When Mark Hunt came to the UFC in 2010, he was a leftover product from the UFC’s purchase of Pride Fighting Championships. Hunt had a 5-7 record, and the UFC actually tried to buy out his contract, as opposed to letting him fight in the Octagon. Now, n…
When Mark Hunt came to the UFC in 2010, he was a leftover product from the UFC’s purchase of Pride Fighting Championships. Hunt had a 5-7 record, and the UFC actually tried to buy out his contract, as opposed to letting him fight in the Octagon.
Now, not even three years later, Hunt has won four fights in a row and has a chance at UFC 160 in May to earn a shot at the UFC heavyweight title.
Following the conclusion of the UFC 158 pre-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White stuck around to speak to reporters. Hunt’s name has come up a lot since he signed on last week to face former champion Junior dos Santos in May.
White went on to call Hunt “one of the greatest stories in sports right now,” and his winning streak in the heavyweight division cannot be denied.
“I tell you what, it’s crazy to say, but if he knocks Junior dos Santos out, how’s this guy not next in line?” White said on Thursday.
The same offer will also be extended to Junior dos Santos should he get past Hunt at UFC 160, which would put him back in a heavyweight title fight after losing the belt to Cain Velasquez at UFC 155 to close out 2012.
“If he goes in there and destroys Mark Hunt, it makes sense for him to have the title shot again,” White said about dos Santos.
The UFC heavyweight title is up for grabs already at UFC 160, when champion Cain Velasquez looks to go two-for-two against Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva in the main event. Velasquez defeated Silva last year at UFC 146 by TKO, but the Brazilian then picked up big wins over Travis Browne and Alistair Overeem to earn a shot at the belt.
The bout between dos Santos and Hunt will serve as the co-main event on the same card, and now both competitors will have even more to fight for with a title shot awaiting the winner.
UFC 160: Velasquez vs. Bigfoot 2 tickets go on sale on Friday, March 22. The event takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report, and all quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
The UFC has signed a new long-term deal with motorcycle giants Harley-Davidson and will be bringing a pay-per-view to their hometown of Milwaukee in August. UFC President Dana White announced on Thursday that the promotion has inked a new contract with…
The UFC has signed a new long-term deal with motorcycle giants Harley-Davidson and will be bringing a pay-per-view to their hometown of Milwaukee in August.
UFC President Dana White announced on Thursday that the promotion has inked a new contract with Harley-Davidson, continuing a long-running partnership between the promotion and the most well known and recognized motorcycle company in the world.
“To celebrate Harley’s 110th anniversary over Labor Day weekend, UFC will be going to Harley’s hometown for the Hometown Throwdown 2013. We’ll be at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee in Saturday, August 31,” White stated at the UFC 158 pre-fight press conference.
UFC officials later confirmed to Bleacher Report that the event will serve as UFC 164, the company’s second pay-per-view offering in the month of August.
Earlier in the month, UFC 163 will go down with featherweight champion Jose Aldo defending his featherweight title against former WEC lightweight king Anthony Pettis.
The UFC’s trip to Milwaukee will be their second time in the Wisconsin city in the past few years. The first show was titled UFC on Versus 5 and featured a welterweight showdown between Chris Lytle and Dan Hardy.
The bout actually ended up being Lytle‘s last in the UFC before retirement. He won by submission in the 3rd round, finishing Hardy with a guillotine choke.
While no bouts or rumors exist as of yet for the pay-per-view card, the UFC will likely start to move in that direction in the coming weeks.
With the main events already locked up for all the major pay-per-view shows all the way through UFC 163 in early August, it probably won’t take long for the promotion to find a top ticket seller to lead the newly announced UFC 164 card in Milwaukee.
The last event held by the UFC at the Bradley Center, which was held on a Sunday, produced a live audience of 6,751 with a live gate of $539,000. The Bradley Center, when set up for events like wrestling, can hold upwards of 18,000 spectators and also serves as the home to the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks.
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained first hand unless otherwise noted.
