Tag: Dana White

Ratings Report: Ultimate Fighter Picture of Consistency, Bellator Down Slightly

Consistency has been the key for the Ultimate Fighter in terms of ratings for season 17, while Bellator’s ebb and flow continues as their transition to Spike TV builds to what they hope are much greater heights in 2013. Ultimate Fighter Season 17 Pictu…

Consistency has been the key for the Ultimate Fighter in terms of ratings for season 17, while Bellator‘s ebb and flow continues as their transition to Spike TV builds to what they hope are much greater heights in 2013.

Ultimate Fighter Season 17 Picture of Consistency

When the Ultimate Fighter moved to Tuesday nights for this latest season, everyone knew that the ratings for the long running reality show were all but a sure thing to improve after being placed on what is a traditionally very tough Friday night time slot.

So far all the predictions have been correct, and while season 17 hasn’t been breaking all time records, the show has returned to its old form in terms of consistency.

Episode 7 of the Ultimate Fighter that aired last Thursday pulled in an average of 1.259 million viewers according to a report from the Nielsen TV ratings with a .7 ratings share in the coveted 18-49 demographic.

Those numbers are an indication that the Ultimate Fighter seems to have found its groove for the latest season featuring coaches Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen, along with a new night and time slot ahead of the FX hit show Justified, which airs directly after TUF 17.

Here are the ratings for the Ultimate Fighter so far to this point in the season:

Episode 1: 1.51 million average

Episode 2: 1.30 million average

Episode 3: 1.20 million average

Episode 4: 1.25 million average

Episode 5: 1.13 million average

Episode 6: 1.14 million average

Episode 7: 1.259 million average

UFC president Dana White was also happy with the latest ratings, and has continued to rave about the show and the accolades they’ve received from FX as well.  This season is a dramatic improvement over last year when the show aired on Friday nights at 10pm with coaches Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin.

Season 16 of the reality show averaged well below 1 million viewers per episode and routinely dropped below the 700,000 viewer average.  The new season has been a hit in comparison with other FX programs.

FX Senior Vice President of Public Relations John Solberg also raved about the improvements of the Ultimate Fighter after episode six aired two weeks ago.

This week will mark the final preliminary bout of the season when Zak Cummings takes on Dylan Andrews as the show moves past the halfway point for the season, and starts heading towards the home stretch and the finale in mid-April.

Bellator Ratings Up and Down Again

Bellator has a new home at Spike TV and so far this season there have definitely been a lot more eyeballs on their product that past years when they ran shows on much smaller networks like MTV2. 

The problem Bellator seems to be having is finding out exactly when and where their audience is going to tune in week-to-week.

The latest Bellator show that took place last Thursday March 7 airing at 10pm featuring middleweight and featherweight tournament semifinals drew an average rating of 741,000 viewers for the two-hour broadcast.

While the star power on the latest show wasn’t as big, the previous week that featured a lackluster title bout between Christian M’Pumbu and Attila Vegh actually pulled in the second highest ratings since the promotion debuted on the network. Bellator 91 averaged 901,000 viewers and actually peaked at 1.05 million viewers during the title fight.

That show actually landed Bellator at No. 5 amongst basic cable networks in the male 18-49 demographic.

The previous week, which featured the finals of the Bellator featherweight tournament as well as the second fight for “King” Mo Lawal under the promotion’s banner drew in 791,000 viewers.

The season average for Bellator this year is still over 800,000 per episode, which is a rousing success compared the average viewers they were able to draw while on MTV2 or any other network they’ve been at prior to Spike TV.

The average viewers have spiked and fallen on a few occasions, but overall through eight weeks on Spike TV, Bellator has increased their viewership massively and their hope has to be to reach towards the one million viewer average by the close of 2013.  Bellator will also launch their first reality show later this year with Fight Master debuting sometime in the summer before the next season of fights begins on Spike TV.

