UFC 169: Payout Perspective

Welcome to another edition of Payout Perspective.  This time we take a look at the Super Bowl Weekend card taking place at The Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Barao handles Faber

To paraphrase Richard Sherman, “Barao is the best fighter in the game, when you put up a mediocre turtle defense like Faber, that’s the result, you going to get. “

A thumbs up couldn’t stop Herb Dean from calling this fight off.  Even if the fight would not have been stopped, it likely would have delayed the inevitable.

Aldo demos Lamas

“I’m just ‘bout that action boss. “ – Money Lynch

At least rounds 1-4 Jose Aldo brought the action to Ricardo Lamas.  The combinations were devastating as were the leg kicks which were reminiscent of Aldo-Faber from WEC days.

Attendance and Gate

UFC 169 drew 14,308 in attendance for a gate of $1.651 million based on the announcement at the post-fight press conference. The last time the UFC came to New Jersey in April 2013 for Jones-Sonnen, it drew 15,227 for a gate of $2.7 million.  The actual numbers announced by the UFC point to a disappointing show when there was opportunity for bigger numbers with a lot of sports fans in the area for the Super Bowl.

Bonuses

Only Jamie Varner and Abel Trujillo received bonuses as there were no submissions on the card.  Notably, there were 10 decisions out of 12 fights on the card.

Varner and Trujillo received $75K for Fight of the Night and Trujillo scored the standard $50K for the KO of Varner.

Pre-UFC 169 Promotion

In order to appeal to those coming out for the Super Bowl, the UFC sent out an email to Seahawk fans (and likely Bronco fans) on its mailing lists reminding them of UFC 169 the day before the big game.

The UFC Countdown show worked around the language differences of Jose Aldo and Renao Barao to tell their stories.  I think this is a major hurdle in promoting both of these guys.  It’s nothing against them but I think many English speaking fans find it hard to get behind them because English is not their first language.

The UFC also brought its championship belt to NFL Super Bowl media day but were quickly muted by NFL PR staff.  The NFL thought that the UFC was the WWE and didn’t want it to outshine its day.  It was not until Jay Glazer straightened out the situation with the NFL did the staff at media day allow the UFC to stay so long as the belt didn’t get on the podium.

Then, look which belt the Seahawk GM was wearing:

Probably small potatoes here, but shouldn’t he be wearing the UFC belt?  According to SB Nation, the picture was taken prior to the Super Bowl so maybe there’s an excuse for the UFC.

Sponsorships

The sponsors in the Octagon included the UFC”s UCasino.com, Dodge, Toyo Tires, Xyience, Harley Davidson, MetroPCS, Musclepharm, History Channel and Bud Light had the middle of the Octagon.

The History Channel’s series, “The Vikings” was a sponsor for 169 and it showed a promo video that included lots of blood and gore.  “The Vikings” logo on the Octagon mat was pretty hard to see.

It appears that Auto Shopper received the same deal as Dynamic Fastener as many fighters had the two sponsors on their shorts.  Dynamic Fastener appeared to own the back side of fighter shorts while Auto Shopper had the front of shorts.

MetroPCS offered digital autographs of Urijah Faber.

Did you get your FREE digital autograph from @UrijahFaber? Tweet @MetroPCS w/ #TeamFaber to get yours! #UFC169 pic.twitter.com/zm1TnpA5v0

— UFC (@ufc) February 1, 2014

Post-UFC 169 Headlines

Who’s next for Aldo?  Short answer is Anthony Pettis.  The cynical question is what to do when/if Pettis gets injured.  The Pettis showdown would mean Aldo gives up the 145 belt (I guess you can’t hold belts in two different divisions) and the UFC could hype up a “superfight.”

Anyone left for Barao?  Is this the definition of clearing a division?  While Aldo may have Chad Mendes left in his division if he decides to stay, Barao has no one compelling to defend his belt against.  Maybe Dominick Cruz if he can ever get back but aside from that, TJ Dillashaw?

Odds and Ends

Toyo Tires re-signed with the UFC and will be an official sponsor for the company through 2015.

I wonder if Chris Caraiso earned any extra points from his sponsor, Training Mask, after donning the mask before facing off at weigh-ins.

Speaking of weigh-ins, I do not recall ever seeing so many people excited about making weight.

Faber wearing Uggs at weigh-ins?  Does that make him the Tom Brady of the UFC?

Super Bowl Fact.  Super Bowl Rings:  Dan Marino – 0, Tavaris Jackson – 1

Conclusion

Unfortunately, the greatness of Renan Barao and dominance of Jose Aldo will not mean much when it comes down to PPV buys.  In retrospect, when Fox announced that the UFC would be a part of Super Bowl weekend, one would have envisioned much more of a collaborative promotion between the NFL-UFC and Fox.  However, there was not much in terms of promotion of this event.  Even when the UFC made an appearance at Super Bowl media day, they were not recognized by NFL PR.

The nonperformance of the marketing efforts aside, UFC 169 may not do well in terms of buys simply because of the fighters on the top of the card.  Fighters under 155 pounds do not draw on PPV.  Is the UFC doing these fighters a disservice by not marketing their divisions correctly?  Or, are the fighters not marketable?  Urijah Faber could have been that guy but with Saturday’s loss he won’t be able to get another shot unless Barao loses and Faber gets on another win streak. Arguably, the top three fighters in the UFC fight below 155: Aldo, Barao and Demetrious Johnson. But, that does not seem to equate to viewers.

Due to the card and the lack of buzz, UFC 169 will likely do somewhere around 200K PPV buys.