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UFC on FOX: Brock Lesnar Could Draw in 10 Million or More Viewers

UFC 141 will mark the return of the biggest star in MMA when former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar steps back into the cage after a 14-month layoff due to complications with the intestinal disease diverticulitis. The heavyweight juggernaut will go head-to-head with former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem in the main event on Dec. 30 in Las Vegas.

The long-awaited collision between these mammoths will be the second time that two consensus top-five heavyweights will headline a UFC event in the final two months of 2011, the first being the UFC on FOX main event between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos earlier this month.

Initial estimates for the ratings of the inaugural UFC on FOX event saw the event checking in with a disappointing 4.6 million viewers. This number was later updated to over 5.5 millions and finally stuck at an impressive 8.8 million fans who tuned in to see the heavyweight main event.

UFC president Dana White heard from critics who disliked the concept of the first show only having one fight, but responded by informing fans that there would be a full fight card for the second UFC on FOX event.

“I don’t think you’re going to see a title fight, but I don’t think you’re going to be disappointed in what you’re going to see,” White told Heavy. “We’re giving you some good fights.”

Being that Lesnar is already booked to fight only about a month before UFC on FOX 2, it seems highly unlikely that the former champion will headline the next event on network television.

However, there will obviously be future UFC on FOX events and while Lesnar is unquestionably the company’s biggest pay-per-view draw, the reality is that his popularity may actually fit the company best when it comes to attracting new fans in the form of a future main event fight on FOX.

The former WWE superstar has overtaken everyone in the sport as the most recognizable face in mixed martial arts history. His brick-like physique and entertaining skills on the microphone are a perfect mixture to stir up controversy. But whether you love him or hate him, there is no doubt that everyone who has heard of him has an opinion on Lesnar.

Velasquez and Dos Santos did a great job of carrying the flag of the UFC into the mainstream with their fight on Nov. 12, but the truth is that neither of them have quite broken into the mainstream yet. They are both growing in popularity, but certainly neither has become a household name like Lesnar.

Lesnar’s incredible popularity and ability to reach the masses is something that the UFC could make great use of on FOX. As the promotion attempts to pull in more of the casual audience and entice them to become long-term fans of the sport, they will eventually need to promote an already-established superstar in the main event.

Who would fit that bill better than Lesnar?

It seems unlikely that the UFC will make use of free television to promote too many championship fights from here on out, but it would make for a perfect place to promote large non-title fights such as a rematch between Lesnar and Velasquez or a third fight between Lesnar and Frank Mir.

If the UFC was happy with the 8.8 million fans who tuned in for the first event on FOX, they would be ecstatic to see the ratings skyrocket as well over the 10 million fans tune in to watch the biggest star in mixed martial arts.

With Lesnar being the biggest pay-per-view draw for the UFC, they may opt to avoid putting him on free television. However if the company takes a chance, the short-term loss in pay-per-view revenue could be greatly outweighed by the long-term gain in fans that could come from putting Lesnar on network television.

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UFC 139 Results: Shogun Wants “Revenge” in a Rematch vs. Dan Henderson

The UFC 139 main-event fight between Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Dan Henderson resulted in what’s being referred to by many as one of the greatest fights in the history of mixed martial arts. This dream matchup featuring the two Pride legends…

Shogun Rua ended up losing a very tight decision to Henderson as all three judges scored the bout 48-47, giving the first three rounds to Henderson and the final two to Rua.

A disgruntled Rua spoke out about the controversial decision following the event.

“It certainly was a great fight. I don’t know how the judges made the scoring of the last round, but it could or should have been 10-8 for me,” he told UOL Esporte. “But it does not take anything away from Dan Henderson. He is a legend and he is of those guys who created a legacy, but I want revenge. I think this would be another great battle and the public wants to see it…Even Dana White admitted he would have scored it a draw.”

(credit to MMA Mania for the translation)

The former UFC champion has been jobbed by the officials before as most believe he should have won his first fight with Lyoto Machida. He would later go on to crush Machida in a rematch, handing “The Dragon” the first loss of his career by way of knockout.

It’s unlikely that the UFC will immediately book a rematch like they did for Shogun-Machida, but a second Shogun-Henderson fight is certainly one that fans would love to see at some point.

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UFC 139 Results: Ryan Bader on New Coaches, Training and His Entrance Song

2011 has not been the year of Ryan Bader, but Saturday night’s victory over Jason Brilz at UFC 139 should be a great boost in his confidence as he heads into 2012. “I finally found the right way to train and the right people,” Bader t…

2011 has not been the year of Ryan Bader, but Saturday night’s victory over Jason Brilz at UFC 139 should be a great boost in his confidence as he heads into 2012.

“I finally found the right way to train and the right people,” Bader told MMA Heat’s Karyn Bryant Saturday night after his victory.

A former The Ultimate Fighter winner, Bader struggled to get into the win column this year after an amazing start to his career that saw him at 12-0 heading into 2011. Back-to-back losses to current and former UFC light heavyweight champions Jon Jones and Tito Ortiz saw him drop to 12-2 heading into 139.

He knew that something had to change if he hoped to continue to climb the ladder in the UFC and even possibly if he hoped to stay employed by the world’s largest MMA organization.

“Coming in with two losses, I haven’t won this year, and you don’t want a third loss anytime,” Bader admitted regarding his feelings heading into his fight with Brilz on Saturday night. “There’s a lot of pressure to win. I really had to kind of put it in the back of my head and say that, ‘You keep that pressure knowing that you have to go out there and fight hard, but you don’t let it get to you. You don’t let it let you fight differently.’ “

Bader fought through the pressure and earned a first-round knockout victory over Jason Brilz, utilizing his powerful punching to catch his opponent and finish him early.