The next Bellator show takes place on Thursday night, March 21 with lightweights Dave Jansen taking on Marcin Held as well as heavyweight action on the card.

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UFC Fighters in Fear of Being Released, Is That a Good or Bad Thing?

If a fighter who’s never gone on a losing skid like Jon Fitch receives walking papers without ever experiencing a personal problem, then few in the UFC can claim the luxury of job security.A former welterweight title challenger, Fit…

If a fighter who’s never gone on a losing skid like Jon Fitch receives walking papers without ever experiencing a personal problem, then few in the UFC can claim the luxury of job security.

A former welterweight title challenger, Fitch went 14-3-1 in nearly eight years with the UFC. In that span, Fitch, unlike many contracted UFC fighters, never got arrested, failed a drug test, missed a press conference or showed up overweight for a fight.

Fifteen additional fighters with clean records got axed alongside Fitch, including UFC mainstays Jacob Volkmann and Vladimir Matyushenko.

So with the exception of attempting to win consistently, which Fitch obviously did for almost eight years, what measures must a UFC fighter take once inside the Octagon to preserve his or her contract?

Furthermore, what, if any, advantages or detriments accompany a fighter who’s competing on the brink of dismissal?

Although an exact criteria for maintaining long-term career stability doesn’t exist, UFC president Dana White tried to offer a blunt explanation on the subject while talking with reporters after the pre-fight press conference for UFC 157.

“Any guy out there. Let me tell you what you better do—you better fight your f***ing ass off and make it good and win. That’s the only way people want to see you.”

In the wake of the unceremonious firing of Fitch, White also admitted that more promotional staples will soon get their pink slips.

“We have 470-something guys under contract. We have over 100 guys too many on the roster right now. The blood has not all been spilled yet. There’s more coming.”

However, White’s colorful remarks shouldn’t discourage fighters on the cusp of expulsion.

If anything, White’s advice should serve as an unofficial black-and-white blueprint for those who are confused about the organization’s lofty expectations.

White has made it quite evident both in interviews and through pertinent personnel decisions that enthralling fighters typically take precedence over the conservative variety. So self-aware fighters should always recognize instances when they’re on the chopping block, and in those situations, they should perform accordingly.

Thus, if wins and losses come secondary to entertainment value, then a fighter who gets backed into a corner shouldn’t feel as much pressure to execute a specific game plan or score a win.

Rather than fretting over prevailing, desperate fighters can simply concentrate on pleasing the UFC’s brass, which obviously just entails putting on an action-packed brawl.

As for the fans, they’re also in line to benefit from the desperation of bubble fighters. UFC fans seldom yearn to see a cerebral chess match, and if White gets his wish, they’ll rarely have to witness one in these cases.

Those on the bubble have many reasons to adhere to White’s sentiments and scrap with utter urgency, regardless of the bout’s outcome. Truth be told, the UFC seems exponentially more inclined to stick with exciting losers than to part with dull winners.

After all, it’s much easier to just try and put on a captivating fight than it is to win one.

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Mark Hunt to Fight Junior dos Santos at UFC 160

Better late than never. Props: @ZeusJupiterMMAO

It may have taken a year to come about, but a fight between Mark Hunt and Junior dos Santos has been booked for UFC 160.

When a quadriceps injury to Alistair Overeem left Junior dos Santos without an opponent for UFC 160, Hunt immediately organized a Twitter assault in an effort to get the fight. Despite White’s initial insistence on postponing Overeem vs. dos Santos, a phone call from “The Super Samoan” last night was enough to change his mind. See, sometimes persistence doesn’t result in a restraining order.

Mark Hunt is currently riding a four fight win streak, coming off of a brutal, jaw-breaking knockout over Stefan Struve at last Saturday’s UFC on FUEL 8. Meanwhile, dos Santos is coming off of a gutsy, yet lopsided loss to Cain Velasquez at UFC 155.

