Welcome to another edition of Payout Perspective. This time we take a look at UFC 238 taking place at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
Cejudo dispatches Moraes and becomes double champ
Henry Cejudo recovered from a shaky first round to defeat Marlon Moraes with at TKO in the third round of the main event at UFC 238 to win the vacant UFC Bantamweight title. With the win, Cejudo holds the UFC Flyweight title and the Bantamweight title.
The fight showed Cejudo’s growth and maturity of an MMA fighter. The first round saw Moraes getting worked by Moraes with leg kicks. Cejudo seemed a little tentative in the first round but pressed Moraes in rounds 2 and 3 to get the victory.
Shevchenko leg kick KOs Eye
Valentina Shevchenko showed why she is the Flyweight champion. She almost submitted Jessica Eye with a Kimura in the first round, but used a perfectly timed leg kick to the head to knock Eye out. It was a very scary couple minutes as Eye lay on the mat unconscious.
The broadcast showed how Shevchenko set Eye up for the KO with leg kicks to the body drawing Eye’s guard low. Then, instead of a kick to the body Shevchenko went to the head as Eye braced for a body blow. A perfect setup.
The event at the United Center drew 16,038 for a gate of over $2 million. The bonuses went to Cejudo, Shevchenko, Ferguson and Cerrone.
Prefight Hype
UFC 238’s return to Chicago saw Henry Cejudo throwing out the first pitch at a Cubs game. He also showed up at a media luncheon with “bodyguards.” At the face offs during media week, Cejudo wore a costume to face off against Moraes. Shaun Al-Shatti explained it here:
Via @TheAthleticMMA Shaun explains Cejudo’s getup pic.twitter.com/F12ZXySmQX
— Jason Cruz (@dilletaunt) June 7, 2019
Cejudo’s act may be just that to get him some publicity. But, if he continues to improve and dominate opponents, he may be bringing a throne to his next fight face-off.
UFC Embedded was sponsored by Toyo Tires.
Sponsorships
Octagon sponsors included Toyo Tires, Motel 6, P3, Nemiroff, Modelo, Poker Stars, Devour, PariMatch, Monster, Hudson Shipping and Monster Energy in the middle.
Modelo had the fighter checkpoint.
Interestingly enough, no real signs of the UFC’s newest sponsor, Aurora Cannabis.
Despite his loss, Donald Cerrone is one of the few UFC fighters with his own Monster Energy sponsorship with
Ratings
The UFC Prelims on ESPN did its best since March scoring 964,000 viewers. It served as a lead-in for Top Rank Boxing. The UFC main card went up against the return of GGG on DAZN.
Odds and Ends
The Tony Ferguson-Donald Cerrone fight was everything you could have wanted until Cowboy blew his nose. Ferguson looked sharp and if the fight have lasted longer, probably would have won a decision over Cerrone. He should face the winner of Khabib-Dustin.
Tai Tuivasa was likely the star of the Embeddeds based on his outgoing personality. However, he’s now lost two in a row as he lost a unanimous decision to Blagoy Ivanov.
There were some great performances on the undercards including Eddie Wineland, Calvin Kattar and Aljamain Sterling.
Sterling had a good week:
I want to know who picked up our tab at Harry Carays Italian Steakhouse?! We, and myself most definitely appreciate it! Thank you! #UFC238 🎒 pic.twitter.com/6uIQVL1XQa
— Aljamain Sterling (@FunkMaster_UFC) June 8, 2019
It was interesting to see Moraes get upset at a heckler at media day face offs. It seemed over the top although you may believe that he was thrown off by it considering this was supposed to be media at the event.
Jessica Eye did not have a good start to fight week as she had problems with here airline.
I cant stand you @AmericanAir you have the worse customer service and because of you now I won’t be making it to Chicago on time ! When I was checked in and because your lack of proper staffing I can’t drop my bag off .. Thanks your a garbage company and should be ashamed ..
— Jessica Eye (@jessicaevileye) June 4, 2019
The broadcast crew is using more technology in explaining a lot of the strategy and moves going on in the Octagon. A prime example saw Daniel Cormier go step-by-step explaining how Shevchenko was able to get a clear headkick over Eye.
Is this good or bad?
Dana tells ESPN they are pulling the same numbers for UFC events on ESPN+ as they did on FS1.
— Jed I. Goodman (@jedigoodman) June 7, 2019
UFC 238 google searches drew over 500,000 for Saturday and another 500,000 on Sunday. Tony Ferguson had 100,000 himself on Saturday night
Conclusion
UFC 238 was a very entertaining show. It went up against Top Rank Boxing on ESPN and the return of GGG on DAZN. But the prelim ratings were up which may equate to a better PPV buy rate. Reports indicate that the buys since going to ESPN+ have been lower than when on satellite and cable providers.
UFC 235 (pre-ESPN+ only PPVs): 520K-650K
UFC 236: >100K buys
UFC 237: ~70K buys
With that being reported, its hard to think that UFC 238 did better than UFC 236 although one might be generous and state that the buys were likely around 100,000.
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