Welcome to a special edition of Payout Perspective. We take a look at the UFC’s debut on ESPN and ESPN+ this past Saturday at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Cejudo KOs TJ in R1
Henry Cejudo may have saved the UFC Flyweight Division as he knocked out T.J. Dillashaw to retain his flyweight title. Cejudo stunned Dillashaw with unassuming punch which knocked the bantamweight down. From there, Cejudo swarmed Dillashaw and the ref stepped in.
From first look, I thought that this was a quick stoppage as they usually allow a little more action for the fighter to recover in championship matches. But after watching again, with less than a minute gone by in the round there was no way that Dillashaw could have held on and/or recovered.
Cejudo becomes the first champ to receive the new (and maybe controversial) UFC redesigned belt. He also received props form Nikki Bella which may have been the biggest payoff. While Joseph Benavidez may be the next in light in the flyweight division, its clear that Cejudo would like to take this momentum and challenge Dillashaw for his 135 pound title. One would think that Dillashaw will want a rematch as he claimed that the stoppage was too soon.
Hardy DQ’d in UFC debut
It was a controversial decision to have Greg Hardy fight on the ESPN debut. It drew even more raised eyebrows when the UFC put him in the co-main event of the evening especially when you had Paige Van Zant and Donald Cerrone and Alexander Hernandez on the card as well. Yet, Hardy faced Allen Crowder in a Heavyweight matchup.
While the imposing Hardy may have intimidated on the regional scene, it was Crowder that taunted the former football player. But it was a knee to the head of a grounded opponent which, as Daniel Cormier described was “very illegal.” There was no way for Crowder to continue after the knee and it was a disqualification.
Inauspicious debut for Hardy although the UFC does see something in him. He is still a controversial figure considering his lack of contrition for his past domestic violence past. We shall how the UFC books him in the future. One thinks he will be a “Fight Night” athlete until he gets some more seasoning.
Attendance, Gate and Bonuses
The Barclay’s Center drew 12,152 fans for a gate of $1.23 million. The last big UFC event at the Barclay’s Center was UFC 223 in April which drew 17,026 for a 3 million gate. Prior to that, UFC 208 in February 2017 which drew 15,628 for a gate of 2.275 million.
In comparison, the UFC’s debut on FS1 on August 21, 2013 drew 12,539 for a gate of $1.53 million at the TD Garden in Boston. The main event was Chael Sonnen as he submitted Shogun Rua.
Pre-Fight Promotion
Having ESPN as a television partner dramatically increased the marketing and promotion of the event. The UFC Countdown show for UFC 232 aired on ESPN and starting at the beginning of January you saw the UFC creeping into the network. The fight library entered the digital platform for ESPN and during Fight Week there was a plethora of fights airing on ESPN2 and other networks.
Dana White did the ESPN car wash and was also on the Jimmy Kimmel Show among other outlets for the event. ESPN+ also had a very good (if you could find it) shoulder programming featuring Dillashaw and Cejudo.
It was interesting that the criticism of having Greg Hardy and Rachael Ostovich died day during Fight Week. This could be in part due to ESPN controlling the narrative and the airwaves and the casual ESPN media person not knowing much about the sport. ESPN Outside the Lines did do a piece on Hardy but outside of that, there was not much else.
Sponsorships
The sponsors in the Octagon included Monster Energy sharing a post with Fastrac, Modelo, Toyo Tires, Nemiroff, Blackheart and Monster had the center of the Octagon. ESPN+ was visible with signage in the Octagon as well.
UFC sponsor Van Heusen secured signage in the area where the corner stands outside the Octagon. A new place for sponsors.
The prep point was given a new name and was sponsored by P3,
Also, Body Armor had all the water bottles and corner stools.
Paige Van Zant, who was dropped by Reebok prior to her fight on Saturday, picked up a new sponsor with Liv Body.
Odds and ends
Steven A. Smith on the broadcast was cringeworthy but he was not an embarrassment. He relied on Michael Bisping and Daniel Cormier to do a bulk of the legwork when discussing the fight. In addition, I thought Trevor Wittman did well as an “expert” chiming in on fight strategy, etc.
The pacing could have been better but it was on par with what the UFC did on Fox. Notably, there were commercials on ESPN+.
It could have been a little confusing for fans that had to switch from the digital platform to see the early prelims, then watch the prelims on ESPN and then tune back on plus to get the main card. Hopefully, they will avoid doing this in the future.
We’ll get to see the ratings for this event in the next day or so, although I would think it had to do well over 1 million viewers.
The lead-in to the ESPN portion of the Prelims started 12-15 minutes late. Fortunately, the college game featured Duke-Virgina, a battle of two of the top 5 teams in the nation. There was also an early NBA game on ABC which promoted the UFC card too.
The UFC had over 1 million google searches on Saturday which came in second to Chiefs with over 5 million which related to the Kansas City-New England game. Greg Hardy and Paige Van Zant had over 200,000 searches. Donald Cerrone had over 100,000.
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