Better late than never. Props: @ZeusJupiterMMAO

It may have taken a year to come about, but a fight between Mark Hunt and Junior dos Santos has been booked for UFC 160.

When a quadriceps injury to Alistair Overeem left Junior dos Santos without an opponent for UFC 160, Hunt immediately organized a Twitter assault in an effort to get the fight. Despite White’s initial insistence on postponing Overeem vs. dos Santos, a phone call from “The Super Samoan” last night was enough to change his mind. See, sometimes persistence doesn’t result in a restraining order.

Mark Hunt is currently riding a four fight win streak, coming off of a brutal, jaw-breaking knockout over Stefan Struve at last Saturday’s UFC on FUEL 8. Meanwhile, dos Santos is coming off of a gutsy, yet lopsided loss to Cain Velasquez at UFC 155.

Will Hunt continue his unlikely rise through the UFC heavyweight division, or will Junior dos Santos prove to be too much for him? Let us know your early predictions in the comments.

@SethFalvo

UFC 160: Mark Hunt Rallies for Shot at Junior dos Santos

The rallying can now cease for Mark Hunt, as he will indeed get his shot at Junior dos Santos at UFC 160. Dana White confirmed the fight to Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com Saturday morning. The original co-main event for UFC 160 was scheduled to be Al…

The rallying can now cease for Mark Hunt, as he will indeed get his shot at Junior dos Santos at UFC 160.

Dana White confirmed the fight to Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com Saturday morning.

The original co-main event for UFC 160 was scheduled to be Alistair Overeem vs. Dos Santos, but Overeem had to drop out of the bout due to injury. Hunt immediately threw his name out there as a potential replacement.

White tweeted to fans who were asking about the possibility of Hunt vs. Dos Santos that it was unlikely. White claimed the company was seeking a summer date for the originally scheduled bout between Overeem and Dos Santos. It seemed like the hope for Hunt’s biggest fight to date was dead.

Then a late-night tweet on Thursday cracked the door open to shine a glimmer of hope back on this exciting fight.

Dos Santos will indeed fight the former K-1 world champion at UFC 160.

Hunt has had a hell of a ride to get this marquee bout.

From 2006 to 2010 Hunt suffered six straight losses. Five of those six losses came by submission. Now, Hunt is riding a four-fight win streak, with three KO/TKO finishes, into the Octagon on May 25 to battle the No. 1-ranked heavyweight in the official UFC rankings.

Hunt’s most recent TKO win (over Stefan Struve) moved him to No. 9 in the rankings.

Dos Santos is coming off his first UFC loss. At UFC 155 he dropped the UFC Heavyweight Championship to Cain Velasquez by unanimous decision.

The winner of Hunt vs. Dos Santos will have the best claim to the next title shot against the winner of Cain Velasquez vs. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva. That UFC Heavyweight Championship tilt is the main event of UFC 160.

Hunt vs. Dos Santos looks like heavyweight fireworks on paper and will serve as the perfect lead-in to the main event of the evening. The top of the card will almost surely give us two exciting contests and determine the next heavyweight title matchup.

UFC 160 takes place on May 25 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on pay-per-view.

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Mark Hunt Responds to Dana White: ‘I Have Never Turned Down a Fight’

Top 10 UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt is disputing the notion that he turned down a fight with former UFC heavyweight champ Junior dos Santos. Shortly after UFC President Dana White said “The Super Samoan” wouldn’t fight JDS, Hunt went on Twitter to de…

Top 10 UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt is disputing the notion that he turned down a fight with former UFC heavyweight champ Junior dos Santos. 

Shortly after UFC President Dana White said “The Super Samoan” wouldn’t fight JDS, Hunt went on Twitter to defend himself. 

 

Hunt then went on to say the only time he has ever declined a fight is when he was injured: 

 

While this makes sense given the fact that Hunt was all about a scrap with dos Santos as of Wednesday night, it begs the question: Why would White lie?

