Author: Dave Meltzer

Dana White last night said that UFC 190 is trending ahead of its biggest show this year, UFC 189 from three weeks ago. Early evidence of public interest shows that he may have understated that.

After putting so much promotional muscle around July 11 as UFC’s biggest event of the year, there were reasons that Ronda Rousey’s fight with Bethe Correia would have a hard time equaling the 600,000 plus buys that Rousey’s prior main event with Cat Zingano did.

The biggest and most obvious is the fight was in Brazil, meaning less media coverage in the U.S. than a fight in Los Angeles or Las Vegas would get. That’s key because it is Rousey’s appearances on mainstream media outlets that are essential in her drawing her own unique audiences to the shows she headlines. And while she got plenty of coverage, it was not at the level of some of her recent shows, and nothing compared to UFC 189.

It was also only three weeks after a big show, and for the same reason UFC 187 struggled three weeks after Mayweather-Pacquiao, it would be hard to generate huge money with such a quick turnaround between shows given so many people had just spent money and gotten together with friends for pay-per-view.

While some would also say that Bethe Correia was not the threat Cat Zingano was, at least on paper, I’d throw that one out. Correia, who, like virtually everyone in the division, appeared way out of her league on Saturday night, to the public, this was a much bigger grudge match. UFC history has shown its biggest numbers come when the grudge factor is the highest. Some would say her record quick finishes would make it so people wouldn’t want to spend $60 for one minute of action, although the people said the same thing during the Mike Tyson heyday and the opposite was the case then. Based on her setting her record numbers for a show she carried alone the last time out, that doesn’t appear to be the case now either.

But there were also positives. Rousey’s performance with Zingano had been her most impressive to date. As much as her previous sub-70 second wins have been impressive, that was at a completely different level. Even since the end of February, her star power has grown significantly, between a Sports Illustrated cover, two Espy awards, a role in Furious 7, one of the biggest grossing movies of all-time and another role in Entourage. With all respect to Serena Williams, she is almost surely the most popular female athlete in the country right now.

And it appears the latter was more important than the former. After the show, UFC President Dana White claimed the show was trending better than UFC 189, a show that did in excess of 800,000 buys on pay-per-view. In particular, White said usual trending numbers were up, and that UFC Embedded did almost as many views this past week as it did before the McGregor vs. Chad Mendes fight.

When it comes to Google searches, which have been exceedingly effective when it comes to immediately giving an impression if a show was or wasn’t a hit on pay-per-view, UFC 190 was through the roof.

Between Thursday and Saturday, terms related to the show, mostly searches for Rousey, as well as UFC 100 and for Correia, topped 5.8 million searches, with more than 5 million alone on Saturday night.

For a comparison, a huge cultural event like the Super Bowl or the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight will top 10 million. A weak UFC pay-per-view show will get 50,000, and a normal show will fall between 200,000 and 500,000.

UFC 189 did in excess of 1.3 million, including 1 million on the day of the show, mostly for McGregor.

The last UFC show to do in this range was UFC 168, which also topped 5 million, but much of that was people after the show was over searching to find video of Anderson Silva’s broken leg.

There is the thing I call the Pretty Girl Syndrome, so to speak, where Rousey’s Internet activity is going to be bigger than her pay-per-view drawing power. However, with the exception of UFC 168, and as noted that was far more for Silva and his injury than Rousey, none of her prior fights have even approached the level of this one.

Anecdotal response and photos from sports bars around the country indicated packed buildings early in the evening, and most notably, a very different clientele, with far more women than for any UFC event up to this point.

What is safe to say is that the general public had far more interest in this fight than UFC 189, even though the July show was promoted far more strongly. While it didn’t seem this way three weeks ago, Rousey, not McGregor, is the company’s biggest star. Rousey also draws from an audience that no other UFC athlete can draw from, something the company pushed hard in presenting videos of young girls, hardly the traditional UFC audience, talking about Rousey as their hero.

