Ok, so I am an MMA betting junkie. I love the instant gratification of winning money in just a few seconds, as it occurs routinely during the furious exchange between two equally weighted, haymaker throwing.
Ok, so I am an MMA betting junkie. I love the instant gratification of winning money in just a few seconds, as it occurs routinely during the furious exchange between two equally weighted, haymaker throwing men, both trained for a single purpose: to seek and destroy. It happens so fast, in some cases, that I can’t even keep up with the fights on my online sportsbook. By the time one fight finishes, the next fight is off the board.
I am always looking for an advantage in one or two fights per night, as I feel that several of the odds are miscalculated because of misguided public perception. But, if you are diligent with your research and disciplined with your approach, you can consistently find a fight or two on each card that are fairly easy to handicap.
Take the upcoming UFC on Fox which takes place May 5th
UFC ON FOX 3- LIGHTWEIGHT BOUT Barry vs. Johnson (5/5/12)
Matchup Odds
Jim Miller -210
Nate Diaz +175
UFC ON FOX 3- LIGHTWEIGHT BOUT Koscheck vs. Hendricks (5/5/12)
Matchup Odds
Josh Koscheck -125
Johny Hendricks -105
It appears to me that of the fights with early odds, Nate Diaz has the best chance to pull the upset. Lavar “Big” Johnson has been impressive, but his inexperience should prove to be too much to overcome vs. the explosive Pat Barry. Diaz, on the other hand, is seasoned enough to pull out a “W”, and his camp will have him ready. Beware Jim Miller….
Also, I see a lot of value in Josh Koscheck only laying -125. He is the better athlete, and has faced tougher competition throughout his career. Koscheck could get caught, as his opponent is dangerous, but I see him winning here 2 rounds to 1 for a unanimous decision. Add money to the bankroll by playing Koscheck on May 5th. Check back next week for a breakdown and best bets of the other fights on the UFC on Fox 3.
An interesting quote from the interview above by our friends at StudioMMA got me thinking today whether or not the landmark TV deal the UFC struck with Fox is helping or hindering Zuffa’s bottom line.
According to UFC president Dana White, every day he deals with fans who say they had no idea that the UFC is broadcasting events on Fox and it’s affiliates like FX and Fuel TV.
“Our deal with Fox is seven years. Over the next two years we’re working our asses off to get this Fox deal dialed in… Fuel, FX and big Fox — as far as the production goes, as far as the type of programming we’re going to continue to put together, fine-tuning the Ultimate Fighter that’s live and reaching out and letting not only the hardcore fans, the sometimes fans and people who aren’t yet fans know that we’re on Fox. That’s a bigger job than people could imagine. How many people that I still talk to on Twitter that have no idea we are on FOX, FX or FUEL; oh, it’s crazy man. It’s crazy. So that’s what we’re going to be doing in the next two years.”
(Video courtesy of YouTube/StudioMMA)
An interesting quote from the interview above by our friends at StudioMMA got me thinking today whether or not the landmark TV deal the UFC struck with Fox is helping or hindering Zuffa’s bottom line.
According to UFC president Dana White, every day he deals with fans who say they had no idea that the UFC is broadcasting events on Fox and it’s affiliates like FX and Fuel TV.
“Our deal with Fox is seven years. Over the next two years we’re working our asses off to get this Fox deal dialed in… Fuel, FX and big Fox — as far as the production goes, as far as the type of programming we’re going to continue to put together, fine-tuning the Ultimate Fighter that’s live and reaching out and letting not only the hardcore fans, the sometimes fans and people who aren’t yet fans know that we’re on Fox. That’s a bigger job than people could imagine. How many people that I still talk to on Twitter that have no idea we are on FOX, FX or FUEL; oh, it’s crazy man. It’s crazy. So that’s what we’re going to be doing in the next two years.”
Add to the fact that FX and Fuel aren’t available in Canada (unless you count FX Canada, which shows past seasons of its popular original shows making it about as appealing as a Netflix membership), the only affiliate in the country that is licensed to air UFC events (Sportsnet) doesn’t broadcast The Ultimate Fighter Live! live. Instead, it’s aired two hours after FX shows it.
