“We couldn’t possibly get kicked in the balls any harder than we did tonight.”
Those were the words Dana White uttered to various media members the night of UFC 150. It would seem that the hits keep coming for the UFC and it’s outspoken president as the ratings for the UFC 150 prelims are in, and they are far from spectacular. The event pulled the promotion’s third lowest number since the Fox deal was struck.
UFC 150 took place at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado with a measly $650k live gate. The FX prelims this time out were below 1 million viewers for only the third time, earning 974,000 views.
According to the UFC President, Direct TV went down on Saturday before the event began, so the potential impact of that gargantuan platform not being available can’t be understated. Looking at the landscape of MMA nowadays, however, neither can the possibility of oversaturation. This was the UFC’s third event in as many weeks, one has to wonder just how much of the casual audience is willing to sacrifice nearly a full month of weekends to watch fights, especially without a truly marketable anchor to the bill.
These questions should be answered on September 1 as UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones defends his title against former PRIDE and Strikeforce Champion Dan Henderson. If Jones, who has been dubbed “the face of the UFC”, doesn’t have the power to draw the FX prelim numbers back over 1 million views, it may just be too much in too little a time for the UFC.
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Hopefully dana recognizes that UFC has become TOO EXPENSIVE. If your gonna have this many events a year, either lower the price or stack the cards.
I expect the PPV buyrates to be miserable.
thats an understatement. they will be rock bottem, one would assume.
Well, it surely not due to the lack of star power or at least decent names for the casual fan totune in to
they better expect more low numbers on the Jones/Hendo card with this wopping line-up:
Preliminary Card (FX)
Danny Castillo vs. Michael Johnson
Takeya Mizugaki vs. Jeff Hougland
Tim Means vs. Abel Trujillo
Daron Cruickshank vs. Henry Martinez
it doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out why the numbers are low. the casual fan dont have a clue as to who the he*l they r watching.
i myself, dont really care who is fighting. i will watch them all day and everyday if they are live..and free. (in reality, im lying..i record them first so i can skip the 2hrs of commiricals and wach just the fights). eithr way ive been a mma fan for years and years and im cool with free fights. it wasnt too lon ago that we didnt even get the option of watching the prelims unless u bought the dvd 2months later…but if u are trying to get new viewers to watch Dana…u gotta dobetter than this…
Preliminary Card (FX)
Danny Castillo vs. Michael Johnson
Takeya Mizugaki vs. Jeff Hougland
Tim Means vs. Abel Trujillo
Daron Cruickshank vs. Henry Martinez
Seriously Dana, what do you expect? Noone wants to see Frankie Edgar vs anyone, whether it’s Penn, Maynard or Henderson for a second time. To make matters worse each and every other fight on the card had even less entertainment value on paper to many of the casual and even regular fans. Yes, they might have turned out to be half decent fights but that doesn’t help you when noone has bought the PPV or has bothered to watch or go to the fights. The bars were DEAD this past Saturday. Boston Pizza where we always watch the fights was nearly empty.
Why would people pay $60 for these PPV events with lesser known fighters when they have FREE FOX cards which have much bigger names and bigger fights? Also, come on. Anyone could have told you the outcome of the Henderson vs Edgar fight. People want to see finishes! Not the same 5 round close decision we see every time this guy fights.
Guaranteed Diaz vs Henderson will draw way more viewers on free TV and would sell way more PPV buys if it’s slated on a PPV event. Why? Because people want to see this fight. Diaz is a marketable fighter. And because both fighters are going to try to FINISH the fight. Don’t ever use Frankie Edgar to headline a PPV event unless you have a solid main card lineup to back it up.
Does a ‘casual fan’ know who Nate Diaz is? I think they know GSP, silva, Brock and maybe a couple of others but I’m not sure they could tell you half of the divisions champs. So I’m guessing over saturation may be occurring and a string of less than entertaining cards are causing the ratings to suck. I can see how the Calgary fights could leave a bad taste in the mouth of those who paid $ to see actual fights.
bones v Hendo is going to crush, and there was not much star power on 150, which is half the reason it didn’t do well. The preliminary card usually matches the ppv. And ppv is only 49 which you’d know if you ever considered buying it, but your not that serious of a fan so why bother