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UFC 97 media heat-up – part one
By Zach Arnold | April 15, 2009
According to someone I talked with in the Toronto area, Dana White made a media appearance on Rogers Sportsnet yesterday to hype up the Montreal event. The same source says that UFC is flooding the Ontario and Montreal markets with radio ads non-stop. The media blitz is all-out.
Chuck Liddell vs. Mauricio Shogun
Sherdog: Shogun approaches UFC 97 crossroads
“All my fights were important in my life, but I see this fight as the most important,” Rua said. “Liddell is a guy who deserves respect, a top fighter, but I see myself victorious in this fight.”
Todd Martin (CBS Sports): Liddell, Shogun battle each other at UFC 97
For his part, Liddell doesn’t view his recent struggles as part of a greater trend. He dismisses the notion that his style has become predictable.
“I think I just got a little impatient and overexcited and got in a bad position,” Liddell said of his most recent knockout loss to Rashad Evans. “I’m predictable in that I’m going to throw punches at you.”
Michael David Smith (AOL Fanhouse): Shogun focused on Chuck Liddell
This is all tough to say. I trust my ground skills, and in theory I would have a better chance if the fight hits the ground. But how often do you see Chuck on his back? Many things can happen in a fight, and I expect him to come very well trained, so I have to be ready for all aspects of the game and take my chances.
Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites
SLAM! Sports: Jason MacDonald says Anderson Silva casts a shadow over the middleweight division
Kevin Iole (Yahoo Sports): Anderson Silva has something to prove this time
“The Spider” isn’t a braggart and isn’t the sort to make outlandish predictions. But it’s obvious that he’s aware of the criticism he received following the Cote fight and that he intends to make a statement and, in essence, set the world straight.
Other links
Fight Ticker: Strikeforce does decent numbers for Showtime debut event
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 10 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Kevin Iole is so silly. Anderson Silva has ‘something to prove’? This is a non-issue.
Silva was obviously trying to stretch out the fight to give the fans a more entertaining show. He was able to polish off Rich Franklin inside two rounds (twice) as well as Dan Henderson…so does anybody really believe that he couldnt have finished Cote in R1 if it suited him?
This fight will be a R1 TKO for The Spider – bet the farm on it.
Don’t worry, I’m sure Iole is only saying that Silva has “something to prove” so that Iole can proudly proclaim that Silva somehow proved it by beating Thales Leites. Then he can go on and on repeating the Zuffa company line about how Anderson Silva is totally the best fighter of all time.
Interesting to note that Strikeforce did better than a couple of the EXC cards did on Showtime. In fact, I’m fairly sure Kimbo’s pro debut only did in the 200,000s.
While the Strikeforce numbers were solid, it still shows how few people will watch it when it’s on Showtime. When a UFC PPV Replay gets over 5 times the number of viewers…. That shows why it is so hard to compete with the UFC. CBS is nice, but only 4 times a year, and something tells me it will only take 1 or 2 average ratings shows before Strikeforce is Showtime only. Network TV is very fickle.
I’m hoping Shogun beats Liddell. Chuck needs to retire, and Shogun being back “in the mix” would be nice to see.
i think that movie “never surrender” will be promoted in UFC 97
Jon Fitch vs. Paulo Thiago is officially on the main card of UFC 100. That’s nice to see, especially after what happened at UFC 94.
Silva does have alot to prove he looked like crap against Cote and for the first time in years threw up some red flags. Too bad Patrick got hurt because the way things were going it might have gotten really interesting the last couple of rounds. We’ll see if it was just an off night or if this is the start of something more, but don’t be surprised if Leites pulls this off the guy is more than skilled to do it.
It doesn’t really matter how Strikeforce did in comparison with UFC, only if they were successful given their network and what is normally done in the slot. Seeing as they aren’t blowing 10s of millions on executive perks, wilshire flats, ridiculous websites, and more, they are in a nice position to make a small profit and keep things running on Showtime.
Honestly, they may be better off on Showtime than CBS. All they need on Showtime is a built in audience that keeps a subscription to see the shows, the numbers pressure is nowhere near as high.
Agreed. Growing too big to fill out the CBS deal is one of the many reasons EliteXC ended up crashing and burning.
I’d also venture to say that through their excellent matchmaking ShoBox fans have been groomed more to be fight fans than say HBO’s audience … so there is already subscriber base (myself included) that already has Shotime for competitive matchmaking and fighting (vs. grooming stars). Sho execs have been faithful to this type of fan for a while now, so I hope Strikeforce falls into that mold. Overall I think we want more influence from Shotime ppl than CBS:P