It is far too early to estimate pay-per-view numbers. And while these number comparison will lead you to conclusions that this show set records, that is probably not the case. But it’s a pretty safe bet the show was, just like UFC 185, far more successful than all but the most optimistic projections going in.

Saturday’s night’s UFC on FOX show, powered by a strong last two fights, was the highest rated of the UFC’s four annual summer specials on the network.

The full two-and-half-hour show did a 1.7 rating and 2,756,000 viewers, peaking with a 2.4 rating and 3.8 million viewers for the T.J. Dillashaw title defense against Renan Barao. The three prior July shows on FOX did either a 1.4 or 1.5 rating, and between 2.38 and 2.5 million viewers. The main event would have also been the most watched UFC fight of those four shows.

The event was the most-watched sports program on television for the day, and led FOX to winning the night in both the Male 18-49 and Adults 18-49 demographics.

The overall rating was up 13 percent from last year’s show headlined by Robbie Lawler vs. Matt Brown. The Dillashaw vs. Barao main event was up 12 percent from last year.

The card drew consistent growth from start-to-finish.

For the main card, Joe Lauzon vs. Takanori Gomi drew a 1.3 rating, which increased to a 1.6 for Edson Barboza vs. Paul Felder, and a 2.0 for Miesha Tate vs. Jessica Eye.

The prelims from 6-8 p.m. did a 0.9 rating and 1.3 million viewers. The number was almost identical to the prior time that FOX aired the prelims, also last July, which did a 0.8 rating and 1.3 million viewers.

Saturday night’s UFC on FOX show ended up as the second highest rated of the four July FOX specials in history, averaging 2.29 million viewers on the overnights. It should be noted that the overnight number did not measure any of the T.J. Dillashaw vs. Ranan Barao main event, so the final numbers should be significantly higher.

Saturday night’s UFC on FOX 16 show, headlined by T.J. Dillashaw’s bantamweight title defense over Renan Barao, did 2.29 million viewers last night on FOX, giving it an easy win in the key demos among the major networks, and finishing second place overall to CBS according to TV By the Numbers.

It should be noted that the overnight ratings in this case is a preliminary indication of the actual rating. The most important early take is that of the four July FOX specials, which date back to 2012, this show was the second highest, even though this rating doesn’t even take the main event itself into account.

The overnights measure the 8-10 p.m. time slot in the Eastern time zone, and its corresponding 7-9 p.m. in Central time zone and 6-8 p.m. in the Mountain time zone. However, it also measures 8-10 p.m. in the Pacific time zone, and as a live sports event, the show aired starting at 5 p.m. on the West Coast. So this rating measures whatever programming the local FOX stations were airing from 8-10 p.m. and not the UFC.

In addition, with the rating only measuring 8-10 p.m., it is a rating of only the first three fights since the main event itself started at 10 p.m. The final numbers, which would be for the entire show nationwide, will be out on Monday or Tuesday. They would be expected to grow significantly from the original estimate..

The number falls in line with most of the overnight numbers for UFC’s annual July show. It was up 13 percent from last July’s show headlined by Robbie Lawler, before he was welterweight champion, against Matt Brown, which did 2.02 million viewers in the overnights. The 2013 show did 2.04 in the overnights with the Demetrious Johnson flyweight title defense against John Moraga. The 2012 show did 2.36 million viewers, headlined by Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Brandon Vera.

The 0.9 in the key 18-49 demo easily won its time slot in the network battle against weak counter programming. The second place finisher were two repeats of Battlebots, a show which features former UFC star Kenny Florian as an announcer, which averaged an 0.5.

For overall viewers, CBS drew 3.49 million viewers  for an NCIS Los Angeles repeat, and 3.35 million viewers for a Scorpion repeat, but since CBS skews so much older, both shows only averaged an 0.4 in the key demo.

