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The argument against airing UFC 100 on Spike TV to counter Strikeforce programming
By Zach Arnold | August 13, 2009
Jason Bent at MMA Torch signals that Dana White’s attempt to air UFC 100 on Spike TV a month after the show aired live on PPV is Vince McMahon-style paranoia in order to combat Strikeforce because they signed Fedor.
Look, this show did 1.71 million PPV buys and was covered on ESPN and yes, everyone has seen the aforementioned main card bouts. However, it is a true disservice to your fans when you told them how important it was to PAY for this show, when they could have watched it for FREE a month later and this time you will actually get to see Jon Jones vs. Jake O’Brien and Stephan Bonnar vs. Mark Coleman, which were two fights most of us actually wanted to see.
So, Dana White comes out the bigger bitch on a night which will be topped off by two women fighting inside of a cage. If Strikeforce does not matter, why then, is he countering their programming with Brock Lesnar, who is the UFC’s biggest star at this moment? Why not go ahead and show Rashad Evans vs. Lyoto Machida from UFC 98 and use that to set up some talk about Evans on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’? Using Brock means he is going for the jugular and most fans who paid to see Brock do it to Mir once will gladly flip over and watch the replay of it for free. It was an awesome performance. Getting to see some undercard fights along with it, makes it amazing.
Other headlines
- The London Telegraph (Gareth A Davies): UFC 101 – British fans angry with ESPN coverage, want questions answered
- The Canadian Press: RCMP no more worried about MMA event drawing gang members than other sports
- The Globe and Mail (op-ed by Fight Network): MMA a sport? Actually, it’s several
- The Las Vegas Sun: Reed Harris has big plans for the future on UFC’s sister organization (Mexico & flyweights)
- The Kitsap Sun: Suspect provokes fight ‘in UFC training effort’ (you stay classy, newspaper headline writers)
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 62 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The Davies piece is a joke. Ads are annoying, but that’s how it goes on tiered cable channels.
I can’t believe that someone is actually claiming that it’s a disservice to people who paid to watch it live that it will be shown on Spike a month later. You can choose to watch the event at a bar for much less money (or no cover at all). Does that mean that the PPV should be five bucks or free for every home in America? Of course not.
Stupid argument. HBO airs ppvs one week afterwards. Nobody complains about that. I doubt any of the 1.7 million buys would have not bough that show to wait a month for it on Spike.
So much of the anti-UFC stuff written is sophomoric crap.
The Davies piece is a joke. Ads are annoying, but that’s how it goes on tiered cable channels.
Yeah, but ESPN over there is basically a premium satellite service you pay extra for. What separates it and Setanta are A) a bigger bankroll behind it B) advertisments.
Stupid argument. HBO airs ppvs one week afterwards. Nobody complains about that. I doubt any of the 1.7 million buys would have not bough that show to wait a month for it on Spike.
I saw this early this morning and I was going to say exactly that if I wasn’t getting ready for work. Note: The dude writes for The Torch, so there’s a possibility he’s never actually watched real sports before MMA.
Disagree that the people who bought the show live feel ripped off having it air for free a month later. The biggest reason to buy PPVs live is because you get the rush of watching a live fight where you don’t know what’s going to happen. Seeing it on TV later or seeing the DVD is a totally different experience. So I have no problems ordering a PPV and then buying the DVD later.
Agree that Dana looks like a douche going against a women’s fight this strong. Since this is solely about Fedor swerving him, this action looks like the bitchy ex-girlfriend seeing her ex-boyfriend in a bar with another woman and throwing a drink on him before storming off in a huff. Not that he cares how he comes across, though.
“So, Dana White comes out the bigger bitch on a night which will be topped off by two women fighting inside of a cage.”
This comment is, at best, clumsy and vulgar, and at worst, downright offensive.
@Jeremy (not that Jeremy): You’re missing the point, ads are fine. Setanta advertised heavily.
