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Should the UFC Present PPV-Quality Cards on Fox?

Since their partnership with Fox, the UFC has opened the gates and let the fights pour forth, straight onto “free TV.” But at the same time, there seems to be something missing, and it is clear what it is: PPV-quality cards. For some, this …

Since their partnership with Fox, the UFC has opened the gates and let the fights pour forth, straight onto “free TV.”

But at the same time, there seems to be something missing, and it is clear what it is: PPV-quality cards.

For some, this is totally expected. They see Fox much the same way they saw Spike TV, and then the question becomes “why should the UFC give away a PPV-quality card?”

The answer is simple: because Fox is the key to a much bigger kingdom.

Imagine what the audience response would have been like if the UFC had put the Dan Henderson vs. Shogun card on Fox. They would have eaten it up; swallowing the hook so deep they’d never get it out.

When you get such a big audience, then you should be looking to make an equally big impression. While previous Fox cards have been good, they could be so much better.

Of course, there is no crystal ball available that allows the company to know for sure if a PPV card is going to be great; after all, UFC 33 looked good on paper, but ended up being a disaster.

Still, this whole new relationship with Fox is seeing both sides take risks in order to help the sport explode to the levels they clearly believe in. If you’re going to take risks, then putting a PPV-quality card on Fox is the smart risk to take.

And they need to be taking that risk once every three months.

If the company is really going to put themselves out there for mass consumption, then they really need to go all out, once per quarter. If the sport has proven anything, it’s that it makes an impression, one way or the other.

And if you’re going to make an impression, it might as well be a big one.

Consider for a moment UFC 150, this coming August. You have a rematch between Benson Henderson vs. Frankie Edgar for the lightweight title, which more probably than not is going to be a good fight.

You also have Jake Shields, Yushin Okami, Luiz Cane and Ed Herman, and there are sure to be other big-name fighters rounding out the main card as well.

This would be a great card to put on Fox; it has a title bout in a division known for action, and everyone loves anniversaries.

Of course, there are also arguments against this, mainly coming from the crowd that believes you shouldn’t give something away for free when people are willing to pay big money for it.

That is all well and good, except I don’t think putting forth PPV-quality cards on Fox is “giving away” anything.

I look at it as making an investment; showing the people that should they spend their time on a Fox channel, this is what they will receive.

And should that PPV-quality card be as good as UFC 100, or UFC 139: Henderson vs. Shogun, or UFC 116, then many more people are going to get very comfortable with the notion of spending more time with the sport.

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UFC on Fuel 3 Results: Memorable Images and Fighter Quotes from Fairfax

When we, as MMA fans, commentators and writers see an exciting fight, we often use hyperbole to describe that fight. In the moment, a powerful knockout becomes “one of the greatest ever,” a particularly vicious armbar becomes “a submi…

Why Ronda Rousey Will Be the First Female Fighter in the UFC

Dana White has long believed that Women’s Mixed Martial Arts was not ready to become a legitimate professional sport because the talent pools are too thin. Over the last twelve months, Dana appears to have his opinion of WMMA evolve into what coul…

Dana White has long believed that Women’s Mixed Martial Arts was not ready to become a legitimate professional sport because the talent pools are too thin.

Over the last twelve months, Dana appears to have his opinion of WMMA evolve into what could lead to seeing a female fight on a UFC fight card in the near future.

Take a look at how Dana’s point of view of WMMA has progressed. This is what he had to say about WMMA last year:

“There’s this big misconception out there about me that I don’t like women’s fighting and everything else. I have no problem with women’s fighting. The problem right now, it was a problem with boxing and it’s a problem with MMA right now is you don’t have enough women that are good enough to create an entire division. So what you get is you get a couple of women who are really good, and a lot of women who really aren’t. And I don’t like lopsided fights, especially with women. So as this sport continues to grow, if there are more and more women where you can actually create an entire division with a lot of talented women, I’m all about it.”

Dana has never bashed the future of WMMA, but whenever he is asked about the future of females in the UFC he dismisses the notion because there aren’t enough good female MMA fighters according to him.

If you take a look at WMMA over the last three years, it does become evident that there have been stars in the making that have not panned out. Of course we are talking about Gina Carano, Cyborg Santos, and now Ronda Rousey.

Dana White didn’t quite jump on the Carano and Santos hype train, and as it turns out, that was yet another wise decision for him.

Carano was last seen in the cage covering up as Santos earned a TKO victory over her. Santos is currently serving a one year suspension for failing a drug test. Rousey is the current face of WMMA.

Is it really far fetched to think Dana will put Rousey in the UFC? I don’t think so.