The most recent UFC on FOX show, which aired on April 18, with Luke Rockhold vs. Lyoto Machida as the main event, did 2.43 million viewers on the overnights.

It’s only been a couple of days since cut man Jacob “Stitch” Duran was let go by the UFC after 14 years with the company. Even given the nature of being let go, he said he’s definitely open to coming back, and he is talking more about how lucky he’s been overall than talking like he got a raw deal.

“Yeah, absolutely,” Duran said when asked if he was open to returning if he was asked, after being overwhelmed with support from fans, media, fighters, managers and sponsors over the past few days. “I’m the kind of guy, I’m not going to have hard feelings.  I think it was a knee jerk response. I don’t think the UFC realized they picked on the wrong guy. I bring more to the table than just wrapping hands and working on cuts. The fans, the fighters, the trainers, even people within the organization, and commissioners, have called me. They should understand I bring a lot more. If they called me tomorrow, I’d be more than willing to sit down.”

He noted that whatever stress Dana White may have gotten from the aftermath could be settled in a split second.

“If I was a doctor, my prescription would be two words, `I’m sorry.'”

Duran, one of the most enduring fixtures in the sport, is starting to take outside bookings, such as the Aug. 1 World Series of Fighting show in Las Vegas. He had worked one show for the promotion before, and quickly found out that UFC wasn’t happy he did so.

“He (Ray Sefo) called me for the first World Series of Fighting show, ” said Duran. “He asked me to help him out, me and Don House. The next thing, I get suspended for five fights from UFC for helping them out. One of their attorneys said that I gave them credibility. When Ray was one of the first guys who called me, out of respect, I told him, `I owe you this.'”

Duran said he wasn’t surprised when he got called by UFC after his comments in an article on Bloody Elbow where he noted how he was losing out on all his sponsorship money with the exclusive Reebok deal, but was not cut into the Reebok deal. It was something he had been aware for a long period of time was going to happen. He said he had asked more than once over the past year if somehow it could be rectified.

“It was pretty simple, about a year ago, we were notified that we’d be losing our sponsors, me in particular, me and four of the senior cut men,” said Duran. “We were the ones on the prime fights, and we’d be wearing Reebok gear. Throughout that year we tried to meet with UFC to see if there was any way we could be compensated and the answer was always `No.’ I did an interview the other day, the question was asked,  I answered it, and I guess the UFC didn’t like it. I got a call from  one of my friends, they’re all friends of mine in UFC, his voice was trembling a little and he said, `They don’t want you to work anymore UFC events because of the article you did on Reebok.'”

He said he wasn’t surprised a call came, but was stunned he was being let go over it.

“Was I shocked? Yeah,” he said. “When I got the call, I thought they might say, `You know what, we’re going through this Reebok deal and maybe you should tone down your comments.’ Worst case scenario, that’s what I expected. But to get told you’re not working anymore UFC events for that article, that blew me away.”

Part of what hurt him is not hearing from White directly. White and Duran go back well before UFC, when both were in the Las Vegas boxing community struggling to make a living and find their niche in combat sports. Duran noted that he wasn’t making much money at the time and then White hired him in 2001, shortly after he and the Fertittas purchased the UFC.

“That changed my life,” he said. “So if there’s anything that bothers me, it’s that Dana didn’t come forward and say, `We don’t have a place for you and goodbye.’ I could have respected that.”

There was irony of this coming barely a week after UFC 189, a high point in company history, particularly after the Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald welterweight title fight. He noted that in that fight, had their been an inexperienced cut man in Lawler’s corner, the fight probably would have ended early, and with MacDonald winning.

“Fans wouldn’t have had the chance to enjoy that fight and Robbie wouldn’t have had a chance to win, because I kept him in the game.”

Duran noted there are many fights over the years that with his ability to close up cuts in his minute between rounds, would have ended differently. He noted you can go back to what may have been the most important fight in company history with Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar, which went the distance. He also noted the first major Pride vs. UFC fight, Griffin’s win over Shogun Rua, as an example, where Griffin was bleeding badly early in the fight and came back to win.