Early ratings numbers for the show illustrate a definite decline in viewership from the SPIKE TV-helmed shows, but that’s because SPIKE is available in most cable and satellite packages in North America.
White expressed his disappointment in the turn in viewership in a recent interview with MMAJunkie, but admitted that he expected some transitional speed bumps when he signed the deal with Fox. He also said that Zuffa and it’s Fox cohorts are optimistic that things will turn around.
“There’s so many things that are involved in those numbers,” White said. “I didn’t expect to jump on FX and do 3.5 million viewers right out of the gate. But here’s the thing: The format is awesome. It’s perfect. We’ve got a great season, and we’re going to build this thing. Believe me, the way that FX deals with their programming and how they handle it, they’re so analytical. These guys are like fucking rocket scientists how they break this stuff down and look at it. Trust me, everything is positive over there.”
What are your thoughts on the good, the bad and the ugly of the first three months of the Fox era of the UFC?
(A twist to the story is that they are actually brothers who used to be siamese twins.)
The UFC and FOX held a conference call today with UFC Chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta, UFC President Dana White, FOX Sports Media Group Chairman David Hill, FOX Sports Co-President Eric Shanks and FUELTV General Manager George Greenberg for members of the media who were unable to attend today’s UFC on Fox 1 pre-fight press conference in Los Angeles. Besides the big announcement that prelim fights will soon be moving over to FuelTV from Facebook, there were a few other interesting nuggets that came out of the call.
Check out the quick quotes after the jump.
(A twist to the story is that they are actually brothers who used to be siamese twins.)
The UFC and FOX held a conference call today with UFC Chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta, UFC President Dana White, FOX Sports Media Group Chairman David Hill, FOX Sports Co-President Eric Shanks and FUELTV General Manager George Greenberg for members of the media who were unable to attend today’s UFC on Fox 1 pre-fight press conference in Los Angeles. Besides the big announcement that prelim fights will soon be moving over to FuelTV from Facebook, there were a few other interesting nuggets that came out of the call.
Check out the quick quotes below.
———-
Dana White:
“These guys are the best at what they do. David Hill has revolutionized sports. We’d be crazy not to want FOX’s input (on production and the broadcast).”
“No matter what, you know we’re going to deliver. We’re on FOX – the biggest, baddest network on the planet. We couldn’t ask for anything more. This is a dream come true.”
“This is without a doubt the biggest fight in UFC history. This thing started as a small fringe sport and has grown to what it is today. This Saturday night as we step out onto FOX, millions of people will see UFC who’ve never watched before. As we take this step forward into what we call ‘mainstream,’ we were much more fortunate in that we were able to hand pick a fight that we wanted to put on FOX. If I had to do it all over again, this is still the fight I’d pick to put on network television.”
Cain Velasquez:
“From both of us, we have exciting fighting styles. We don’t go out there and put on boring fights. We’re both going to go forward. That’s what fans are going to see, that’s what people who haven’t seen this before are going to see on Saturday.”
“I want to represent hardworking people. Whether in training or in the fight, it’s good to know I have people supporting me and it makes me work harder and train harder. I always want to go out there and represent them well. I appreciate the support from the Mexican fans and fans all over.”
Junior dos Santos:
“I feel really excited, but no pressure. It’s the same pressure I felt in my last fight. This is huge for me and I want to enjoy it and I will.”
“Cain has amazing stamina. I think in this case, Cain Velasquez is the number one heavyweight now. I want to change this on Saturday. It’s going to be a great fight and a war. I think a lot of people are going to be rooting for him on Saturday night, but I know I’ll have a lot of people rooting for me around the world. I’ll use that energy on Saturday night”
“I will give my best to make this belt a Brazilian belt. I’m ready to go five rounds, but I think this fight finishes before.”
David Hill:
“You never rattle the cages of the ratings gods, but we expect to be pleasantly surprised on Sunday morning.”