UFC 158 is set to go off in a few days and will headline a fight between good and evil for the welterweight championship of the world. Canada’s own Georges St-Pierre represents the hero image, set to defend his belt for the eighth consecutive time, whi…
UFC 158 is set to go off in a few days and will headline a fight between good and evil for the welterweight championship of the world. Canada’s own Georges St-Pierre represents the hero image, set to defend his belt for the eighth consecutive time, while Nick Diaz has been the bad boy at the top of MMA for years, and will finally get his chance to take down the champion in his backyard in Montreal.
GSP and Diaz represent very different sides of the professional athlete spectrum, but they have been two of the very best fighters in the world over a span of the last decade. It was only a matter of time before these two forces met in the center of the Octagon.
Here is a career time line for both fighters leading into UFC 158.
If you think Nick Diaz does what he does only for attention and not just because its part of his innate Stockton charm, then consider a new interview on The Jim Rome Showfrom UFC President Dana White where he detailed what Diaz did out from under the bright lights and cameras. Remember UFC 137, where Diaz called out Georges St. Pierreafter pissing away his title shot against the champion and being forced to beat up his hero BJ Penn?
Turns out that Diaz’s best harassment of St. Pierre came outside of the Octagon.
“Nobody has talked about this, I haven’t said anything about it, but at one of the fights, the one where he really starts calling Georges out, he was chasing Georges around the hotel and like yelling at him,” White told Jim Rome.
“Georges thought he was going to try to fight him in the hotel. He was just waiting for the elevator doors to open and see Nick Diaz…he was really messing with Georges bad at the fight, like trying to fight him at the hotel. That really pissed Georges off.”
For all the wonderful, riotous moments he’s given us in the ring, Diaz’s most violent moments often seem to come outside of it and soon become the things of legend thereafter. What long-time fan of the sport can ever forget the accounts of Diaz starting a brawl with Joe Riggs in the hospital they were taken to after fighting one another at UFC 57?
(This guy, a bully? Fahgettaboudit.)
If you think Nick Diaz does what he does only for attention and not just because its part of his innate Stockton charm, then consider a new interview on The Jim Rome Showfrom UFC President Dana White where he detailed what Diaz did out from under the bright lights and cameras. Remember UFC 137, where Diaz called out Georges St. Pierreafter pissing away his title shot against the champion and being forced to beat up his hero BJ Penn?
Turns out that Diaz’s best harassment of St. Pierre came outside of the Octagon.
“Nobody has talked about this, I haven’t said anything about it, but at one of the fights, the one where he really starts calling Georges out, he was chasing Georges around the hotel and like yelling at him,” White told Jim Rome.
“Georges thought he was going to try to fight him in the hotel. He was just waiting for the elevator doors to open and see Nick Diaz…he was really messing with Georges bad at the fight, like trying to fight him at the hotel. That really pissed Georges off.”
For all the wonderful, riotous moments he’s given us in the ring, Diaz’s most violent moments often seem to come outside of it and soon become the things of legend thereafter. What long-time fan of the sport can ever forget the accounts of Diaz starting a brawl with Joe Riggs in the hospital they were taken to after fighting one another at UFC 57?
White also continued to push the “dark side of GSP” narrative with this story, saying that “When [St. Pierre] was younger he used to get bullied. That’s what got him into martial arts. He just has this crazy thing about bullies and he thinks Nick Diaz is a bully.”
White went on to say that, when he spoke with the champion last week, GSP told him, “‘Dana, you have no idea what I’m going to do to this kid, I wanna make him retire.’”
We rarely recommend that anyone listen to Jim Rome, but to check out all of White’s fascinating interview with him, click here.
…And oh yeah, there were indeed scheduled open workouts in advance of UFC 158 today. Georges St. Pierre showed up for his, Nick Diaz did not.
Johny Hendricks, however, was ecstatic, we assume. $200 says Hendricks is going to try and lure Nick into a room full of primo bud and lock him in there tomorrow so that Diaz misses the press conference and Johny gets to replace him against St. Pierre.
(“We will open the bidding for a UFC 149 pay-per-view purchase at $49.95. Do I hear $49.95? What if I said I’d thrown in this *authentic* jersey, completely free of charge? $49.95…anyone? OK, how about ten bucks?”)
Recently, after reading 12OzCurl’s article (well, just the opening paragraph) I came to a realization that the only reason why I’m here is because I’m Asian and Benny figures that must mean I’m good with numbers. So break out your abacuses…this shit is about to get real.