To further complicate the situation, the UFC’s head honcho tweeted last night that he had a phone conversation with Hunt: 

White did not provide any further updates as of Friday morning, but there appears to be some semblance of hope that this fan-friendly heavyweight scrap will go down after all. 

The former PRIDE star became a hot topic of conversation when Alistair Overeem, who was supposed to fight dos Santos at UFC 160, withdrew from the fight due to a slight quad tear. 

The K-1 level kickboxer has currently won four straight fights, including three knockouts, while dos Santos lost the heavyweight strap to Cain Velasquez at UFC 155 in December. 

Prior to the title loss, the Brazilian had won 10 matchups in a row, scoring seven KO’s along the way.

Hunt, fresh off of a stunning “Knockout of the Night” performance against Stefan Struve, could have the stand-up skills to provide a challenge for “Cigano’s” superior boxing game. 

Was White using public humiliation as a negotiating tool with Hunt or did he have an opponent besides dos Santos in mind all along? 

Hopefully the UFC will make a formal announcement before the end of the day.

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Dana White or Don King; Who Is the Best Combat Sports Promoter Ever?

When the UFC was on the verge of extinction, Dana White talked the Fertitta brothers into buying the company based on the promise he saw inherent in such a dynamic and exciting sport.Since that time, he has fought tooth-and-nail to drag it out of the d…

When the UFC was on the verge of extinction, Dana White talked the Fertitta brothers into buying the company based on the promise he saw inherent in such a dynamic and exciting sport.

Since that time, he has fought tooth-and-nail to drag it out of the darkness and into the spotlight and now it stands as a legitimate rival to the only other real combative sport of note, boxing.

While White may have started off as nothing more than a man with a dream, content to let the sport speak for itself, he is now one of the top promoters in combative sport today.

But is he the best fight promoter ever?

The question is an obvious one, given the back-and-forth White has had with boxing promoters, specifically Bob Arum.

But if we are really going to pose the question, perhaps it is best to look at perhaps the biggest, most controversial boxing promoter in many years: Don King.

Of course, it’s hard to know where to begin with such a comparison; the “fight game” in the world of MMA is a drastically different thing simply because organizations rule the roost instead of the individual fighters.

Many would say that White is more company front man and manager rather than a fight promoter, and they have a point, to a degree.

But White is still in the business of selling fights, just like any boxing promoter.

To his credit, White has yet to lose a lawsuit brought by a fighter where Don King has been sued multiple times, although they were nearly all settled out of court.

So once we clear all the negatives from the table, we are left with their accomplishments, which are many.

White has turned the UFC (and by proxy the sport of MMA) into a legitimate sport with rules, regulations and a level of accountability no one thought would ever happen if they followed the sport from the early days.

Thus far, the UFC has had seven PPV events that sold over one million buys, with the highest being UFC 100, which did a staggering 1.6 million buys.

Don King has promoted some of the biggest gates in boxing history, but many of the biggest—Muhammad Ali vs. George Foreman, Mike Tyson vs. Michael Spinks, Oscar De La Hoya vs. Felix Trinidad—would need to be adjusted for “inflation” in order to get an accurate number as to just how well they did in today’s market.

But if one thing is for certain, Don King has made more millionaires than White and the UFC. For the fight between Ali and Foreman, King secured the then-record purse of 10 million dollars, way back in 1974.

Since then, King has promoted just about every big name in boxing history, including men like Ali, Tyson, Larry Holmes, Roberto Duran, Evander Holyfield, Julio Cesar Chavez and countless others.

At the end of the day, it is impossible to tell who is the best promoter. King is now 81 years old and has been in the business for well over thirty years, while the UFC is in many aspects still in its infancy.

So perhaps the real question is the simplest: who has given us the most meaningful and desired fights in their respective sports?

The answer to that question is totally selective as each fan is different; I myself feel White is the better promoter as he makes the fights we need to see more often than not.

But one thing is for sure—both men have provided us with some dandy fights.

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