With tonight’s UFC Fight Night: Shields vs. Ellenberger event going tonight in New Orleans, one might begin to wonder if the event got lost in the shuffle after last weeks UFC 137 fiasco and the signing of heavyweight Alistair Overeem to the promotion.
Over at BloodyElbow.com, writer Matthew Roth poised the question “Does the UFC Even Care About Ultimate Fight Night 25?”, which got me thinking about tonight’s show.
Roth surmises that despite the UFC’s early efforts to promote the event (anyone remember the Bud Light commercials featuring Jon Jones and UFC Pres Dana White?) that they’ve given up trying to compete with the return of boxer Floyd Mayweather tonight. He points out that several of the top media personalities are skipping tonight’s UFN 25 show in favor of Mayweather’s fight, as an example of the level of disinterest the New Orleans’ show has generated.
There is no fault in Roth’s thinking, that yes Zuffa has given up trying to promote the show, despite having a former No. 1 contender in Jake Shields fighting on the main event.
What I’d like to add to his article is the thought that the UFC hasn’t given up so much on the event itself, it’s just that it’s given up on Spike.
Spike TV is set to broadcast the main event for UFN 25, which represents one of the few remaining live UFC shows left on their contract with the top mma promotion.
With the UFC signing a broadcast deal with FOX, UFC President Dana White has already shown how he treats something he has no use for.
Last weekends Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov event was probably one of the most exciting cards put on by Strikeforce all year, but received little to no hype. The only real advertisements were done by Showtime and did little to attract viewers as the event drew some of the lowest numbers when compared to previous shows.
Strikeforce light heavyweight Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal commented at the pre-fight press conference that the promotion was like a dying cancer patient which everyone was waiting on to draw it’s last breath.
The power of White and Zuffa’s propaganda machine are huge, but when the UFC Pres get’s it in his head that something is no longer useful, you may as well start digging the grave now.