With last week’s announcement of Cain vs. JDS as the match November 12th for the UFC’s network debut, the UFC is putting its faith in the Heavyweight championship to catch casual viewers. Its a smart move.
While the decision may take away PPV buys from UFC 139 in San Jose, it makes a good first impression with network television. First impressions are everything and a solid matchup for viewers was essential. Not only does the UFC want to make a splash with its first fight on network television, it will be competing with Pacquiao-Marquez III despite the promise that the Cain-JDS matchup will be over before Pacquiao enters the ring.
The UFC is selling the fight as an asset to a Saturday night of fights. It will serve as the de facto lead-in to the boxing PPV Saturday night. UFC has made it clear that its Fox debut will not interrupt fight fans from seeing both MMA and boxing main events the same night. While it will compete with the undercard of the boxing PPV, its hard to say that most casual fight fans tune into for a Pacquiao undercard. This will make the creation of the Cain-JDS undercard much more intriguing. Does the UFC put up a solid undercard with known commodities? Henderson vs. Guida. Or, does it feature younger up and coming fighters (e.g., Rory McDonald, Edson Barboza) and push the likes of Henderson-Guida for UFC 139? Despite the Pacquiao main event, a strong Cain-JDS undercard could provide solid ratings and Zuffa could claim an overall win November 12th despite viewers tuning in to see Pacquiao.
Top Rank Boxing is targeting Pacquiao-Marquez III as the biggest PPV buy of Pacquiao’s career. Pacquiao-Mosley drew a reported 1.3-1.4 million buys depending on the source. In the past, he’s done 1.25 buys in fights with Oscar de la Hoya and Miguel Cotto. (H/t Bad Left Hook) Is this a subtle message that Bob Arum wants to steal the night? It would be no surprise based on his distate for all things MMA and Dana White’s comments directed toward him.
For the UFC, White is seeking ratings higher than Kimbo Slice’s last Elite XC win against James Thompson in May 2008. MMA Mania reports that Slice’s KO of Thompson (remember the exploding ear) garnerd 6.12 million viewers with a peak of 6.51 million viewers. The Kimbo-Roy Nelson fight on TUF 10 received 5 million viewers as TUF 10 received the best ratings in seasons. As an aside, for as athletic and gifted fighters are in the UFC, the fights of a backyard brawler garnered the highest ever ratings in MMA. Does this say anything about the sport of MMA? About the perceptions of the public of the sport?
The marketing of the November 12th fight on Fox has already started. Promos have been pushed during MLB games on Fox this past weekend, there will be a Primetime special after NFL Football on October 30th and Fox promises a “tailgate” party as a lead-up to the fight in Anaheim.
Via MMA Mania:
…FOX today promised levels of promotion the likes of which the world’s largest mixed martial arts organization has never seen before. That includes a red carpet and tailgate party complete with celebrities and the big time feel you’ve come to expect from major sporting events like the Super Bowl.
A “Super Bowl” like atmosphere? This is a good sign for the UFC as Fox is looking to put the full force of its marketing machine behind November 12. That’s a lot of pressure for just one fight. Hopefully Cain-JDS raise their level of skill to match the expectations. But, an injury to either one can prove to be disastrous for all parties involved. Is there a backup plan if either Cain-JDS gets hurt in training? Certainly this has to be an issue considering the number of injury replacements that were needed on cards this summer.
As for the logistics, there’s a lot of details that need to be hammered out.
Via MMA Junkie:
Admittedly for the UFC, there are a lot of things to work out with the promotion’s first effort on FOX: Where the show will air internationally, how it will look, what first-time fans can expect in the way of an introduction to MMA, and, don’t forget, the bulk of the fight card.
If nothing else, tuning into Fox to see how the UFC product is presented and how it differs from Zuffa’s presentation will be of interest to UFC followers. Another issue is to see how receptive the UFC is to Fox’s input on its broadcast. While everyone is friends right now, we shall see what happens the first time the UFC and Fox disagree.
Anybody see the actual promo in FOXS MLB coverage?
Stockton sounded like he was forced to read it and McCarver had a level of fake enthusiasm that clearly said, “I have no idea how this copy got in my script.”
The FOX platform can be a fantastic one for the ufc but that was not much of a start.
Marty,
Hold on, I have that writeup on the way
🙂
The UFC are quite fortunate to have a lifeline right now with FOX. The PPV buyrates this year have been dismal. People are now less willing to purchase every PPV as the cost escalate and the demand saturates.
Ok, looking forward to it!
Marty:
It’s up right now.