It was the complete disregard for what was being broadcast at the time the “show ads” button was pushed.
A large number of ESPN UFC watchers are subscribing JUST for the UFC (no doubt there is crossover, but no one I talk to has subscribed to ESPN for the football), and a lot of us really enjoy the corner-talking (the GSP / Greg Jackson back and forth at UFC 100, was awesome), so it feels like our investment (and yeah £10 a month isn’t much in comparison to PPV) is being devalued.
Wow, Jason Bent knows nothing. How would showing Evans/Machida, a fight in which Evans got smashed, help build to Evans’ appearance on the Ultimate Fighter?
As for UFC 100 airing head-to-head with Strikeforce this weekend, I don’t have a problem with it. They’re competing organizations.
I don’t see a problem with putting UFC 100 on SpikeTV 1 month later. Most people who order a PPV want to see it live anyways. And, they are showing undercard fights that nobody really got to see.
I do think putting UFC 100 against this Strikeforce card is pointless. They should have saves it for Fedor’s premiere. UFC 100 Greatest fights would have done just fine.
Either way, Strikeforce is starting to learn the true consequences of signing Fedor…
45 Huddle,
Is there nothing you will not shill for the UFC?
Tell me what I said that was a schill for the UFC?
@ 45 Huddle
From what I’ve heard the UFC will be airing a live fight night on Spike to go head-to-head against Fedor’s Strikeforce debut.
They didn’t steal Fedor from the UFC. Fedor turned down a UFC offer and then decided to sign with Strikeforce. There was nothing dirty about it to warrant a vendetta. Should everybody have left Fedor alone out of fear because Zuffa felt wrongly entitled to have him? Gloating about a business trying to ruin a persons chances of success just because they didn’t want to work for their company is ridiculously immature. If Dana has any pictures of himself with Fedor, he’s probably burned them while sobbing at being spurned.
Because ever since Fedor signed with Strikeforce, you’ve been giddy about how Dana is going to try to bring them down for the fighter he believed he was entitled to. Disliking Strikeforce is one thing, gloating about UFC’s success is one thing. But there’s nothing amusing or cool about a company far beyond their competitor feeling wrongly entitled to every big name and going out of their way to make sure nobody watches their show. Business is business, but this is “IF I CAN’T HAVE YOU NO ONE WILL!” psycho spurned lover level.
Mark,
Are you 12? Do you still get mad at the little injustices in the world? What the UFC is doing has NOTHING to do with “Strikeforce stealing Fedor”.
The UFC is the dominant company for MMA. They must go after the rising companies at their weakest points or potentially lose market share if they get bigger. This is no different then what any other major company does. You use your size and power to wipe out the little guys.
Strikeforce was never a potential threat to them until they signed Fedor. Once they did, PPV and CBS were likely options within the next year. That made them direct competition.
If you really think this about White & Fertitta being heartbroken about Fedor not signing, you are hugely mistaken. The same thing would be done if Ortiz or Kimbo signed with Strikeforce.
Go watch some of Google’s business practices. The way they crush the upstart companies in their field. It makes Zuffa look like amateurs.
This is purely business.
“But there’s nothing amusing or cool about a company far beyond their competitor feeling wrongly entitled to every big name and going out of their way to make sure nobody watches their show. Business is business, but this is “IF I CAN’T HAVE YOU NO ONE WILL!” psycho spurned lover level.”
So are you anti-competition? Or just anti-competition when it benefits the smaller company?
I have been vocal that I would like to see all the best fighters in one organization.
Seeing Fedor not fight his next 3 best challengers is a pointless waste of time. The winner of Babalu/Mousasi has literally nobody to fight outside of the UFC. Jake Shields has move up a weight class because he is completely out of opponents at Welterweight. I don’t see how them being outside of the UFC benefits me the fan one bit.
