Jose Aldo is undeniably one of the greatest fighters on the planet.While approaching his superfight with Frankie Edgar at UFC 156 this Saturday night, Aldo sports a 21-1 MMA record and five straight featherweight title defenses.But this is a superfight…
Jose Aldo is undeniably one of the greatest fighters on the planet.
While approaching his superfight with Frankie Edgar at UFC 156 this Saturday night, Aldo sports a 21-1 MMA record and five straight featherweight title defenses.
But this is a superfight, folks. And even with a resume as strong as Aldo’s, he has reason to worry.
Edgar is no joke. He was an undersized champion at lightweight, and he hasn’t been dominated since he suffered the first loss of his MMA career against Gray Maynard in 2008.
So what does Edgar offer that will keep Aldo up late at night? What questions do fans have for Aldo as he preps to defend his title for a sixth time?
The word superfight is a fun word that promoters love to toss around.For inconsistent observers of the UFC and the sport of MMA in general, know this—UFC 156 presents a true superfight in Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar. Simply put—that’s…
The word superfight is a fun word that promoters love to toss around.
For inconsistent observers of the UFC and the sport of MMA in general, know this—UFC 156 presents a true superfight in Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar.
Simply put—that’s the cream of the crop right there. Both fighters are deserving of a top 10 pound–for-pound ranking, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg for the UFC’s pay-per-view this Saturday.
Here is a more in-depth look at every main card fight at UFC 156. Furthermore, here are five things casual fans should be aware of.
Donald “The Cowboy” Cerrone’s violent career in the UFC and the WEC is one of brilliant flash.He’s considered to be one of the most exciting fighters in the lightweight division because of his Muay Thai style and brass, balls-to-the-wall mentality out …
Donald “The Cowboy” Cerrone’s violent career in the UFC and the WEC is one of brilliant flash.
He’s considered to be one of the most exciting fighters in the lightweight division because of his Muay Thai style and brass, balls-to-the-wall mentality out of the cage.
With piston right hands and flexible, swerving hips, Cerrone has created memorable moments with his striking under the Zuffa brand. The same can be said about his opponent Anthony Pettis, as both highly touted strikers will engage this Saturday on UFC on Fox 6.
So before these two WEC veterans and top UFC lightweight contenders square off on network television, let’s go back and take a quick look at Cerrone’s brightest moments.
From dominant victories against Jeremy Stephens, Charles Oliveira and Dennis Siver in the UFC to his emotional encounters with the likes of Jamie Varner in the WEC, Cerrone has had quite the storied MMA career. But what are his greatest moments in the WEC and UFC?
No matter how big or how small the fighters are, title fights draw in combat sports.With what seems to be a successful new formula exemplified by the UFC, the company now advertises its free cards on FOX with one word—championship.This four-sylla…
No matter how big or how small the fighters are, title fights draw in combat sports.
With what seems to be a successful new formula exemplified by the UFC, the company now advertises its free cards on FOX with one word—championship.
This four-syllable word transcends to any fight fan. When two fighters fight for a championship belt, that normally means that they are the two best in the world at that weight class. Common sense, right?
That generates interest for fans who have no idea who they may be watching. It’s much easier to skip over a random fight rather than a title fight, while flipping through the channels on a lonesome Saturday night. That’s almost guaranteed if that person happens to be a male drinking his favorite brew.
Nonetheless, using championship fights is a great marketing tool for the UFC. Heck, it certainly helped the UFC on FOX 5’s ratings, as Benson Henderson vs. Nate Diaz peaked at 5.7 million viewers.
So can the UFC continue its momentum going into this UFC on FOX 6 card this Saturday night? Well, with a championship plastered on the marquee for UFC on FOX 6, odds are that it will.
What? Not convinced because it’s a flyweight title fight?
Look at the card as a whole. This is easily a pay-per view caliber card, but it’s also a card that was created out of strategy. It’s a strategy that’s sure to gain great viewership and maybe even blow all of the other UFC on FOX ratings out of the water.
