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Wednesday link-o-rama
By Zach Arnold | February 13, 2007
From the IFL’s MySpace bulletin on Tuesday:
If you go to Ticketmaster and put in the code BOGO you can get two tickets for the price of one to the Atlanta IFL fights on Feb 23rd.
- The Houston Chronicle: Premiere of Elite XC falls to UFC repeat in ratings battle
- MMA Insider: Ratings for Elite XC’s Feb. 10 event (now, read this after reading the Chronicle post)
- BetUs.com: UFC 68 preview for odds
- Vegas Pop: Georges St. Pierre and Keith Jardine hanging out at PURE in Las Vegas
- WECT 6 TV (Wilmington, North Carolina): Ultimate fighting gains popularity (w/ video clips)
- MMA HQ: Diego Sanchez vs. Josh Koscheck feud on MySpace
- UFC Mania: Jens Pulver to school Joe Lauzon on UFC Ultimate Fighter 5 show
- UFC Junkie: Frank Mir vs. Antoni Hardonk at UFC Fight Night 9
- Mediaweek: Podcasting to generate $400 million USD in ad sales by 2011 (so, there… keep listening to FO Radio)
- China Combat: Interview with Andy Pi – Part 1
- MMA California: Cage Combat 2/17 Santa Rosa, CA. show press release
- NWI Times: Miguel Torres fight team up to the challenge
- The Daily Iowan: MMA alive & kicking in Cedar Rapids
- Point Spreads: BodogFIGHT books Russia vs. USA PPV with Fedor vs. Lindland on 4/14
Topics: All Topics, IFL, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, UFC, Zach Arnold | 29 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
“HAPPY VALENTINES DAY HUMAN BLANKET, I HOPE YOU PACK SOME BALLS IN YOUR SUIT CASE WHEN YOU COME TO H TOWN, PLEASE DONT TRY TO DRY HUMP ME LIKE ALL YOUR OTHER BORING ASS FIGHTS. IM READY RIGHT NOW!!!! I ASKED DANA FOR YOU!!
P.S. YOU AINT GOT HANDS”
I hope the shit-talking continues between Sanchez and Koscheck at UFC 68 or the next UFN, these promos are great for ticket sales and hype up the fight to a more enjoyable degree. I mean lets face it, who doesnt like two guys who supposedly hate each other fight to the finish inside the cage? One thing I could say about the EliteXC event this last weekend, besides the fact that I liked it, was all the promos that were being cut and the heat that was gained from the crowd; especially from Krazy Horse and Frank Shamrock. Cesar Gracie even put in his two cents against Frank in an interesting war of words. This was both interesting and entertaining to watch, like watching Tyson talk smack on television with Lennox Lewis. The fighters should be encouraged to call out fighters they want to fight, it makes the events more attractive and warranted or not, gives the fighters more credibility. How? Just look at Ken Shamrock,his MMA career was built on shit-talking and everyone loved him for it. If you can make claims and prove your point in the cage, you will get public approval. It is as simple as that.
I don’t know what all the hubub about podcasts is. It is a great idea but the execution of a lot of podcast radio shows, not necessarily FO Radio, is pretty pathetic. For example, I listened to a couple of podcasts by Popular Mechanics the other day and it hurt just trying to listen to listen to these guys stumble through their unrehearsed and unprepared stumbling sentences. “Um, um, um, repeat myself, um, um, um.”
Well, it’s like playing poker. The old saying “It’s take a minute to learn and a lifetime to master.” There are a lot of crappy audio shows out there in terms of production quality, that’s for certain. Which is why a lot of time is spent on that end with our shows.
Regarding the Houston Chronicle article and Spike TV beating Showtime in the ratings, this is to be expected for every broadcast of MMA on Showtime (or HBO, for that matter). Spike TV is available in 92 million homes. Showtime is available in 14 million homes. If MMA on Showtime out-drew MMA on Spike TV, now THAT would be surprising.
Also, Showtime normally has boxing on the first Saturday of every month, but with the Mayweather vs. de la Hoya mega-fight taking place on May 5th, EXC is getting thrown to the wolves and put in the May 5th slot head-to-head with the mega-PPV, instead of a Showtime boxing card going head-to-head with Mayweather vs. de la Hoya.
Basically, EliteXC on premium cable had almost as many viewers as IFL have been doing on free FSN. That speaks volumes, as does the ratings comparison done by MMA Insider. I’m positively surprised.
Why does Frank Mir have ANOTHER fight?!!?! Why am I forced to keep asking this question every few months?
