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Dan Wetzel at Yahoo Sports: UFC 101 will do 1 million PPV buys
By Zach Arnold | August 6, 2009
Just where exactly did he get that figure? If that is what Dana White is predicting…
One all-out battle begets another. This is the core of the UFC business model, how the promotion, in the middle of a recession, gets so many people to shell out $44.95 month after month. UFC 101 is expected to do more than a million pay-per-view buys. Griffin-Silva could’ve headlined its own show. Instead it’s adding depth to a card, helping maintain momentum from the momentous UFC 100.
Now that Wetzel has publicly stated the 1 million PPV buy claim, I fully expect it to be parroted and used by various mainstream writers *after* the show takes place, no matter what the real buyrate ends up being.
Pre-UFC 101 media coverage
- The Canadian Press: Playful Anderson Silva says someone’s going to fall in UFC 101 showdown
- The Philadelphia Daily News: Shane Victorino, Phillies teammates are fans of MMA
- The Las Vegas Sun: Anderson Silva already putting on a show — in workouts
- The Las Vegas Sun: BJ Penn makes sacrifices to come back on top after loss
- The Philadelphia Inquirer: UFC comes to Philadelphia – and the impact it’s had on boxing back East
- The Philadelphia Daily News: MMA is an imperfect battlefield and has less throwaway fights than boxing
- Sportsnet (Canada): Notes from Wednesday UFC fighter workouts
On a side note, here’s an update on Andrei Arlovski.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 62 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
There were just sirens…
This is classic!!!
Once the traffic noise just died away, Vadim claimed that Fedor is a bigger brand than the UFC, who will make the UFC famous outside of the United States, if he were to sign with UFC.
“Fedor’s name outside of US is more famous then the UFC.” or something like that.
He also said if he went into the UFC, he would make them more famous outside the UFC.
I started laughing when I heard this….
DAMMIT!
I was in line to get through, but they didn’t put me on.
I had some ridiculously retarded questions that would have been the perfect way for this conference to end.
No one knew Brock Lesnar a year ago?
Lesnar has beaten Herring, Couture, & Mir. And nobody really questions that he is the #2 Heavyweight in the World right now. That isn’t the PR machine. That is Lesnar being pushed like crazy by the UFC, and him actually proving himself. Not to mention didn’t Fedor fight Hong Man Choi not too long ago. And he was what? 1-0?
This conference call shows a few things:
1. Strikeforce doesn’t have their act together. If you can’t put on a simple conference call, how do you expect to put on a national MMA company?
2. Vadim & Scott Coker are not on the same page. They don’t even seem like they have the same objectives.
3. Showtime is not overly invested into this. The guy from Showtime who talked, you could sense it in his voice. He likely has many other things on his plate besides MMA. How do you expect to compete with Fertitta who thinks MMA 24/7 basically now?
The overall call was a train wreck from beginning to end. It’s worth a listen. It’s pretty obvious Strikeforce is having some growing pains…
Call link: http://falcomadol.dyndns.org:4280/calls/2009.08.06.mp3
They will probably announce Fedor’s Strikeforce opponent on the Strikeforce card August 15th.
“mmalogic has also said that each Strikeforce Heavyweight is going to have to decide whether they want to fight Fedor, or take easier fights and get a great deal from Zuffa.”
I noticed that, too. He said that’s the case because Zuffa is “making it known” to certain Strikeforce-contracted fighters. Hooray for contract tampering! (sarcasm intended)
It’s perfectly legal to put the word out that a nice contract is waiting in the wings. It’s a sneaky way of doing business, but perfectly legal.
Either way, that is not good for Strikeforce. They either overpay for talent, or lose them. They can’t win the price war here. Showtime has a budget, they aren’t going to double it just to help out a promoter who can’t stand on his own two feet against the competition.
Not to mention Showtime loses fighters all the time to HBO and does nothing about it. Even for pay channels, they have always been second rate compared to HBO. I can’t see that trend being any different with MMA.
This racist “black people scare advertisers” stuff is ridiculous to say in 2009. Are you that trapped in your MMA bubble that you don’t realize we have a black President? That the MMA fanbase is made up of young males who probably mostly listen to rap? That we’re talking about sports, which has been heavy on black athletes since the 1960s? That you Zuffa fanboys are also hyping up how great Kimbo’s TUF season is going to be in ratings but the black guy not signed to UFC will be a detriment? You are idiots.
Arlovski is going through a depression and suicidal tendencies? Damn. That is crazy. I know people are saying that Arlovski sucks after losing to Rogers but you have to keep in mind that MMA is a mental game. That KO loss doesn’t erase what he’s done in the apst. When you are not right in the head, you’re not going to be fighting to your full abilities. Some fighters (boxers included) never recover mentally after getting knocked out just once.