In the past few days, he noted that one of his sponsors, Bad Boy, had contacted him while he was driving and he put the call on the speaker phone. They made an offer to market a vest like the ones he would wear in the UFC, and wanted to make a T-shirt and give him all the profits, as well as discount some of the Stitch Duran merchandise and give all the money to him.

“My wife had a tear in her eye,” he said.

He also noted someone marketing a T-shirt that reads “Bring Stitch Back” and cutting him in on it. He said the overall response from the MMA community has been overwhelming.

“I need to go somewhere by myself and think about it and cry, I’ve been so blessed,” he said.

UFC had two live shows and Bellator had one over the past week, and there were no great surprises in the ratings. Saturday’s UFC afternoon show did 508,000 viewers on average, Bellator’s Friday night show did 722,000 and UFC’s Wednesday night show did 801,000.

There was a lot of MMA on television this past week, with two UFC television events and a Bellator show heading the list. None of the three were major blockbuster shows, and the ratings reflected that.

Saturday’s UFC show, the company’s debut in Glasgow, Scotland, headlined by Michael Bisping’s decision win over Thales Leites, did 508,000 viewers for the main card that aired from 1 p.m. to 4:20 p.m. ET The peak quarter hour, the last two rounds of the main event, did 731,000 viewers.

The numbers were in line with the two previous afternoon events Fox Sports (FS) 1 has aired this year. The April 4 show with Chad Mendes vs. Ricardo Lamas did 389,000 viewers for the main card in a similar time slot. The May 16 airing of the Urijah Faber vs. Frankie Edgar-led show from the Philippines, which started at 10 a.m. Eastern time, did 575,000 viewers, which in hindsight shows how impressive that number and how big of a television fight that was.

The prelims on Saturday, starting at 11 a.m., did 292,000 viewers, down slightly from the prelims to Mendes vs. Lamas, that did 304,000 viewers, but ahead of the prelims at the Philippines, which started at 8 a.m., and did 246,000 viewers.

The UFC show was the most-watched show on FS 1 on Saturday, ahead of both major league baseball games that followed. It’s notable that FS 1’s prime time game on Saturday night did 444,000 viewers, which slightly more than half of what a normal Saturday night UFC Fight Night event would deliver.

On Friday night, Bellator’s nearly three hour night of welterweights show, headlined by Andrey Koreshkov winning the 170 pound title from Douglas Lima, averaged 722,000 viewers. That figure is slightly above what most of Bellator’s non-major events deliver on Friday nights.

The five-round main event averaged 890,000 viewers and peaked at 977,000 viewers.

The rare Wednesday night live event by UFC from San Diego, with Frank Mir’s quick knockout of Todd Duffee as the main event, did an average of 801,000 viewers for the 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. main card. The figure is a little below the 2015 prime time average for UFC (849,000 not including the Conor McGregor vs. Dennis Siver show which skews the average greatly). But this show being on a Wednesday, as opposed to Saturday, and with the late air time on a work night, that figure shouldn’t be taken as a negative.

Those at FS 1 were looking at least year’s show in the same time slot over the same week in July, a show with Donald Cerrone vs. Jim Miller, which did 640,000 viewers, as a direct comparison, so this was up 25 percent in total viewers and 36 percent in the 18-49 target demographic.

The show’s peak quarter hour was 928,000 viewers from 11:15 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., which would be the latter stages of the Manny Gamburyan vs. Scott Jorgensen fight. With it being a work night, it would make sense that the audience would fade after 11:30 p.m.

The prelims did 543,000 viewers, which would be the second-lowest for a prime time FS 1 Fight Night so far this year. But it was up from the 415,000 the similar show in the same time slot did last year.

All ratings are compiled by Neilsen.