There’s a great sport that’s even better than MMA at creating the feuds between 2 guys who supposedly hate each other. It’s called ProWrestling. Diego Sanchez vs Kos on Myspace? That is completely homosexual. I really hope Diego didn’t actually write that. This is exactly what the sport doesn’t need. I don’t want to sound like an elitist prick, but this is what I always hoped wouldn’t happen if/when MMA got popular. I like that the sport is gaining exposure but I’d just as soon it stayed small even if that meant lesser athletes not to have this pro-wrasslin’ garbage. Eddie Goldman is right on about that. He goes way too far to the extreme in being anti-UFC but several of the points he made are valid. There is a pro wrestling mentality and it does promote anti-social behaviours. Herring’s kiss was a work, that shouldn’t have been put on TV any more than Ken Shamrock’s WWF stuff. If the sport is promoted like this the bubble will burst in 18 months to 2 years. That’s the life cycle of trash entertainment these days.
John, Mir now officially has gate-keeper status. Antoni Hardonk will be one fight away from Cro Cop’s left foot after knocking Mir out on Spike TV. He’ll have the spot that they wanted Vera to have before his contract problems.
I’m amazed Showtime is running May 5. I saw that earlier and thought for sure it must be a typo. Who is even going to be in attendance for that event? De la Hoya/Mayweather is going to be an event fight. Wait until the press starts for it in mid-April. They should run Elite XC on May 4th and forget Saturday night or rerun Castillo/Corales I.
UFC has been promoted like pro wrestling over the last couple of years, and its business is booming. I think that’s reason enough for MMA to promote itself like wrestling; it sells. I think that a lot of the smack-talking leading up to the fights is worked to various degrees, but the fights are real and people are paying to see them.
Wrestling boomed and busted. Eminem boomed and busted. Jackass, the Maury Povich show. Trash scintillates people then it becomes passe.
“the Maury Povich show”
160 pound four year olds never get old, mon frere.
Does anyone know what the Showtime boxing specials average at, viewer wise?
All successful sports are promoted like pro-wrestling. Pay attention to all the trash talking in the newspapers. This goes for the NFL, NBA, and baseball. Nascar is built on the question of who is going to bump who. It isn;t just WWE and UFC.
To atttract an audience beyond the small hardcore base in any sport requires a soap opera storyline of some sort.
Hmm, I thought Sanchez and Kos were buddies. They looked like BFF back on TUF, guess something changed since then.
“Does anyone know what the Showtime boxing specials average at, viewer wise?”
That is the million dollar question. Showtime was looking for boxing like ratings for the first show. I search online, and couldn’t find anything. I’m sure the next Wrestling Observer will have comments on the numbers, with analysis to put things in perspective.
As for the number of people watched the show…..
365,000 is 365,000 no matter how you slice it. You can do an analysis of the percentage of viewers, but the fact that it is only available in 15 Million homes really hurts Pro Elite.
And before I get wrecked with “UFC Nuthugger” comments, I think it will be the same way when the UFC goes on HBO. First, I fully understand why the UFC wants to be on HBO. It blocks another organization from doing the same thing. But when you limit the number of households that can watch something, it hurts the organization. HBO has 40 Million subscribers, so it isn’t as bad as Showtime, but it is still a smaller audience.
And when the first UFC show at midnight does an audience of only 1 million, people will be saying: “Well, it did good by comparison. BS. The fact is that only a certain number of people could see the show, and that hurts the product in the long run.
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As for Sanchez vs. Koscheck…. I don’t believe the feud for a second. Let them talk away. The fight should still be great.
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I was completely unimpressed with Bodog last night on ION. In fact, I literally fell asleep half way through the show. I enjoy free fighting on TV, but as of right now, it is not a threat to the UFC. Which only furthers my point about the IFL. Just because it is on TV, doesn’t mean it will become a hit. It needs to hit a cord with the audience. Only time will tell on the IFL.
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As for Pro Wrestling, it still brings in 3.0+ ratings and is typically one of the best rated cable shows week after week. Yes, it is still in a slump, but it still does monster ratings. And not all Pro Wrestling fans are trash. It is about the same ratio as any other sports fans. You always get the idiot fans.
One last point about Showtime.
A few things will give us perspective on the ratings.
1. How they compare to boxing. Showtime was looking for something close.
2. How the viewership is on the 3rd Showtime Card. I don’t think it is fair to count the next card because it is going up against De La Hoya vs. Mosley. However, the third card will give us a better indication of how well the first show “stuck” the the fans. Sometimes a show will do real well in the ratings at first (can you say XFL), and they once people see it, they don’t go back. So that 3rd show will probably be a more important indicator.
3. PPV Buys. This is very important. The WWE gets many more fans to watch RAW then a typical UFC Fight Night. Yet when it comes to the PPV’s, the UFC easily outsells everything the WWE puts on except WrestleMania (which gets good buy rates). How many fans are willing to buy the event on PPV will be ANOTHER indicator of how well people liked the show. How many of those people want to go above and beyond and pay $40 to $50 for a PPV.
Only time will tell for these questions.
Critic
I understand some of your points but I think that point 3. is a little hard in drawing the parallels in some aspects. From my understanding of the wrestling business – PPV’s used to do huge draws b/c they held matches that were never offered/available on free tv. The WWE has shot themselves in the foot in some aspect b/c they began to give away all of those “fights” on free TV and thus burned up the ability to use PPV’s outside of their big ones (Wrestlemania) as big draws for fans money.