First, let’s start with the main event as we dissect this bad boy.
Demetrious Johnson vs. John Dodson
Here we are again with the word “championship.”
If you’ll notice on most of the UFC on FOX promos airing during network programming, analysts tend to refrain from saying flyweight championship. Also, commercials seem to just put championship fight in large bold letters rather than flyweight championship bout.
No coincidence here. That’s because the general public doesn’t care about two 125-pound fighters going at it. Little do they know, the lighter weight classes tend to be more exciting. But they wouldn’t know, because they lack the knowledge possessed by hardcore fans like you and me.
So the UFC and FOX used this tactic to create a buzz around the event. This catches the eye of casual fans, as well as garnering the attention of the hardcore ones. Step one: complete.
Anthony Pettis vs. Donald Cerrone
The casual fans are intrigued by the main event because of, well, you should know by now. But UFC matchmaker Joe Silva needed to come up with a fight that would make this fight card irresistible to those who love the sport of MMA.
He did just that with Anthony Pettis vs. Donald Cerrone. Can you say Fight of the Year candidate?
If you call yourself a fight fan and your adrenaline isn’t rushing through your body at the thought of seeing these two great strikers throw down, well, you must be going through some sort of midlife crisis.
Pettis and Cerrone are two guys that love to stand in the middle of the cage/Octagon and put on a show for fans. This should be a crowd-pleaser that die-hard fans will drool over.
Rampage Jackson vs. Glover Texeira
Finally, the UFC capped off its brilliant card with one of the biggest names in MMA history, Rampage Jackson.
Once the title fight sparks a sense of awareness for casual viewers, they will most likely look up the fight card to see who else is fighting.
Seeing Jackson on the card should elevate their interest. And as for the hardcore fans, you can’t miss Jackson’s swan song (most likely) in the UFC.
Plus, Silva matched him up with a hungry, future contender in Glover Teixeira. Is there any more bite left in Rampage? Or will Teixeira steamroll him like he demolished Kyle Kingsbury? Is this card considered can’t-miss by everyone yet?
Final Assessment
When it comes to predicting ratings for UFC on FOX 6, it’s easily justifiable to believe the UFC will trample previous UFC on FOX ratings.
It’s even easier to predict the UFC continuing its momentum from its 4.4 rating from UFC on FOX 5.
Gather ’round, boys and girls. With cowboys, mighty mouses and magicians taking center stage on FOX this Saturday night at 8 p.m. ET, you can bet your bottom dollar it’ll be “Showtime.”
The UFC finally has the right model for free fight cards: Give the fans what they want.It’s about time too. For years, the UFC gave fans a few exciting fights on television, but hardly any title fights were ever shown and a lot of the top stars were al…
The UFC finally has the right model for free fight cards: Give the fans what they want.
It’s about time too. For years, the UFC gave fans a few exciting fights on television, but hardly any title fights were ever shown and a lot of the top stars were always reserved for pay-per-view.
That’s understandable because PPV buys are the driving force behind the company. But fans always called for big free events, and when the FOX deal was made, everyone suddenly became more optimistic than they had ever been.
For the new fans out there, frustration toward having to pay for every good event can not only weigh heavily on your wallet, but it can be somewhat demoralizing to give so much and receive so little.
When the UFC still aired on Spike, the company could get away with putting together mediocre cards, and though some fans would bicker, the UFC would basically get off scott-free for doing it.
Seriously, there was a card headlined by Stephan Bonnar vs. Igor Pokrajac, with a Demian Maia vs. Kendall Grove co-main event. Yeah, it was that bad at times.
But when the UFC first made the switch to FOX, the company gave fans a title fight on free television. Though the UFC rarely puts title fights on television, the title fight between Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez on Nov. 12, 2011 came one month after Dominick Cruz defeated Demetrious Johnson to reclaim his bantamweight championship on Versus.
How fitting is it that Johnson will defend his flyweight championship against John Dodson in about a week’s time on free television?