The UFC is the dominant company for MMA. They must go after the rising companies at their weakest points or potentially lose market share if they get bigger. This is no different then what any other major company does. You use your size and power to wipe out the little guys.
There’s a difference between acknowledging this and then openly pining for their failure, of course, which is where the comedy comes in.
Google co-exists with competitors like Yahoo, AltaVista, Bing, ect. UFC is intentionally trying to make sure a company folds so they can again try to force Fedor to sign with them because they feel entitled to him and feel entitled to being the only MMA organization on television.
There is a huge difference between Google buying out smaller competitors and trying to make sure they never get off the ground so you can buy them. The companies Google purchased like Blogspot or DoubleClick weren’t bashed non-stop in the press for yuks, Google didn’t make any attempt to make sure they weren’t successful to drive down their market value.
If Google was the UFC they’d talk shit non-stop about how much Yahoo’s star employee sucks for not joining Google, counterprogram multimedia press up against Yahoo’s multimedia press and then put out schizophrenic interviews about how they’re untouchable titans but then suddenly forced to go on the defensive. Because Sergey Binn and Larry Page have dignity unlike Dana.
And obviously it’s not just Fedor, they feel entitled to everybody.
Alan,
I want to see Fedor fight Brock. Mousasi against the UFC Light Heavyweights. Shields against the UFC Welterweights. I have no problem publicly cheering for these fights. And it makes no sense for a co-promotion for these to happen because Strikeforce doesn’t even have 10% of the fanbase the UFC does.
Mark,
So basically what you want it competition. Only not two way competition. Just competition coming from the smaller companies. That’s basically what you are saying.
And Google and the UFC might have different ways of doing things, but it’s primarily the same end result. Keep your market share and hurt the competition who is trying to increase at your expense.
That’s quite the diplomatic way of saying “I want strangers to fail so that some guy who I also don’t know and have emotional attachment to gets to strongarm other strangers for the benefit of me getting to see cage fights.” Expected from you, because I don’t think you’re serious. The funny part is when I see other people do it and then project their emotional attachments onto others in an attempt to slag them as being fans of a “broken system” or something.
Wrong.
It’s just saying as a fan I want to see all the best fighters in one organization so they can constantly fight each other.
Kind of like how baseball fans want to see the best against each other. And basketball. And football. And tennis. Etc, etc, etc….
All fighters being in the UFC is the best chance of that happening right now.
If there is any emotional attachment, it’s to seeing great fights. And no organization in the world has a better long term track record of that then Zuffa. Even you said yourself yesterday that Strikeforce isn’t putting on any fights people really want to see…..
LOL, so people want Strikeforce around because they want the UFC to have competition to step up there game. Yet get butt hurt when UFC does step up their game against its competitors. Just unbelievable, some people will whine and cry about anything.
I have a theory on UFC haters, to me they fall in to either of two categories.
A wanna be elitist who hates on anything that becomes popular just to differentiate themselves and feel special. They’re the type of people who go around and will jump in a conversation about the P4P best fighter and tell them that its not Anderson Silva, BJ Penn, GSP, ect but an obscure 135 pound Japanese fighter who fights in an even more obscure Japanese organization. The same type of person who calls everyone a TUF noob for disagreeing with his opinion. Its the type of person who thinks they deserve credit or to be recognized as a person who was a fan of MMA before it became hot.
Than its just the people with an axe to grind. Pride fan boys who are angry that Pride died and blame the UFC, MMA bloggers who believe they have a right to be credentialed for UFC events, fans of a fighter that got cut, ect.
“should we air UFC 100 or a MANswers marathon?”-Spike
I think 45 Huddle is really Cindy O from the UG.
Keep up the good work Reichsmarshal Huddle, Fuhrer Weisskopf is proud.
Wrong.
Not really. Looks like you said the same thing over again, actually, and used two posts to do it. It appears you don’t think Strikeforce has or would put on good fights and you want them to fail in order to efficently shuttle people to the UFC. Again, I don’t take you seriously, so I can’t be offended. People who actually espouse that (and have better platforms than FO.com comments’ section) are the ones that I find truly sad.
