Spike TV will counterprogram the UFC’s second appearance on Fox January 28th. “UFC Unleashed: Evans vs. Davis” will feature past fights from Rashad Evans and Phil Davis as well as Mark Munoz, Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping.
The TV lineup via Spike TV press release:
4:00pm ET/re-airs at 9pm PT – UFC Unleashed – Michael Bisping vs. Jorge Rivera
5:00pm ET/re-airs 10:00pm PT – UFC 137 – Phil Davis vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
7:00pm ET/ 4:00pm PT – UFC Unleashed – Chael Sonnen vs. Renato Sobral (UFC 55)
8:00pm ET/ 5:00pm PT – UFC Unleashed – Mark Munoz vs. Kendall Grove (UFC 112)
9:00pm ET/ 6:00pm PT– UFC Unleashed – Rashad Evans vs. Brad Imes (“The Ultimate Fighter 2” finale)
10:00pm ET/ 7:00pm PT – UFC Unleashed – Rashad Evans vs. Rampage Jackson (UFC 114)
11:00pm ET/ 8:00pm PT – UFC Unleashed – Rashad Evans vs. Lyoto Machida (UFC 98)
Payout Perspective:
As it did with UFC on Fox 1, Spike TV is utilizing its access to the UFC library with some of the best fights from fighters featured on UFC on Fox 2. The counterprogramming drew 719,000 viewers on Spike TV during the UFC on Fox 1 broadcast. Thus, it makes sense for Spike TV to utilize the UFC library once again. Certainly, some viewers will be confused while others will watch as most of these fights are fresh in the minds of MMA fans and either you heard about a fight but never saw it or did not purchase the PPV. The UFC Unleasheds will give viewers a chance to catch up on the UFC and/or set their DVRs. Will this programming hurt the UFC on Fox 2 ratings?
If the UFC gets a 6million average and 7.5million peak for the card, then they could care less about the counter programming.
Head of Spike was interviewed on Sherdog (suggest the audio interview). Most interesting thing he said was that they paid for the use of the library for 2012 and it would be bad business not to use it; and that it was available for sale back to the UFC if they wanted (sounded like UFC had an option). He did not mention any price to repurchase.
I though it was interesting that the guy from Spike claimed the UFC was the reason for TUF. There are many people on the forums and web sites that claim the reality show idea was Spike TVs. He claims Zuffa brought in the Producer of “Survivor” which caused them to go to work on a reality show. Amazing how people hate on Dana so much they have to lie to try to discredit everything he does.