Payout Perspective: UFC 150

Welcome to another edition of Payout Perspective.  This time we’re in Denver, Colorado where Henderson-Edgar II took place in a controversial decision.

Henderson retains title in questionable decision

Another solid fight between the two without a clear winner.  Of course, it goes to the judges’ decision.  And the champ retains the title.  Yes, everyone thinks that Edgar was robbed, but unlike the Pacquiao-Bradley fight, the judges sided with the champ.  I honestly thought Edgar won the fight, but Henderson is the champ and one could argue that Henderson did enough to win.

Edgar will have to drop down to 145 and Henderson gets Nate Diaz next.

Cowboy KOs Guillard

It won fight of the night but lasted less than a round.  So, you know it was action-packed.  The Young Assassin, who missed weight, caught Donald Cerrone with a left and had him on his heels.  Whether it was the altitude or Guillard trying to pace himself, he backed off the attack.  As a result, Cerrone clipped Guillard with a kick to the side of the head and that was the beginning of the end.

Bonuses

MMA Junkie reported the bonuses, attendance and gate announced at the post-fight press conference.

Fight of the Night:  Cerrone v. Guillard
KO of the Night:  Cerrone
Submission of the Night:  Dennis Bermudez

Each fighter earned an extra $60,000.  Cerrone made $120,000 for his double bonus.  Its the second straight week a fighter has received a double bonus with Joe Lauzon getting a double for his work on UFC on Fox 4.

Attendance and gate

It was the lowest PPV gate since 2007.  At the press conference, White blamed the recent wildfires and the unfortunate shootings during the midnight showing of “The Dark Night” as reasons for the poor attendance.

I don’t discount these reasons in addition to the economy.  Still, the card featured a title fight and a local fighter (Cerrone) at the co-main event.  One year earlier, Denver drew 16,344 for a little over $2 million for Jones vs. Rampage.

Promotion of the Fight

The Countdown Show this past week did a good job in retelling the first Henderson-Edgar fight.  UFC Unleashed on Fuel TV showed the entire Japan card from this past February.

Fuel TV ran the UFC 144 event on an “UFC Unleashed” which featured Henderson-Edgar I.

Aside from local press, it felt like the week was overshadowed by Ronda Rousey despite the Strikeforce event occurring this week.  Rousey appeared on Conan and the debut of her All Access show appeared on Showtime.

Sponsorship

The rather bland looking logo of the upcoming prohibition-era movie Lawless was prominent in the ring along with the usual UFC brands:  TapouT, Musclepharm, US Marines, Harley Davidson, Toyo Tires, Edge, Dodge, Ultimate Poker and of course, Bud Light.

Has anyone else noticed that the cutmen are wearing RYU vests instead of Tapout?

UFC sponsor Dodge had signage in the Octagon promoting the 2013 Dodge Dart.

New UFC sponsor Tokyo Headline sponsored the fighter prep point.  It was also announced prior to fights.

Video game Assassin’s Creed was not only present in the Octagon, it sponsored fighters including Jake Shields and Melvin Guillard.

Edge presented a contest during the PPV for fans to vote for the next face for Team Edge. It also promoted the limited edition Edge Shave gel can.

Fear the Fighter is an official UFC sponsor and is starting to become more visible with its signature line of fighter walkout shirts.  Frankie Edgar wore FTF gear to the octagon on Saturday.

Post-UFC 150 Headlines

Nate Diaz was in attendance to scout his next opponent.  A Diaz-Henderson title bout should be entertaining.

What’s next for Edgar?  Understandably, Frankie Edgar was despondent after losing a fight he thought he won.  Not only that, it appears that he’ll have to leave the division and drop down to 145.  This might not be a bad thing as a future bout with Jose Aldo would be an intriguing matchup.

DirecTV issue

Due to DirecTV updating its system during the same time as the PPV, many DirecTV customers that ordered DirecTV just saw a blank screen.  While some customers were able to order the PPV without a hitch, there was a segment that could not.  An email to DirecTV was not returned although I later received an email and voicemail stating that DirecTV refunded me the price of the PPV.  The DirecTV gaffe will not help with PPV business for the UFC this time around.

Odds and ends

FighterXFashion has the information on walkout shirts and entrance songs.

Donald Cerrone’s bonus will go to pay back taxes according to Cerrone at the post-fight presser.  A very responsible move by the Cowboy.

Still no “ref cam” view although they wore a little different shirt with shoulder piping.  While it probably wasn’t a Nike shirt, it reminded me of the alterations made by Nike to the NFL unis.

The past several cards have included the use of statistics shown during the fights.  Are the statistics helpful?  Secondly, are the judges receiving this information?

While many Frankie Edgar fans took to social media to vent about the injustice of the decision, how many bought the PPV?  It’s likely that UFC 150 will be one of the lowest rated PPV events ever. Edgar was part of a similar card at UFC 136 in Houston.  That card featured Edgar-Maynard III, Aldo-Florian and Sonnen-Stann yet yielded only 225,000 buys.  That was also an event that held a UFC Expo.  I am a fan of Edgar, but for as popular a fighter Edgar is, he is not a fighter that drives PPV buys or attendance.

Conclusion

On paper, I thought that UFC 150 was going to be an exciting card. Yet, the gate and attendance reflect that I may just be a big UFC fan.  The PPV numbers could rival that of UFC 136 or 147 especially with the DirecTV issues.  I would say that it’s likely on par with UFC 136 at 225,000 buys.