Dana White made the announcement today that Cain Velasquez will make his first title defense against Junior dos Santos on UFC on Fox on November 12th. Originally, it was rumored that Velasquez was to defend the belt a week later in San Jose on November 19th.
White stated that there will be no other fights slated for the UFC’s debut on Fox as its expected the five round fight should take up the hour. Larry Pugmire of the LA Times asked whether there would be additional compensation for the fighters since the fight is being moved off of PPV. White responded that both will be “paid just fine.”
White did not indicate the logistics for the rest of the card (where the rest of the card will be seen) and what will happen if the fight ends early.
Payout Perspective:
This fight makes sense on several levels. First, White indicated he wanted to put his best foot forward and he proclaimed that the Heavyweight title is the most prestigious in the UFC. The hype of a championship fight should attract many casual viewers. Secondly, Velasquez will attract the Hispanic audience in Southern California which should mean good attendance at the Honda Center. Its also the return of where he won the belt from Brock Lesnar. Also, it gives UFC-Fox control of what to do with any “filler” time so it could pick and choose the best fight (or fights) of the night.
For the UFC, it also is a great vehicle to promote its November 19th PPV.
NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’ll be at UFC 139 live and was REALLY looking forward to this fight.
*extremely begrudging sigh* I guess this is a good move by the UFC to really show FOX its commitment to the new deal. Should be easy to market with the impressive highlight reels of both guys. Let’s all hope for a multi-dimensional war and not a quick finish so all the fresh eyes can see what MMA is really about.
This fight works for all parties involved. For Fox, they can have confidence in promoting a big championship fight. For Zuffa, you’re giving much needed mainstream attention to 2 great fighters. For a guy like Cain Velasquez, he’s increasing his personal brand amongst the mainstream sports fans/media.
MV:
I agree. I think this fight will have a good mix of action to appease all viewers.
It’s about time Cain fights! How lucky to say you are the UFC Heavyweight Champ and your first title defense is 13 months later. This should be a great fight. Finally…
the fight will lasty 1 or 2 rounds and they slot an hour for it. isnt going to go well. at least have some prefights to replay at the end.
dumbdumb:
They will have the entire undercard and prelims to air if the fight runs short. Also, they will have pre-fight talks and analysis, plus commercials, so 1 hour slot won’t be nearly as long as you think unless the fight finishes in a couple of minutes.