THIS to me is the HUGE reason why UFC seems to be the opposite with respect to TV ratings vs. PPV’s. I guarantee you the second you started getting Chuck Liddell or GSP or Cro Cop on (U)FN’s you’d start to see a drastic cannibalization of PPV viewership.
While I dont disagree with you, I’m just pointing out what (in my view) is responsible for the TV vs. PPV numbers.
What the hell is with all the media attention to Sean Salmon lately? UFCJunkie even gave him a column. WTF? Last time i checked I was watching Sugar Rashad knock Salmon the fuck out. How does that legitimize him in such a way?
ufcjunkie.com sponsors salmon. they have been hyping him and following him since before the fight with Rashad.
http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=4503
UFC Manchester show and date made official. And I expect this site will once again link to this same story from some other site two days from now, as usual ð
365,000 is 365,000 no matter how you slice it. You can do an analysis of the percentage of viewers, but the fact that it is only available in 15 Million homes really hurts Pro Elite.
And before I get wrecked with ââ¬ÅUFC Nuthuggerââ¬Â comments, I think it will be the same way when the UFC goes on HBO. First, I fully understand why the UFC wants to be on HBO. It blocks another organization from doing the same thing. But when you limit the number of households that can watch something, it hurts the organization. HBO has 40 Million subscribers, so it isnââ¬â¢t as bad as Showtime, but it is still a smaller audience.
And when the first UFC show at midnight does an audience of only 1 million, people will be saying: ââ¬ÅWell, it did good by comparison. BS. The fact is that only a certain number of people could see the show, and that hurts the product in the long run.
HBO has a massive customer base that is typically the creme de la creme of the country. The trend for people who have premium cable, frankly, is middle class to wealthy. That’s why its premium, after all, and not broadcast TV. HBO has developed massive stars over the years and had huge programs. Did being on HBO kill Evander Holyfield or Mike Tyson’s career? What kind of damage did it do for the stars of the countless hit shows they’ve had over the years? I’m sure Larry David cries every day that Curb Your Enthusiasm is in such a small number of homes, and really wishes he could be on a 24 hour cable network like Comedy Central or Spike TV. I wonder if Rome, Sex In The City, or The Sopranos would have been as successful on the USA Network or TBS? I mean, seriously now people. Claiming that being on HBO is a detriment is dumb.
UFC Junkie has been having some good info lately.
1. Vera vs. O’Brien at a future event. Good match making by the UFC. O’Brien isn’t exactly a fan favorite, and he has the ability to make Vera look bad.
2. Kurt Angle was being offered a fight by Pro Elite, until the UFC started offering him as well. I hope Angle doesn’t fight for either. He has had multiple neck injuries and is a pill popper. Even McMahon, the guy with no morals, thinks he is a ticking time bomb and let him go.
3. Leben vs. Sterns in May.
I have to agree with the millions asking, how will O’Brien make Vera look bad? The guy can only lay n pray, even if Vera loses by decision I dont think it will ahve an effect on his future. Not like a stunning GnP beating.
Also just wondeirng MMA critic have u ever fell asleep watching the IFL?
No, I have never falled asleep watching the IFL. I have turned the channel and only watched certain rounds, but never fallen asleep.
How will he make him look bad? The same way Joslin looked bad against Koscheck. The same way Herring looked bad against O’Brien. Being lay’d and prayed on for 3 rounds doesn’t make you look like a good fighter. It won’t help O’Briens career either, but it will only make Vera look worse.
If I was the UFC, I would put this fight as a prelim. If Vera wins, don’t show it. If O’Brien win, show it twice.
lets not forget how Kongo looked like crap against Marrerro
That fight actually killed Kongo’s MMA career up this point. He has a chance to start redeeming himself at the UK show, but it will be a while.
*uuuugggggggggghhh*
This site blows donkey’s to post on. The F@*%^ junk filter labels everything “spam” and by the time my comment gets posted (10 hours later) it’s pretty irrelevant to the stream of the thread.
How does everyone else get through? Can I not be put on a “Safe List”? Even crappy yahoo/hotmail e-mail in-box(es) have a feature to take care of that…this server doesnt?
O’Brien won’t be able to lnp on Vera. Vera is bigger than O’Brien and has masterful BJJ.
The filters are catching other postings as well, mainly those using hotmail addresses. If you use another e-mail, I think it might get through quicker. I had a few users get their posts caught today. Sorry.
I’d be more apologetic, but then I realize just how much spam would get through and I count my lucky stars.
K thanks for the tips…I realize that there’s so much spam-bots etc. out there that you cannot just go without one. And I’m sure I’m not the only one getting caught, but I’m glad you seem to understand my frustration. I’ll try to use a different email addy from now on, I just wasn’t sure if you had the ability to identify certain addresses or ip’s as “not junk”, whether or not you think that of my opinion haha!
I can’t figure out if the filters are IP sensitive (that is my guess) or what the situation is. *sigh*