“A lot of guys go out there and fight not to lose and that changes everything up. You don’t fight like you normally do. So I went out there and try to do every time and knock him out, and it ended up happening. So I’m confident in that.”

Bader made quite a few changes to his training for this fight, but it may have been an unexpected one that gave him the confidence to get back into the win column. He started using his old theme song again, a remix of the original “Darth Vader” Star Wars song.

“I found [the song] on the internet. It’s the Rage Against the Machine of it and I was like, ‘I’ve gotta’ roll with this,” he told Bryant.

He didn’t get to use the song in his last couple of fights against Ortiz and Jones, and he joked that the lack of his usual entrance song may have played a part in the outcomes, both losses.

Maybe it’s his theme song or maybe it’s that his skills have been refined. Whatever it is, Ryan Bader appears to have his confidence back, and that’s a very, very dangerous thing for the light heavyweight division.

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UFC 139 Results: Miguel Torres Is Now a Top 5 Bantamweight

It has been a topsy-turvy past few years for former WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres, but his victory over Nick Pace last night at UFC 139 may have finally put his career back on track. It was only just over two years ago when Torres was once …

It has been a topsy-turvy past few years for former WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres, but his victory over Nick Pace last night at UFC 139 may have finally put his career back on track.

It was only just over two years ago when Torres was once considered not only the unquestioned best 135-pound fighter in the world, but was also a consensus top five pound-for-pound fighter.

Torres rode an unbelievable, Fedor Emelianenko-like 17-fight winning streak into his Aug. 2009 battle against Brian Bowles at WEC 42. But it was on that night that the his historic run came to an end.

One punch from Bowles sent Torres tumbling back into reality as he was knocked out by the challenger in one of the most shocking losses of the year.

Torres would go on to lose his next fight to Joseph Benavidez, submitting to a guillotine choke at WEC 47. The tumble down the rankings had officially begun.

Though he got back in the win column in back-to-back fights against Charlie Valencia and Antonio Banuelos in his UFC debut, the level of competition was just not as good as what he had been competing against in his losses. But even worse, he did not look like the dominant former champion that we remembered from years past.

But last night at UFC 139, the real Miguel Torres was back. He showed some of the precision on the feet and incredible jiu-jitsu that helped make him one of the best in the world. Not only that, but he did it against an opponent who essentially opted not to cut weight and weighed in six pounds over the 135-pound limit.

He still has a fight or two to go before he can realistically be considered for a shot at the UFC bantamweight title, but a top-five ranking is well within reason.

The crazy thing about Miguel Torres is that despite competing in his 43rd professional MMA fight last night, the best may still be best to come. Just 30-years-old, he is still learning and improving his game every day.

If he is able to regain the confidence he once had, Dominick Cruz may have something to worry about at 135.

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Georges St-Pierre and the 8 Best Role Models in MMA Today

It’s not easy to be a role model in a sport where your primary job is to take advantage of the weaknesses of your opponent, sometimes including beating him or her to a bloody pulp. This type of violence is generally viewed negatively by the main …

However there are competitors and ambassadors for the sport who have broken the perceived mold of being beer-chugging thugs who have anger problems. It’s not an easy thing to do, but these people have taken it upon themselves to not only place themselves on a level of physical superiority, but also conduct themselves in a way that would attract positive attention to the sport.

Sure, there will always be the Nick Diaz’s and Brock Lesnar’s of the world who sometimes make questionable decisions outside the cage, so these MMA role models will have to continue to do their job while hoping that their actions rub off on others if they hope to change the way that MMA is perceived in the mainstream media.

With so much emphasis always being placed on the negatives in sports and the world in general, I thought it would nice to take a look at the good guys of MMA. So in this slideshow, we’ll examine eight MMA role models who should be viewed as examples of how both physical and mental preparedness come together to create some of the best athletes and all of professional sports.

Begin Slideshow

Rich Franklin Discusses Injury, Return Date, Possible Fight with Tito Ortiz

The life of an MMA fighter is always difficult, but it’s particularly tough when a fighter has to deal with the kind of adversity that the UFC’s Rich Franklin has had to deal with throughout his career. Injuries have slowed the former schoo…

Injuries have slowed the former school teacher turned fighter in recent years, with a torn labrum being the most recent in a string of setbacks.

A former UFC middleweight champion, Franklin had it all for about a three-year window of time when he went undefeated in the Octagon as the top 185-pound fighter in the world.

Unfortunately, that success has not been quite as common in recent years, as he has struggled to stay active due to various minor injuries, as well as a move up to 205 pounds. This most recent injury has taken a toll on the former champ, but he is determined to get back in the cage as soon as possible.

“I’m healing like Wolverine,” he bragged to Inside MMA earlier this week. “Five weeks [after surgery], I’m doing really well. I won’t be able to run until January, so I’m looking at about a June [2012] return.”

Franklin was recently set to fight Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 133, but Nogueira himself had to drop out of the contest due to a shoulder injury of his own.

Unable to find a suitable replacement for Franklin on such a short notice, Franklin was in turn dropped from the card as well. It was after this that “Ace” sustained his shoulder injury.

“I went into the gym last week and started doing some no-handed drills for jiu-jitsu. Movement drills off my back and stuff like that,” he continued. “I’m itching to get back in the gym, but June should be a realistic time for me.”

With his expectations of being back in June, grumblings regarding for his return fight opponent have begun. Though there is nothing official set, Franklin does have someone in mind.

“I was actually approached by the UFC a couple days after I was injured,” he continued. “They were talking about Tito [Ortiz] and I fighting. I told them, listen, ‘I’m going to have to get an MRI on my shoulder. If it’s non-surgical, then I’ll take the fight. If it is, we’ll have to look at other alternatives.’ “

“That was an appealing fight to me, so we’ll see where things are sitting, come June.”

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