Alan,
If you don’t take me seriously, then why on every thread do you quote me and start discussions with me?
You act as if you are somehow superior then other’s, yet as Reese put it, people like you fall into really 1 of 2 catagories.
You really haven’t added anything, except throwing out insults. But whatever makes you feel better about yourself.
People might disagree with my viewpoints, but I swear over and over and over they show to be right. As each organization fails… The same one’s you have glorified in order to bash Zuffa…. It makes it more apparent you aren’t really a fan of the sport…. Just in bashing what is popular and trying to be different.
And you really haven’t shown me how these guys outside the UFC will be given good fights that anybody is going to be interested in.
Look at the Sherdog Top 10…. Which if anything could be looked at upon as slightly biased against Zuffa’s fighters….
Of the 7 weight classes used right now in America (excluding Flyweight)…. The UFC has 51 of the 70 fighters listed. The rest is as follows:
1. Strikeforce – 4
2. DREAM – 4
3. Sengoku – 6
4. Other – 5
Not only is the vast majority of talent in the UFC… but the remaining talent is so spread out across other organizations, that being able to see the elite fight each other has a very slim chance of happening.
As a fan of the sport, I’ve seen this spreading out of talent occur for way too long. If anything, the sport is more condensed now then it has ever been. I like that as a fan.
I’m in favor of a DREAM/Sengoku merger. Or at least one of them dying off so we could get some better fights. I am also in favor of seeing the few top guys that Strikeforce has in the UFC so we can finally determine how good they are.
If that makes me a UFC Schill…. Or whatever else people have called me, then I could care less….
You entertain me. No other reason. I like especially right now that you won’t just admit to wanting Strikeforce to fail now that they have shown aspirations beyond “regional promotion Cung Le is in” and instead frame this about people wanting the UFC to fail. What was that I said about projection?
No. Basically what I am saying is that the UFC acts immature in their vindictive business practices but went complains that nobody takes them seriously as anything more than “slightly more respectable WWE.” There’s nothing wrong with counter programming, although it is extremely excessive. There is something wrong with haing the figurehead of your company go out in the media to cut endless pro wrestling promos announcing intentions to put the opposition out of business because they took an employee you believed you were entitled to….but said employee is “a joke” and “never drew a dime”, but oddly you’re dying to pay him money. I don’t recall McDonald’s wanting to destroy Burger King because they took a top business prospect that they wanted. And if they did they didn’t air out the dirty laundry about it in endless press cycles.
No, it’s totally different. Google runs with in the confines of business respectability, their CEOs are constantly ranked among the best bosses to work for in the e-commerce field. UFC runs exactly like World Wrestling Entertainment by a man who is more like Vince McMahon’s son than Shane McMahon is. And nobody really likes working for him. There’s nothing wrong with emulating the WWE business model, but there should be a certain point when you stop living your life by Vince McMahon’s autobiography if you don’t want to be viewed as a joke by the outside world. This is that time.
You made an awful comparison by choosing Google, whose only real ethics complaint came from storing personal information of users for too long. You should have gone with the obvious choice of Microsoft, although obviously that wouldn’t win anybody over.
“So, Dana White comes out the bigger bitch on a night which will be topped off by two women fighting inside of a cage.”
What a completely misogynistic asshole statement to make because women are involved in his point.
What a total fucking tool.
Rp
Alan,
Not only did you avoid all the points I made, you just went right to bashing again. Typical Alan. It’s either that, or you take one line out of context and try to bash somebody with it. Other people have seen your ways….
Enough of you…
DRUM ROLL PLEASE….. CONTINUE THE DRUM ROLL….