Here is what Dana said following the much anticipated fight between Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate:

“I’ll tell you right now and I will be 100% honest with you, I was never a fan (of women’s MMA). But I will tell you this, being honest, Ronda Rousey vs. Miesha Tate have changed my mind, they have changed my mind. I was excited for that fight, it was an awesome fight, they both looked like two skilled mixed martial artists and they changed my mind.”

Strikeforce is fading fast, there is no denying that. Their contract with Showtime is far from a guarantee to be renewed, and once that goes, you can put the nail in the coffin for Strikeforce.

Dana is not going to let Rousey get far from the UFC. In fact I believe if Rousey wins her first title defense against Sarah Kaufman later this year, Dana will make a push to get Rousey and Cyborg Santos on a UFC pay-per-view card.

Santos will be done serving her one year suspension in January 2013, which will be right about the time Rousey would be looking to have her next fight after Kaufman.

Dana is smart enough to know that he can have Rousey in the UFC without having to fill out a complete roster of WMMA fighters immediately.

For as bad as Strikeforce is now, the promotion has done a good job of bringing WMMA to a greater audience. The respect for the female fighter is far greater than it was even three years ago.

My suggestion would be to create a TUF series with Ronda Rousey and Cyborg Santos as the opposing coaches and have them build up towards the inaugural UFC Women’s Championship fight between the two.

The talent pool of WMMA is growing at a rapid pace. Promotions such as Invicta FC are only going to help get more females interested in MMA and continue the evolution of the sport.

Whether it is through the UFC or something like Invicta FC, WMMA is going to thrive.

Oh, and Dana, never say never.

Follow Joe Chacon on Twitter.

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Will Donald Cerrone Ever Win UFC Lightweight Championship?

Donald Cerrone is good. He’s really good, in fact. An excellent kickboxer with deceiving strength and wrestling to go along with a polished ground game, Cerrone is one of the more well-rounded fighters one will find in the Octagon. That sai…

West Coast vs East Coast: Who Has the Better MMA Fighters?

It is a rivalry as old as American sports. Well, at least since professional sports teams moved out west.Whether it be college or professional football, basketball, baseball or even horse racing; the main rivals in this country seem to be the west coas…

It is a rivalry as old as American sports. Well, at least since professional sports teams moved out west.

Whether it be college or professional football, basketball, baseball or even horse racing; the main rivals in this country seem to be the west coast vs the east coast.

When Nate Diaz walked out to “Still Ballin” by Tupac Skakur, (a song that among other things talks about pride for the westside and being from California) in his opponent Jim Miller’s hometown of East Rutherford, New Jersey, it seemed as if there may be some “West Coast vs East Coast” tension brewing in MMA too.

Sooner or later this rivalry had to start. Which coast produces the better fighters? Are their unique styles associated with where a fighter’s from? Or is MMA different from other sports because it is an individual sport and fighters come from all over the globe?

Is there any way to settle who is really better? Of course there isn’t an exact science, but what if there was a way to try to tally up a score to see which coast has the supreme MMA fighters?

There are going to be some gray/controversial areas in this competition. Logistics can be a controversial topic because what parts of the country exactly constitute as the West Coast and the the East Coast?

Does a fighter like Rampage who was born and raised in Tennessee, but became an MMA fighter while training and living in Irvine, California, count as west or east?

Are we counting Canada? Do Brazil, Japan, the UK and Eastern Europe have similar geographical rivalries?

There are several ways to do this, however, I developed a scoring system to try to settle a little bit of the score. So when you’re done with the slideshow, let me know what you think of the system and how I could make it better.

Enjoy…

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UFC on Fuel 3 Results: Memorable Images and Fighter Quotes from Fairfax

When we, as MMA fans, commentators and writers see an exciting fight, we often use hyperbole to describe that fight.In the moment, a powerful knockout becomes “one of the greatest ever,” a particularly vicious armbar becomes “a submission for the ages,…

When we, as MMA fans, commentators and writers see an exciting fight, we often use hyperbole to describe that fight.

In the moment, a powerful knockout becomes “one of the greatest ever,” a particularly vicious armbar becomes “a submission for the ages,” a toe-to-toe slugfest becomes “one of the best fights we have ever seen.” Those descriptions sometimes lose something once the adrenaline wears off or we get a chance to view those fights objectively, removed from being caught up in the moment.

With that in mind, I can say, with almost 100 percent confidence, that when I look back at the main event of UFC on Fuel 3, I will still feel that it will go down as one of the most memorable fights of 2012. That it was seen by less than 5,000 people live at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, VA, seems almost criminal.

When you add the dominating performance of Donald Cerrone and the birthday knockout by Tom Lawlor into the mix, you have a card that had some pretty memorable moments. What follows are some images and quotes from the fighters who were victorious over the course of the evening.

**all quotes provided to BR MMA via the UFC

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