But don’t think for a second that this was commonplace. Oh no, before Cruz fought Johnson, the last UFC championship fight to take place for free was Rampage Jackson and Dan Henderson’s title fight to unify the light heavyweight championship. That scrap went down in 2007.
But this new deal on FOX was going to shake things up. The UFC kicked off the FOX deal with the heavyweight championship, and the event saw dos Santos knock Velasquez out to become the new heavyweight champion.
It seems like decades ago that Velasquez mauled dos Santos at UFC 155. Nonetheless, the UFC put a huge title fight on television for the fans, and excitement was created for the sport. The first event’s ratings did a whopping 5.7 million viewers.
After that card, the UFC decided to coast. It started creating somewhat similar cards to the Spike cards. Sure, these fights had a larger collection of bigger names on them, but there were no title fights to be found and the enthusiasm that was generated for UFC on FOX 2 and UFC on FOX 3 failed to compare to the first event.
The ratings reflected it. The UFC on FOX 2 card (headlined by Phil Davis vs. Rashad Evans) dropped to 4.7 million viewers, while the UFC on FOX 3 card (headlined by Nate Diaz vs. Jim Miller) drew just 2.4 million viewers.
Whether it was because of the ratings or another reason altogether, that model of title-less fights has since changed. Just look at the UFC on FOX 6 card that’s set to take place on Jan. 26. The UFC gave fans exactly what they wanted with a title fight, a thrilling stylistic matchup and a promising standup battle.
Heck, this was the same model exemplified for the UFC on FOX 5 fight card, and the event drew 4.4 million viewers, which is up from the UFC on FOX 4 fight card’s 2.4.
Which main event do you think would draw more—Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Brandon Vera or Besnon Henderson vs. Nate Diaz for the lightweight championship? Henderson defended his championship against Diaz in the main event of UFC on FOX 5, and that fight alone peaked around six million viewers.
So a fight card that has Anthony Pettis vs. Donald Cerrone, Jackson vs. Glover Teixeira and Johnson vs. Dodson all on it is sure to draw strong ratings, right?
It seems the UFC thinks so, because for the UFC on FOX 7 fight card, Henderson is set to defend his title once again on free television against Gilbert Melendez. Ah, title fights, a winning recipe indeed.
Fans and media alike overreacted when the UFC on FOX ratings were plummeting and failing to reach over 3 million viewers. “The sport is a fad,” critics would cry.
No, this sport isn’t a fad. Instead, it’s a sport filled with die-hard fans that want title fights on free television. No matter who you are, the word “championship” in any language draws interest, and both casual and hardcore fans will surely tune in.
All fans want title fights on free television, and after going through a few bruising UFC on FOX fight cards, the UFC is finally giving fans what they want. Expect ratings to continue to climb as a result.
Rory MacDonald and Carlos Condit will fight again at UFC 158, and MacDonald has more than deserved the opportunity to face Condit again.It was nearly three years ago when a rising superstar lived up to his billing. MacDonald, a 21-year-old Mixed Martia…
Rory MacDonald and Carlos Condit will fight again at UFC 158, and MacDonald has more than deserved the opportunity to face Condit again.
It was nearly three years ago when a rising superstar lived up to his billing. MacDonald, a 21-year-old Mixed Martial Arts prodigy, stepped in the Octagon to face the always dangerous Carlos Condit. MacDonald dominated.
The first two rounds were all MacDonald, as he got the better of the striking and grappling. But Condit turned the tide in the third round. As Condit dug deep and put the pressure on MacDonald, he stopped him with merely seven seconds to go in the fight.
The call was controversial, but MacDonald lived to fight another day. And fight another day MacDonald did. Since then, the now 23-year-old contender won four straight fights, including impressive wins against B.J. Penn and Nate Diaz.
So MacDonald deserves this rematch, but what other UFC fighters deserve a chance at redemption? Which fighters deserve an opportunity to erase an unconvincing loss from their record?
No matter how big or how small the fighters are, title fights draw in combat sports.