Today’s class? Variable pricing and whether or not this system should be adopted by the UFC in regards to the pricing of pay-per-view events. I’ll wait for everyone to decide whether or not to skip this article and go straight to the “Hot Potato” links.
Still with me? Probably not. But anyways, here we go.
For those that don’t know, Variable Pricing (or Dynamic Pricing as it is called) has been the main pricing strategies for airlines and hotels on how they price their own inventory. Recently, the San Francisco Giants adopted this form of pricing in order to better optimize ticket sales for their events. The strategy is similar to that used by the hotel and airline industry where prices go up and down depending on current market conditions and historical trends. Did it work? Hell yeah it did. By using sell-out history from past games based on opponents, starting pitchers, weather, day of the week, evening versus afternoon, and of course, current supply, the Giants were able to significantly increase their ticket sales revenue to such a degree that other franchises are looking to adopt similar methods to pricing their games.
(“We will open the bidding for a UFC 149 pay-per-view purchase at $49.95. Do I hear $49.95? What if I said I’d thrown in this *authentic* jersey, completely free of charge? $49.95…anyone? OK, how about ten bucks?”)
Recently, after reading 12OzCurl’s article (well, just the opening paragraph) I came to a realization that the only reason why I’m here is because I’m Asian and Benny figures that must mean I’m good with numbers. So break out your abacuses…this shit is about to get real.
Today’s class? Variable pricing and whether or not this system should be adopted by the UFC in regards to the pricing of pay-per-view events. I’ll wait for everyone to decide whether or not to skip this article and go straight to the “Hot Potato” links.
Still with me? Probably not. But anyways, here we go.
For those that don’t know, Variable Pricing (or Dynamic Pricing as it is called) has been the main pricing strategies for airlines and hotels on how they price their own inventory. Recently, the San Francisco Giants adopted this form of pricing in order to better optimize ticket sales for their events. The strategy is similar to that used by the hotel and airline industry where prices go up and down depending on current market conditions and historical trends. Did it work? Hell yeah it did. By using sell-out history from past games based on opponents, starting pitchers, weather, day of the week, evening versus afternoon, and of course, current supply, the Giants were able to significantly increase their ticket sales revenue to such a degree that other franchises are looking to adopt similar methods to pricing their games.
For the actual pricing of live events, this really doesn’t make any sense. The UFC really isn’t in the same spot on a regular basis for this type of pricing to make sense. Any city the UFC visits, it is considered a major event and will most likely sell out regardless of any other variables that may come into play. Since live events are constantly moving from one city to another, there is no localized sample of potential buyers to track buying trends in order to utilize a dynamic pricing strategy. However, this could be applied to pay-per-view pricing for events.
Before I go any further, here’s some numbers calculated from 2008-2012 that you may find interesting.
Average PPV Buy Rate = 526,470
Average PPV with Title Fight = 605,114 (+15% over average)
Average PPV with Non-Title Fight = 385,000 (-27% over average)
Average PPV Buy-Rate Featuring TUF Coaches = 940,000 (+79% over average)
Average PPV Buy Rate with Main Event Cards Affected by Injuries = 405,357 (-23% over average)
Average PPV Buy Rate Featuring Heavyweight Bout in Main/Co-Main Event = 748,182 (+42% over average)
(*List compiled based on fighters with a minimum of 4 or more appearances in the main or co-main event)
Whether you blame the injury curse of 2012 or the influx of UFC events over the course of the year, last year has seen a tremendous a decrease in pay-per-view buys. Since 2008, the UFC saw a steady increase in buys up to 2010 before dropping 27% in 2011. The following year, there was an additional 27% percent from 2011-2012. Overall, since 2008, where the total pay-per-view buys that year was over 9 million, the UFC has seen a 42% decrease in buys over the past 2 years.
