Even though FUEL TV is still unavailable to most Americans, the UFC been a consistent draw for the channel. When FUEL TV aired the preliminary fights from UFC on FX 1, it set a company ratings record with an average of 148,000 viewers. This number was almost matched by the prelims for UFC on FOX 2, which averaged 144,000.
Even though FUEL TV is still unavailable to most Americans, the UFC been a consistent draw for the channel. When FUEL TV aired the preliminary fights from UFC on FX 1, it set a company ratings record with an average of 148,000 viewers. This number was almost matched by the prelims for UFC on FOX 2, which averaged 144,000.
Not bad for a channel that most of the people reading this don’t get.
Of course, the 217,000 viewers that UFC on FUEL brought in still amounts to roughly 1/3 of what the Diego Sanchez-themed episode of UFC Unleashed brought Spike TV (661,000 viewers). However, Spike TV is currently available in roughly sixty five million more homes in the United States than FUEL TV.
It can be said that FUEL TV’s viewers have been consistently supporting the UFC- fans with access to the channel have been showing up in record numbers, after all. However, the reality is still that while FUEL TV is expanding, most Americans still don’t have access to the channel, meaning most Americans simply can’t watch the UFC’s events on FUEL. It will be interesting to track the UFC’s ratings as the network expands.
(Diego Sanchez is like the movie Inception: A dream inside of a nightmare inside two more dreams which are actually nightmares. Photos courtesy of MMAJunkie.com)
All fighters made weight at yesterday’s UFC on FUELTV weigh-ins, which seemed to sail by at a faster pace than normal. Maybe it was the lack of name power, or perhaps it was the absence of the usual drama and near brawls that we have become accustomed to over the past few weeks. In either case, it was a reserved, quiet evening for all participants involved. Except Diego Sanchez. He doesn’t do “reserved.”
Instead, we were treated to what appeared to be a night of MMA fighters mimicking the looks of pseudo-celebrities. Sean Loeffler came out posing as the singer from Crazy Town, making it rain on the audience like they were the 2 a.m. shift at Scores, and Jonathan Brookins stuck with the Geico Caveman look that has gotten him some fine honeys up to this point. But the most bizarre shift in appearance undoubtedly went to Ed Herman, who pulled off Neil Fallon TO PERFECTION.*
Join us after the jump for the full weigh in video and results.
(Diego Sanchez is like the movie Inception: A dream inside of a nightmare inside two more dreams which are actually nightmares. Photos courtesy of MMAJunkie.com)
All fighters made weight at yesterday’s UFC on FUELTV weigh-ins, which seemed to sail by at a faster pace than normal. Maybe it was the lack of name power, or perhaps it was the absence of the usual drama and near brawls that we have become accustomed to over the past few weeks. In either case, it was a reserved, quiet evening for all participants involved. Except Diego Sanchez. He doesn’t do “reserved.”
Instead, we were treated to what appeared to be a night of MMA fighters mimicking the looks of pseudo-celebrities. Sean Loeffler came out posing as the singer from Crazy Town, making it rain on the audience like they were the 2 a.m. shift at Scores, and Jonathan Brookins stuck with the Geico Caveman look that has gotten him some fine honeys up to this point. But the most bizarre shift in appearance undoubtedly went to Ed Herman, who pulled off Neil Fallon TO PERFECTION.*
(skip to 17:12 for the start, unless you REALLY want to hear Jay Glazer’s breakdown of the card, which starts at 10:00.)
Main Card (on Fuel TV): -Diego Sanchez (170) vs. Jake Ellenberger (170)
–Stefan Struve (256) vs. Dave Herman (234)
–Aaron Simpson (186) vs. Ronny Markes (185)
-Stipe Miocic (240) vs. Phil De Fries (241)
–T.J. Dillashaw (136) vs. Walel Watson (135)
-Ivan Menjivar (135) vs. John Albert (135)
Preliminary Bouts (on Facebook):
–Jonathan Brookins (145) vs. Vagner Rocha (145)
-Buddy Roberts (184) vs. Sean Loeffler (185)
-Anton Kuivanen (156) vs. Justin Salas (155)
-Tim Means (155) vs. Bernardo Magalhaes (155)
The prelims for the event are set to kick off tonight around 6:20 p.m. EST on Facebook, with the FUEL broadcast beginning at 8:00 p.m.
*To any, let’s call them “new” viewers of CP, I do not actually believe the fighters were trying to mimic these celebrities. That would be just silly. Glad I could clear that up.
(This is where we’d normally make some sort of Geico Caveman reference, but those jokes, like the commercials, have been played out to the point of eye-gouging redundancy. So, uh…beauty and the beast?) Though they may not get your engine revving, a couple of sure-to-be-undercard bouts have been booked for the UFC’s debut on FUEL TV, […]
(This is where we’d normally make some sort of Geico Caveman reference, but those jokes, like the commercials, have been played out to the point of eye-gouging redundancy. So, uh…beauty and the beast?)
Though they may not get your engine revving, a couple of sure-to-be-undercard bouts have been booked for the UFC’s debut on FUEL TV, the first of which being a featherweight match-up between grappling wizards Jonathan Brookins and Rani Yahya. After lateral dropping his way through season 12 of The Ultimate Fighter, Brookins recently saw a four fight win streak snapped at the hands of featherweight contender Eric Koch in a three rounder reminiscent of Couture vs. Vera that saw Brookins unable to get Koch to the mat.
Yahya, on the other hand, is likely fighting for his future in the UFC. Just 1-3 in his past four, with the lone win coming against a struggling (and last minute replacement) Mike Brown, we last saw Yahya on the losing end of a unanimous decision to Jose Aldo‘s next challenger, Chad Mendes. Prior to the Brown win, Yahya was outclassed by Takeya Mizugaki in another decision at WEC 48 and TKO’ed by future flyweight champ Joseph Benavidez at WEC 45.
