Welcome to a Payout Perspective of UFC on Versus 6. The event, coming from Washington D.C. this past Saturday, featured Dominick Cruz defending his Bantamweight title against Demetrious Johnson.
Ratings
MMA Junkie reported that an average of 729,000 viewers watched UFC on Versus 6 this past Saturday night. The average drew higher than UFC on Versus 5 in June.
Via MMA Junkie:
The UFC on Versus 6 ratings remained above average for MMA programming on Versus, which averaged a little more than 601,000 viewers for the 18 WEC events it aired between 2008 and 2010, though the numbers often fluctuated wildly depending on the depth of the fight cards. In fact, just two events in WEC history (WEC 41 and WEC 34) drew more viewers than UFC on Versus 6.
However, the figures still fall short to those generated by the UFC’s usual cable partner, Spike TV, which generally draws in the 1.5 million to 2 million viewers range for events of similar prominence.
Bonuses
MMA Fighting reports that bonuses for the night were $65,000 each and were awarded as follows:
Submission of the Night – Stefan Struve for his triangle choke of Pat Barry
Knockout of the Night – Anthony Johnson for his head kick of Charlie Brenneman
Fight of the Night – Matt Wiman and Mac Danzig
Attendance and Gate
As we noted, attendance and gate set records for the Versus series.
Sponsorships
The usual octagon sponsors were present in the ring: Bud Light (center), Toyo Tires, Dodge, Xyience and SafeAuto. Notably, the UFC.com Store and the UFC Personal Trainer were present in the Octagon.
A rundown of fight wear is here courtesy of our friends at Fighterxfashion.com
Matt Wiman was once again sponsored by PETA-inspired MeetyourMeat.com
Which main event fighter has the better sponsor deal?
Although he lost, Demetrious Johnson probably has one of the stronger sponsors: XBox 360. It was his sole sponsor on his fight shorts and t-shirt and hat entering the octagon. Johnson also wore a Sounders FC soccer kit during the pre-event press conference. The MLS Sounders are sponsored by XBox as well. Dominick Cruz’s fight shorts were adorned with numerous sponsors including SafeAuto Insurance, MusclePharm, Jaco, Famous, West Coast Authentics and Tilted Kilt. Also noticed that even though he didn’t wear the hat during the post-fight, Cruz held up his SafeAuto hat for the camera. Good job of remembering your sponsors Mr. Cruz.
As an aside, rewatching UFC on Versus 6, I believe that Dominick Cruz gave a shout out to rapper Paul Wall. It didn’t make sense until I noticed this on the Famous web page.
Conclusion
A nice swan song for the UFC on Versus. The ratings were surprisingly good considering there was lukewarm interest in this card as it was sandwiched between two UFC PPVs. It also did well on a night that Bellator had a good ratings night. The main event featured a good example of what fans can expect of the lighter weight divisions. Although he lost Demetrious Johnson is a budding star at the 125 and 135 divisions.
Right now, the UFC is doing a good job of featuring the lighter divisions. TUF 14 is getting solid reviews and time will tell whether that equates to ratings success. Still, its ratings are on par with TUF 13 and that featured top draws Brock Lesnar and JDS. The free championship bout also helps viewers check out the difference in fighting styles of the lighter fighters. Finally, this weekend, Jose Aldo will defend his 145lb title against Kenny Florian in a co-main event.
The link to about the Cruz shoutout goes to an RSS feed page that says “Sorry, no posts matched your criteria.”
Fixed the link, should work now.
What does the UFC need to do to make the lighter divisions viable for PPV? Because they are barely featuring them on PPV or even Spike prelims; they are mainly relegated to Facebook, which is a travesty when Rothwell vs Hunt makes it onto a PPV main card. Apart form the Versus 6 card, how is the UFC doing a good job of featuring the lighter divisions?
MV,
I think we are starting to see the UFC making an effort to get these divisions more visibility. TUF 14 is a sign in the right direction. I understand your point that the fights are relegated to lesser positions in the hierarchy of UFC booking. But, Cruz-Faber headlined in July and Aldo-Florian is a co-main event this Saturday.
I was skeptical as well but I think there needs to be some time to develop these guys. You can definitely showcase a guy like Mighty Mouse in the future. My point is that the UFC is making an effort to get these divisions some visibility. I don’t think they will be on par with the Light Heavyweight division but I think these guys can be valuable to future PPVs
The lighter weights just need the exposure and time to build names casual fans recognize. Mayweather and Pacquio are lighter weights–yet they have a worldwide following.
The UFC just started promoting the lighter weights–and given time, they will come into their own.
Cruz vs Johnson on Versus did a 0.71 rating, 789K viewers, 2nd lowest rating for a UFC live card in its history (only beating the 0.67 for the 3/3 Versus show – Sanchez vs. Kampmann).
They’re definitely starting to beef up promotion of the FWs and BWs at this point, but I just thought they hadn’t done the greatest job thus far. I forgot that Aldo vs Hominick was also a co-main event on a big PPV. This weekend’s card is certainly another sign that supports your points, Jason. I have to admit, I’m extremely excited for this fight card and the main event really has that “big fight” feel, especially since the top of the LW division has become such a log jam; the promotion for that fight has been great. Aldo/Florian seems to have fallen a bit by the wayside, but maybe that’s just because a lot of people think Aldo has the fight in the bag. I never count out KenFlo, but I don’t see how he wins that fight.