Could there be an issue with supply and demand? Absolutely. In both 2008 and 2009 fans saw a total of 20 events (both free and pay-per-view) and 2010 had 24. In all three years, the ratio of PPV vs. free events was roughly 3:2. Flash forward to 2012, and you’ll see a total of 32 to events and the ratio of PPV to Free events shift to roughly a 2:3 ratio. Last year we saw a total of 18 free events compared to 14 pay-per-view events (it would have been 15 if it wasn’t for you know who not wanting to fight you know who and pissing off you know who…oh, how that seems like ancient history now). Still, the number of pay-per-view events last year was less than the number of free events. Why bother paying for an event, when there are plenty of other events being featured on free TV? Add in Bellator on Spike and the World Series of Fighting on NBC Sports and now the UFC has even more competition to deal with. You could also argue that the new deal with Fox may have resulted in the UFC cannibalizing themselves with all the events on Fox, FX, and FuelTV.
One thing the UFC has done right is airing international events on free TV and not on PPV. The numbers show that events not held in the North American continent are more likely to be 44% lower than the 5 year average. Those “marquee” events in Brazil, Japan, and Abu Dhabi? They also netted numbers below the PPV average.
There are a few things to note here (or “limitations” as we in the scholarly world like to say). All of these numbers are provided by the UFC and are rough estimates as opposed to actual numbers. That said, it’s safe to assume that these numbers, while just estimates, provide a good baseline for this study.
Could dynamic pricing work for PPV events? Possibly. Of course, there is the logistic nightmare of having to reprice events based on injuries that may occur leading up to the date. There’s also the perception that the UFC may be “cheapening” their image by pricing certain events lower than others. How this may affect certain fighter contracts that receive a percentage of the PPV buys is also something to take into consideration.
All things considered, should PPV events featuring non-title fights be priced the same as those that do feature a title fight? After all, in such cases where a title is on the line, more is at stake and could be considered a higher value compared to those where a title is not. Should Mir vs. Cro Cop be priced the same as Lesnar vs. Velasquez? Should the heavyweight main-event fights be priced higher than the lighter weight divisions? If Penn vs. Diaz was priced lower, would they have netted a buy-rate closer to the average? Would main-events featuring Frankie Edgar be better off priced at a discount rate compared to other events (you’re still my boy, Frank)? How will the new Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2 affect the current rate of free vs. PPV events for the UFC?
At the end of the day, the ultimate question will be what will the consumer be willing to pay for what event? In other words, would you be willing to pay more than $44.95 for GSP vs. Diaz this weekend? How much will you pay for UFC 161?
Even at the age of 51, Herschel Walker still has the competitive fire that once led him to greatness.On Tuesday afternoon, the football legend stated on The LaVar Arrington Show with Chad Dukes (via MMAfighting.com) that he would like to step back into…
Even at the age of 51, Herschel Walker still has the competitive fire that once led him to greatness.
On Tuesday afternoon, the football legend stated on The LaVarArrington Show with Chad Dukes (via MMAfighting.com) that he would like to step back into the cage one final time before calling it a career.
“I would love to do it again,” he said. “I absolutely love MMA. I think it’s an excellent sport.”
Walker wasn’t simply displaying his adoration for a sport where he holds a 2-0 record as a professional.
If I was younger, I would be doing it right now. Because I’m a little bit older and I have a business going, I would like to do one more fight and then, I think, it’s time for me step aside and give it to the young people. But I would love to do one more fight.
When asked by the host about where he would like to fight, the Hall of Famer was quick to identify the UFC as the only option.
Debuting in January 2010, Walker would fight twice under the Strikeforce banner. In both fights, the Heisman trophy winner had his arm raised after securing a TKO victory.
However, before we start fantasy matchmaking for Walker, it’s important to note that UFC president Dana White has been very vocal about his thoughts on Walker competing in MMA.
People think we’re anti-competition? We’re anti-dumb competition. Doing stupid things like this, putting a 50-year-old guy in the Octagon for the first time, and then going out there putting out press releases like it’s a big deal because you signed a 50-year-old Herschel Walker? Are you serious?
After seeing Herschel’s debut, Dana White stated in an interview that if the former running back competed in the Octagon, he would be the first death in MMA.
Dana White has shown on several occasions that he can be swayed by popular demand. Ultimate, the question must be asked: Do you want to see Herschel Walker fight inside the Octagon?
When Mark Hunt came to the UFC in 2010, he was a leftover product from the UFC’s purchase of Pride Fighting Championships. Hunt had a 5-7 record, and the UFC actually tried to buy out his contract, as opposed to letting him fight in the Octagon.