Rumor has it that Strikeforce is working on the following fight:
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Ricco Rodriguez
And this is good for the fans how? WAY TO GO STRIKEFORCE
Not only did you avoid all the points I made, you just went right to bashing again. Typical Alan. It’s either that, or you take one line out of context and try to bash somebody with it. Other people have seen your ways….
So you want Strikeforce to succeed, you just want them to lose all their fighters and stop competing with the UFC. Gotcha. Reasonable request.
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Ricco Rodriguez
And this is good for the fans how?
Scott Coker: Thinks big, just never big enough. But hey, Ricco is probably cheap enough that he will make money off the live gate. LOL
Ricco was a good fighter back in the past. Can he still make 265? again
I hope Strikeforce get’s there act together and try having a decent undercard. It’s hard to root for fighter’s will below average record’s.
I hope they follow this with Fedor fighting Dan Severn, Steve Jennum, and Marco Ruas in one night. Then after he beats all of them, they can give him a check for like $25,000 (his actual pay) and proclaiming him the official “Fighting’s Ultimate Champion” or something. If you’re gonna dream absurd, go all the way; FUC Champion, Fedor Emelianenko.
Side note people don’t seem to know for whatever reason: Mario Rinaldi beat Ricco about a month ago or so. Its not on Sherdog; no idea why not.
One thing that Dana White and his lemmings seem to forget amidst all of their child-like vindictiveness and anti-competitive behavior is that competition can actually be a good thing not just for an industry as a whole, but even for the market leader.
I saw this posted on MMA Payout a while back. It’s an excerpt from “The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding” by Al and Laura Ries regarding The Law of Fellowship.
-In order to build the category, a brand should welcome other brands.
-Greed often gets in the way of common sense.
-Not only should the dominant brand tolerate competitors, it should welcome them. The best thing that happened to Coca-Cola was Pepsi-Cola.
-Choice stimulates demand. The competition between Coke and Pepsi makes customers more cola conscious. Per capita cola consumption goes up.
-Customers respond to competition because choice is seen as a major benefit. If there is no choice, customers are suspicious. Maybe the category has some flaws? Maybe the price is too high? Who wants to buy a brand if you don’t have another brand to compare it with?
-Your brand should welcome healthy competition. It often brings more customers into the category.
-And remember; no brand can ever own the entire market (unless of course it is a government-sanctioned monopoly)
“So, Dana White comes out the bigger bitch on a night which will be topped off by two women fighting inside of a cage.”
That is an incredibly offensive comment, even worse than, “Gina Carano should stop being so shy and stupid!”
Alan actually it is on sherdog, check once again
Ivan,
Even if the UFC were the ONLY MMA company in the world, they would still have competition.
1. They are competing with the NFL, NBA, & MLB.
2. Their main profits are made by getting people to purchase a PPV. And not a cheap one. This right there
That list might work for a soda brand, but likely not MMA….
“-In order to build the category, a brand should welcome other brands.”
The category has been built without competition.
“-Choice stimulates demand. The competition between Coke and Pepsi makes customers more cola conscious. Per capita cola consumption goes up.”
From 25,000 to 1.7 Million PPV Buys. And all without competition.
Look, the Coke vs. Pepsi thing doesn’t work in this example. You go to the store and decide which soft drink you want. That’s a very different type of purchase compared to buying a PPV. The PPV is purchased instead of going to a game. Instead of going to the movies.
Other sports leagues have their sports cornered, and it has never stiffled their growth. If anything, it has helped it.
The competition for the fans then becomes the Yankees vs. Red Sox…. Or in the UFC’s case…. Brock Lesnar vs. whoever he is fighting.
Imagine if Coca-Cola CEO E. Neville Isdell did an interview saying: “I told those idiots at Pepsi, ‘I hope you idiots stay in business.’ We had a record year in 2007. We had a record year in 2008. And we’re going to have an even bigger record year in 2009. I said, ‘I hope you motherfuckers stay around in 2010 and burn every dollar you have.’ What they do is of no concern to me.”
