression on them and get them to follow what we are doing. So I think it’s a necessity. Plus, I like the fact that they have all the events for the kids to keep them entertained.

Strikeforce was in a position where they could attract many new fans not only to the promotion, but to the sport of MMA.  In preparation, they created a educational material, had a playable gaming station of EA Sports MMA and gave the fans a full MMA experience with their meet-and-greet opportunities and the other numerous activities they provided to Arnold Classic attendees.

Strikeforce Fan Guide Pamphlet:

Arnold Classic Fan Experience:

Arnold Schwarzenegger Makes a Stop at the Strikeforce Booth

 

Post-Event Notes

– Strikeforce announced they have signed Japanese fighter and Beijing gold medalist in Judo Satoshi Ishii and will fight on the April 1st Challengers event on Showtime against K-1 veteran now turned MMA artist, Scott Lighty.  Here is the way that card is stacking up:

Strikeforce Challengers from Stockton, California (4/1/2011)

Justin Wilcox (10-3) vs Rodrigo Damm (9-4)
Satoshi Ishii (4-1) vs Scott Lighty (6-1)
David “Tarzan” Douglas (6-2) vs Caros Fodor (7-2)
James Terry (9-2) vs Conor Heun (8-4)
Damian Douglas (3-1) vs Wayne Phillips (5-3)

 

– Strikeforce announces the 4/9 card to be held in San Diego, CA which bumps the Strikeforce HW Grand Prix to June 18 in Dallas, Texas.

Strikeforce Diaz vs Daley from San Diego, California (4/9/2011)

Nick Diaz (24-7) vs Paul Daley (27-9)
Gilbert Melendez (18-2) vs Tatsuya Kawajiri (27-6)
Gegard Mousasi (30-3) vs Mike Kyle (18-8)
Shinya Aoki (26-5) vs Lyle Beerbohm (15-1)

– Strikeforce introduces new designed belts at Strikeforce: Feijao vs Henderson.

 

 

Twitter and Google Trends

Great news for Strikeforce here, as the key words “Hendo“, “Coenen“, “Carmouche“, “Tim Kennedy“, “Manhoef” , and “Masvidal” were all top twitter trends during the evening of the Strikeforce: Feijao vs Henderson event. That would make 6 out of the 8 fighters who fought on the Showtime televised portion of the event top twitter trends for the evening.

Also, “Dan Henderson” and “Strikeforce” were top searches for the evening on Google. They were among the top 10 Google Trends in the U.S. for that evening, with “Strikeforce” reaching the #3  spot behind HBO boxing’s event headlined by Saul Alvarez.

That would make it 8 out of the last 10 events that have trended on Twitter for Strikeforce, with the previous being the last show which was the first round of the HW Grand Prix which was headlined by Fedor Emelianenko and Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva.

 

Sponsor, Promotion and Marketing Watch

– All the usual sponsors where there for this event: FullTilt Poker, Rockstar, GoDaddy, Clinch Gear, EA Sports MMA, etc. As we like to point out here on MMAPayout, we always like to see more synergy between big sponsors and the promotions. Ranger Up had a nice presence in the event as well, sponsoring Tim Kennedy and Liz Carmouche, both who are enrolled in the U.S. Armed Forces. MicroTech was also a welcomed sponsor for Strikeforce.

MicroTech CEO Tony Jimenez attended the event and sponsored Rafael Feijao, Marloes Coenen, and Tim Kennedy.

MicroTechCEO : At @Strikeforce Columbus in @Fahrenheitnutri Suite watching preliminary fights! Thx 4 the invite! http://yfrog.com/h6ik8gj

Intimidation MMA also played a big role in sponsoring fighters for the prelim portion of the event, which included Roger Bowling, Brian Rogers, Jason Freeman, Billy Vaughn and Mitch Whitesel.

IntimidationMMA Update: Bowling, Rogers, Freeman & Whitesel all victorious at Strikeforce http://fb.me/M61WvdzD

– Strikeforce had a promo to Tweet where you were seated for a chance to win floor seats again, dubbed #sfpickme. Again, a great way to utilize the social media tools that they have. Also. hosting a Ring Girl Contest on their Facebook page as well to keep the motto going.

– Strikeforce is slowly integrating the fighters and their brands with the promotion. If we take a look at the Strikeforce Store, we see Dan Henderson advertised on the front page with his own signature shirts for the Columbus event on March 5th. We will keep a look out and see if they will keep this strategy for future big show headliners. They have recently added new Fedor, King Mo, and Jason “Mayhem” Miller signature shirts as well.