Elsewhere on the card, Aaron Simpson will be looking to improve on the three fight win streak he has quietly built up over the year when he faces Ronny Markes in the Brazilian’s sophomore octagon bout. “A Train” rebounded from the only losing streak of his career (a two-fighter to Chris Leben and Mark Munoz) with three straight unanimous decisions over Mario Miranda, Brad Tavares, and Eric Schafer at UFN 24, UFC 132, and UFC 136, respectively.
Fresh off his own unanimous decision victory over Karlos Vemola in his UFC debut at UFC Live 5, Markes will be looking to derail *snicker* the veteran Simpson, which would be no new task for Markes. In his last fight before being signed by the UFC, Markes outpointed former WEC middleweight champion Paulo Filho at an IFC event in April. A win over Filho may not be what it used to, but work with me on this one.
Last week, it was announced that Bellator Fighting Championships would be changing the night they broadcast their weekly fights, beginning with their Season 6 tournaments in March 2012.
Instead of competing for an audience on Saturday nights, when most fans are preoccupied with UFC pay-per-views and college football, Bjorn Rebney in conjunction with Viacom, has determined the best night for the largest number of MMA fans to enjoy the show is Friday. Good choice? Perhaps.
Also airing on Friday nights starting in 2012 is the UFC’s flagship reality series, The Ultimate Fighter. In its fifteenth season, Zuffa decided to mix it up a bit in hopes of revitalizing fan interest and attracting new viewers by airing the fights live.
So will Bellator gain any ground if they’re still competing with the world’s largest MMA promotion? Will the in-house shenanigans, trash-talking coaches, and UFC brand be able to attract a larger audience than an entire night of live fights, some of which have been classified as ‘Super‘? Not only can we not be in two places at once, we can’t watch two television programs at the same time either. So, who wins the ratings war?
Last week, it was announced that Bellator Fighting Championships would be changing the night they broadcast their weekly fights, beginning with their Season 6 tournaments in March 2012.
Instead of competing for an audience on Saturday nights, when most fans are preoccupied with UFC pay-per-views and college football, Bjorn Rebney in conjunction with Viacom, has determined the best night for the largest number of MMA fans to enjoy the show is Friday. Good choice? Perhaps.
Also airing on Friday nights starting in 2012 is the UFC’s flagship reality series, The Ultimate Fighter. In its fifteenth season, Zuffa decided to mix it up a bit in hopes of revitalizing fan interest and attracting new viewers by airing the fights live.
So will Bellator gain any ground if they’re still competing with the world’s largest MMA promotion? Will the in-house shenanigans, trash-talking coaches, and UFC brand be able to attract a larger audience than an entire night of live fights, some of which have been classified as ‘Super‘? Not only can we not be in two places at once, we can’t watch two television programs at the same time either. So, who wins the ratings war?
If you’re the type of person who roots against Lebron James, Jon Jones, or the Los Angeles Lakers, chances are you’re probably going to slam the UFC as well. In which case, you and your buddies probably chat it up on the bar stools or at the water cooler about how The Ultimate Fighter is stale, annoying, and that one lousy fight doesn’t motivate you to watch fifty minutes of predictable Real World-esque antics sans hot chicks.
Bellator on the other hand, offers four fights that actually have meaning, scraps that can possibly materialize into Fight of the Year candidates. You’ll witness up-and-comers, veterans looking to bounce back, and everything in between battle it out for a novelty-sized check and a title belt — not because they want to be on TV, sign autographs and bang broads. From a fan’s perspective, there’s more to life than making chicken salad out of chicken sh*t.
While those arguments are logical enough in their own right, you’d be foolish to overlook the fact that MTV2 (Bellator’s home for one more year) is in roughly 80 million homes, while FX (TUF‘s new home) is sitting pretty at 98 million. When Bellator’s Spike deal kicks off in 2013, they’ll regain a slight edge in cable broadcast reach against FX, but for next year they’ll be at a clear competitive disadvantage.
Over the past decade, UFC has become synonymous with mixed martial arts. Audiences come to expect a certain level of production and sizzle from their MMA, which is something the UFC has been able to deliver better than anybody. For that reason alone, casual observers are betting on them to claim Friday nights as their own. Thanks in large part to their pioneering work with socialmedia, the brand loyalty held by the UFC is unrivaled, and unprecedented. While fans of other professional sports might have loyalty to their favorite teams and players, they don’t have the same emotional connection to the leagues themselves. (I doubt David Stern gets many requests from grown men asking to sit in his lap these days.)
Another reason no one in Vegas is worried about going toe-to-toe with Bellator is the fresh format in store which includes a voting system similar to American Idol where fans can choose who they want to see face next. Allowing viewers to hand-pick the next fight is reason enough to make TUF the Friday night go-to for MMA fans.
Why are ‘voting enabled’ shows so darn popular? Two reasons: We love watching people humiliate themselves (think of the Idol reject who is convinced of their talent) and we love feeling like we’re a part of something. When we vote, we believe that our voice matters thus strengthening our appreciation of the show. Who could resist a company that asks them what they want? The fifteenth season of TUF will prove this true.
So who do you think will win the ratings war on Friday nights in 2012? Will you tune in to watch another guy fight and lose to Hector Lombard, or are you more a fan of doors getting smashed and food getting inseminated? Whichever side you fall on, you can rest assured that if one starts bludgeoning the other to a bloody pulp, the other will tap out and live to see a new day (I’m hoping for Wednesday). There is far too much money at risk to settle for being number two in a world that only cares about numero uno.