“We’re obviously stoked [to have this event on FOX]. We’re all huge boxing fans and I think with the death of Joe Frazier, it made people realize that everyone remembers what a great boxer and competitor he was, and the will to win Joe Frazier had. Everyone started talking about the golden days of boxing and what happened to it. To be coming back on primetime with a fight like this, it’s kinda of like the dawn of a new era. It’s like a phoenix coming from the ashes.”
“What boxing was to my generation, UFC is to my son’s. By the end of these seven years, UFC will be mainstream.”
Eric Shanks:
“The day that we signed the deal – I didn’t know it at the time – but I found out that every person at FOX is a UFC fan. People were high-fiving me at the office. That place hasn’t been more pumped since we signed the deal.”
“It’s a coming out party for UFC on FOX (on Saturday) and it’s a coming out party for FUEL.”
George Greenberg:
“In general, about 25 percent of [FuelTV’s] programming pie will be dedicated to UFC. Over 2,000 hours of UFC programs. We’ll have at least 100 hours of live programming. We get all the shoulder programming, whether it’s ‘Primetime,’ ‘Countdown,’ ‘Best of,’ and we have access to the PRIDE library.”
“As we expose a brand new audience to the MMA world, this thing is going to explode. It’s going to be represented in primetime, on late night, on the weekends. It will be the wind in our sails for sure.”
In an effort to take some of the growing workload off of the backs of color analyst Joe Rogan and play-by-play man Mike Goldberg, the UFC announced today that it has added veteran sportscaster Jon Anik to its broadcast team.
Anik, who has anchored MMA Live since 2008 and hosted several ESPN pre-UFC shows, will be involved with the November 12 Fox broadcast in some capacity and will likely take the reins of commentating duties for the next season’s weekly live broadcast of The Ultimate Fighter on FX among other events.
“We’re very happy to have Jon as part of the team,” UFC president Dana White said after making the announcement at today’s UFC 137 press conference.
“It’s a dream come true. I believe the UFC’s a strong a brand as there is in professional sports, but what really drew me to this organization was the people behind it. I think as strong as this organization is, it’s the people behind it,” the 33-year-old Boston native said Thursday. “It’s a well-oiled machine, I just hope I don’t get in the way. I’m very excited to get started.
(Photo courtesy of Ed Mulholland/ESPN)
In an effort to take some of the growing workload off of the backs of color analyst Joe Rogan and play-by-play man Mike Goldberg, the UFC announced today that it has added veteran sportscaster Jon Anik to its broadcast team.
Anik, who has anchored MMA Live since 2008 and hosted several ESPN pre-UFC shows, will be involved with the November 12 Fox broadcast in some capacity and will likely take the reins of commentating duties for the next season’s weekly live broadcast of The Ultimate Fighter on FX among other events.
“We’re very happy to have Jon as part of the team,” UFC president Dana White said after making the announcement at today’s UFC 137 press conference.
“It’s a dream come true. I believe the UFC’s a strong a brand as there is in professional sports, but what really drew me to this organization was the people behind it. I think as strong as this organization is, it’s the people behind it,” the 33-year-old Boston native said Thursday. “It’s a well-oiled machine, I just hope I don’t get in the way. I’m very excited to get started.”
Anik’s last day at ESPN was today. A successor for Anik at MMA Live has not been named, but if it’s Franklin McNeil, we predict a drastic drop in ratings.
It looks like Spike TV isn’t going to let the UFC walk away from their longtime liaison quietly.
Like a woman scorned , Spike will attempt to sabotage Zuffa’s burgeoning relationship with Fox by counter-programming the network’s first UFC event featuring a heavyweight tilt between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos with a three-hour special “Dos Santos vs. Velasquez: Unleashed” series of shows according to MMA Junkie. The November 12 Unleashed Marathon will begin at 9:00 just as Fox’s inaugural UFC event is set to start.
