BJ Penn. That’s been the lone draw for the lower weight classes of the UFC. Now, with the addition of the Flyweight division the UFC has one more weight class to figure out how to market.
Outside of UFC 129, the Toronto stadium show featuring GSP vs. Jake Shields, Jose Aldo vs. Mark Hominick and Randy Couture vs. Lyoto Machida, no pay-per-view featuring a lighter weight championship has produced more than 375,000 buys since BJ fell out of the 155 title picture.
The average of those pay-per-views has been 291,000 buys. When the UFC gave the fans a UFC Bantamweight Championship fight for free on Versus it failed to crack the one million viewer mark. However, the fact that it was aired on Versus plays in to that statistic.
For whatever reason these weight classes have yet to capture the attention of the casual fan. Leaving the UFC with mediocre ratings and buys for their shows headlined by some of the most technically sound and exciting fighters in the game.
What can the UFC do to market these exciting fighters and their respective weight classes to increase their value? Here are five ways I think they can tackle the problem.