Dana White: the charming future Prince of Fortune 500.
As many have said, retarded argument. I paid for it because I wanted to see it live, not a month later knowing the results. Come on, HBO and Showtime show PPVs a week after they air and no one cares. Weak stuff.
“Other sports leagues have their sports cornered, and it has never stiffled their growth.”
Other sports leagues also have anti-trust exemptions from the government that protect them from being prosecuted for anti-trust violations. The UFC does not.
Other sports leagues also have 30-32 teams bidding for the services of its athletes, not one individual promoter who publicly says that you’re not legitimate and are a “fucking joke” if you don’t sign with him.
I’ll tape the show for sure. It’ll be funny then overdubbing Akiyamas music though and having him walk out to Nu Metal.
That’s the biggest downer of these re-broadcasts is they change entrances, and overdub extra commentary. All in all, they come off really strange but are still cool to watch for the fights.
them, even
Also, they are not competing with “traditional ball sports.” Ever. They compete with boxing and pro wrestling may be a valid argument, but the only person who believes they’re honestly in competition with baseball, football and basketball is Dana White in his moments of full-on ego attacks.
Ivan Trembow is dangerous.
He thinks and has some education. Excellent post.
Someone needs to educate Dana White on the reality of the open market and why his destrucive wannabe monopoly hurts the sport. His influence on the image of mma is the most negative force imaginable when it comes to the image of the sport and it’s mainstream acceptance.
But what would we expect from a couple of silver spoon kids who bankrupted their father’s legacy and an uneducated aerobics instructor with a Napaleon complex and serious insecurity issues.
Si, the ads shown on UFC shows in Spike and WEC shows on Vs. are also inserted between rounds, two thirty second spots.
And Vs. is frequently on a pay tier in the US as well, or at least used to be. I think Spike is awful enough to be basic cable most places.
Mark, your view of Google is extremely rosy. There are many more complaints out there than just the privacy concerns (which are not in any way minor, IMHO).
First, Mike Afromowitz from Strikeforce would neither confirm or deny the Ricco Rodriguez rumor. The fact that they are even thinking about this is horrible. This is what boxing does. Protects their stars.
As for the UFC and all this monopoly talk.
1. Yes, they are competing will “ball sports”. They are competing with the movies. They are competing with Video On Demand. This isn’t Facial Tissues where you either use them or you don’t. This is discretionary income. And many forms of entertainment will always be directly and indirectly competition for them.
2. The potential workers in their industry (fighters) have not been given unfair wages. The main even guys are making millions now. The lower level guys are still making a solid wage. They also allow fighters to have certain approved sponsorship on their attire when they are fighting. These are not predatory practices.
2. For the last time, the UFC will never be considered a monopoly. Additionally, no legal issues will ever come of it. In order to be considered a monopoly, a company really needs to using predatory pricing and stuff of this nature. Additionally, the UFC would only be in trouble if somehow it could be proved that they are hurting the interests of the consumer.
As for Dana White….
Someday he might be a liability to the UFC…. That time hasn’t come yet. You put him up against David Stern and Bud Selig, and he is a breath of fresh air to most fans. He is honest and talks like them. The UFC still gets deals done and it has never been reported that any advertisers have left the UFC due to him.
Monopolies have nothing to do with market share, and everything to do with barriers in entering the market. Anybody can enter the MMA market (as Affliction showed us), they just lose their shirts because A) they don’t know what they’re doing and B) the UFC offers a categorically superior product. It’s the same thing that would happen to Coke if Pepsi changed its formula to taste like dirty, carbonated tap water.
Also, the whole “Dana is bad for the sport” is tired and played out. Watch his last Q&A session, he was a huge hit. Fans come up to him all the time and ask for pictures and autographs like he’s their hero. His vlog’s get 50k-100k hits on average (maybe higher? can’t check anymore). If anything, most people like Dana. A lot.