A good back up plan would be move GSP vs Diaz up & maybe including BJ Penn vs condit too
MMA Guru
“The UFC are quite fortunate to have a lifeline right now with FOX. The PPV buyrates this year have been dismal. People are now less willing to purchase every PPV as the cost escalate and the demand saturates.”
PPV numbers are down but there is no proof to support your reasoning. Fact is Brock Lesnar has not fought even once in 2011. GSP has only fought once so far this year. When you take away the biggest draws of the UFC and compare the numbers to other years with those draws. Of course they will look worse. But not because people are less likey to pay or due to any saturation point. The UFC has sold over 4 million buys so far in 10 PPVs without their biggest stars while at the same time running events in Rio, Sydney, Vancouver, and Toronto.
The UFC still has Jones vs Rampage, the Houston event which looks to be stacked, GSP vs Diaz. Not to mention a possible Brock event and rumors f Overeem possibley headlining before the end of the year. That puts the UFC about 7 million buys before any boost from Fox is realized. That is very good considering how many PPVs were non US events which always take a hit and little participation from the major draws.
I think one of the reasons for PPV buyrates being down is the inability to create new stars. You no longer have great PPV draws like BJ Penn, Lesnar, Rampage etc. on top, and their star power hasn’t rubbed off on the fighters who replaced them.
The FOX deal will change that. What if Cain Velasquez emerges from this fight as a GSP-level draw? What about if they use the FOX shows to showcase the incredibly dynamic and exciting 135/145lb divisions? These are extremely popular in boxing, and if the public gets a taste of Jose Aldo he could become a huge star.
Another thing – can you imagine if Edgar vs Maynard II had been on FOX? Both guys would be superstars after that performance.
I expect that most guys will realise the potential of a fight on FOX, and will look to increase their drawing power, rather than win in a dull, safe manner.
I sometimes wonder if writers in this sport are too close to the trees to see the forrest. This is an article about potential match ups for the UFC to blow everyone out of the water with their Fox debut, yet the two names that anyone other than fight fans would recognize are 1) Manny Pacquiao and 2) Kimbo Slice.
I watch college/pro football every week with a group of about 20or so people. All guys, ages 24-64, all sports fans. All are in fantasy leagues, own memorabilia, gamble pretty seriously on games, and can give you a virtual minute to minute update on injuries and trades that have ocurred. In other words, guys the UFC needs to attract to get decent numbers.
To them the UFC is Chuck Liddell. When Chuck fought Rampage, I had 12 of those guys at my house, and most of their wives/gfs came also. For GSP vs. Shields, one guy came by.
A “smart move” for the UFC is slapping Chuck – Tito III on that card. You need to give those “other guys” a reason to watch. Expecting to pull 6 million viewers off of Cain, JDS, Guida, Henderson, et al is insane. If the card shapes up the way it is, the UFC should be thrilled with 2.5-3.0 million viewers, not exactly a number Fox is going to be happy about.
Chuck is a company man, he can still beat Tito. Tito has heat from the Bader fight- make it happen, Dana.
I see what you are saying “Iron”, but that fight would just be a short term solution. Ok you prop up Chuck and Tito in the cage like week end at Bernies. You get good ratings and make both more popular than they ever dreamed. What now? You have 2 guys that can do nothing with the popularity. Then when they lose again it is gone. Kimbo is a prime example of building your hopes on a fraud. You do the fight they choose you use the first UFC event, a title fight, Heavy Weights, and tons of advertising to draw in fans and you make two guys who have many years left hugely popular. This FOX event will blow 6 millions fans away. I expect 8-12 million.
Elite XC did 6 million with no brand name, not credibility, on a network for old people with very little marketing muscle from CBS behind it.
@Iron: I understand your point but as BrainSmasher says Tito-Chuck are past their prime and while they have name recognition and company guys ti would be like watching Michael Jordan play in his 40s. Good to see for a couple minutes but then you realize its not MJ from the early Bulls era. Plus, a match like that would inevitably hurt the UFC brand.
The UFC is at a big point in the company’s life. It needs to put on a good, entertaining fight with the guys that are the stars right now.
BrainSmasher, the numbers don’t lie. The trends are all pointing to a downturn in UFC business but like I have indicated, this information get’s ignored. Just as the rating from the last UFC fight night on Spike has been noted as slightly below average, there is little coverage. With the imminent FOX broadcast, the media will lavish in the success of the event without fully understanding the economics of the industry. What we really should be discussing is the move of UFC away from a dwindling PPV market to a lifeline on network TV. It did not work well for Elite XC or StrikeForce and in time I question whether the UFC can avoid the same mistakes that these organizations made.