Comments on: Monday madness: Will Chuck Liddell retire?

By: D. Capitated

D. Capitated — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 09:39:55 +0000

The first four pay-per-views of this year actually also outperformed the last four pay-per-views from last year. The numbers are going to come out very similar or with slight growth for the year. It depends on how bad Chuck’s loss hurts the December show.

We also noted this. Again, that wasn’t really the point. They have an extra show on this year versus last and they haven’t been able to have a consistent 500,000 buy pace like they did for most of their midline shows (UFC 62, UFC 65) last year this year. Either they’re big or they aren’t.

By: AS

AS — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 13:28:37 +0000

By: D.Capitated

D.Capitated — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 12:34:32 +0000

More analysis coming out of last week’s S&P report on Zuffa: The UFC’s ppv business is up 35% over last year through the first quarter. Full breakdown at:

http://mmapayout.blogspot.com/

So picking up on a conversation last week, far from declining the UFC’s ppv revenue is actually growing.

You didn’t pay attention to the conversation then. No one doubted that it would be higher over the first quarter, since the first quarter of last year had subpar numbers compared to what happened from Hughes/Gracie onward.

By: Christina

Christina — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 04:28:05 +0000

Personally I think that Chuck Liddell is too young to retire. Even with the two loses it might look bad for some, but I think that his fire hasn’t burnt out yet. But then again with new UFC stars like Rampage and others, it could help knock Liddell’s popularity downeven further. It’s totally up to Liddell as to what he is going to do next. I just hope he doesn’t do one of those disappearing acts like some fighters have done who have lost in the past..

By: AS

AS — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 03:27:27 +0000

More analysis coming out of last week’s S&P report on Zuffa: The UFC’s ppv business is up 35% over last year through the first quarter. Full breakdown at:

http://mmapayout.blogspot.com/

So picking up on a conversation last week, far from declining the UFC’s ppv revenue is actually growing.

By: 45 Huddle

45 Huddle — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 01:10:59 +0000

UFC 39 & 41 left such a bad taste in Zuffa’s mouth, that I doubt we will see a tournament anytime again in the UFC. When Uno & Penn went to a draw…. making the tournament basically pointless…. It was the end to multi-card tournaments.

At the same time, the UFC still kind of does unofficial tournaments. In a weird kind of way, the UFC Welterweight Division is going to have an 8-Man Tournament… I am making the assumption that if Parisyan wins in November, that he fights Jon Fitch to determine the next in line beyond GSP.

Quarterfinals:
Matt Serra vs. Matt Hughes
Georges St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck
Jon Fitch vs. Diego Sanchez
Karo Parisyan vs. TBA

Semi-Finals:
Georges St. Pierre vs. Serra/Hughes
Jon Fitch vs. Parisyan/TBA

Finals:
Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch (Hypothetical)

So yes, the UFC hasn’t mad an official tournament, but the way things are turning out, it sure as heck has that structure to it.

By: D. Capitated

D. Capitated — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 01:05:08 +0000

They don’t need to do tournaments. Just make all the good matches.

As for one night tournaments, Vegas allowed one recently, however it was limited to a 4 man tournament with 3 minute rounds.

By: The Gaijin

The Gaijin — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 01:01:55 +0000

Isn’t the issue with not having tournaments more to do with the fact that unified rules won’t allow a fighter to fight more than once a night?

They could do a tourney but it would probably take a year and that’s not even accounting for a winning fighter being medically suspended for 6+ months or anything like that. One of the good things about running in Japan was the ability to run tournys with semis + finals on the same event.

By: Dru Down

Dru Down — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 00:27:03 +0000

“Does anyone know if Mach Sakurai is going to step into the octagon soon?”

No time soon- he’s appearing on an upcoming Shootboxing card in October. I’m unclear as to whether he is signed to Shootboxing, or is competing as a representative of K-1. If it’s the latter, he probably won’t be appearing in the UFC any time soon.

By: Jeremy (not that Jeremy)

Jeremy (not that Jeremy) — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 00:20:40 +0000

Aside from the exhibition tourneys on TUF, there hasn’t been a single-event UFC tournament in eight years (Ultimate Japan 2 in November 1999).

I’m not saying it’s not a good idea, but … it’s definintely not the way that Zuffa’s done things.