According to the report, Spike owns the broadcast rights to the UFC library through 2012, and unless Zuffa buys back the rights the network will likely continue to counter-program Fox’s events for the next year. The catch 22 of the situation is that unless the UFC buys back the rights, Spike cannot air any other promotion’s events, which explains why it is only airing Bellator’s prelims on its website. The move could be a testing ground to see if there’s enough interest to move Bellator’s weekly events to the rotation when the UFC agreement expires.
(A woman scorned always has her revenge.)
It looks like Spike TV isn’t going to let the UFC walk away from their longtime liaison quietly.
Like a woman scorned , Spike will attempt to sabotage Zuffa’s burgeoning relationship with Fox by counter-programming the network’s first UFC event featuring a heavyweight tilt between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos with a three-hour special “Dos Santos vs. Velasquez: Unleashed” series of shows according to MMA Junkie. The November 12 Unleashed Marathon will begin at 9:00 just as Fox’s inaugural UFC event is set to start.
According to the report, Spike owns the broadcast rights to the UFC library through 2012, and unless Zuffa buys back the rights the network will likely continue to counter-program Fox’s events for the next year. The catch 22 of the situation is that unless the UFC buys back the rights, Spike cannot air any other promotion’s events, which explains why it is only airing Bellator’s prelims on its website. The move could be a testing ground to see if there’s enough interest to move Bellator’s weekly events to the rotation when the UFC agreement expires.
Needless to say, Dana White is not impressed. During an interview he did with MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani last week, the UFC president pulled no punches when discussing the move by Spike to air Bellator fights on Spike.com, but added as a last f*ck you that Zuffa has no intention of buying the rights back from Spike.
“UFC programming will be on Spike in 2012. It will continue there. When you look at what I call ‘the spirit of the deal,’ [counter-programming] is the wrong thing to do. In my opinion, it’s Spike not being honorable. They’re not being honorable and they know. [Spike president] Kevin [Kay] knows; [Spike senior vice president of sports and specials] Brian [Diamond] — all the guys who have dealt with me at Spike TV — I’ve been nothing but honorable with them,” White explained. “Everything that I did was to build the UFC and Spike TV. I’ve been a fantastic partner. Whatever they needed from me I’ve done for them and helped them get to where they are today, just like they’ve helped us get to where we are today. And what they’re doing, if that’s the case, and they’re running [Bellator fights] on Spike.com, that’s not the spirit of the deal and they are being 100 percent not honorable.”
(“Let’s try to make this thing last at least one round, deal?”)
UFC president Dana White announced during a conference call today that a heavyweight championship bout between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos will be the only bout on the promotion’s inaugural one-hout broadcast on Fox November 12. The heavily-anticipated bout, which was rumored to be the capper for UFC 139 a week later in San Jose, was instead moved to the Fox show and will now be the UFC’s landmark first fight on network television. The promotion is confident that it could do for them what Griffin vs. Bonnar I at the TUF 1 finale did for the sport back in 2006.
(“Let’s try to make this thing last at least one round, deal?”)
UFC president Dana White announced during a conference call today that a heavyweight championship bout between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos will be the only bout on the promotion’s inaugural one-hout broadcast on Fox November 12. The heavily-anticipated bout, which was rumored to be the capper for UFC 139 a week later in San Jose, was instead moved to the Fox show and will now be the UFC’s landmark first fight on network television. The promotion is confident that it could do for them what Griffin vs. Bonnar I at the TUF 1 finale did for the sport back in 2006.
White says that he’s “literally betting everything” that the fight will deliver and the fact that the UFC and Fox are putting all of their eggs in one basket with the bout, which could be an issue if it is over quickly, especially since the network is planning a big red carpet Superbowl-type party in Hollywood and a pre and post-fight show for the event, proves this. Fox Sports chairman David Hill is also confident that the bout won’t disappoint fans, referring to it as MMA’s equivalent of a “Ali-Foreman.”
The remainder of the show, which will be held at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, will feature a full 10-fight card, will likely be broadcast elsewhere according to White, who said they are ironing out those details now.
Tickets for the event go on sale next Friday at the Honda Centre.
