Rumor: UFC 136 - 175k buys

[Liquidrob]

Bellator and M1 get more viewers than the last UFC

Hopefully this means the average joe isn't falling for the ppv scam anymore, long live free MMA!

THE JIG IS UP

 

[SHOGUN]

:rolling:

 

[EmpireWF]

Meltzer...

The early estimate for UFC 136 on 10/8 from Houston is about 250,000 buys. It once again shows that a rematch of a great match (Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard, whose 1/1 match is a strong candidate for match of the year and a fight where at least to those who saw it, it was very hotly debated who won) doesn’t mean much unless they are with fighters who are over. This would be the lowest number on PPV for a title match dating back to probably 2005, and this was a show with two title matches (also Jose Aldo Jr. vs. Kenny Florian) and Chael Sonnen’s return against Brian Stann. Two weeks between shows, and coming off a show with what to the public was a far stronger main event (the 9/24 show did almost double this one) also didn’t help. As great a fighter as Jose Aldo Jr. is, he’s not over, and he only draws with Urijah Faber. Getting the featherweight and bantamweight titles over is going to take time and developing more than one star in the division. But this is pretty clearly showing that the business value of a UFC championship fight has taken a real hit, because there was a time when you could put two guys not known to the general public and call it a UFC title fight and get 450,000 buys.

Not good by any means if they couldn't even come close to 300k. Dana's trying to make Edgar a draw with the p4p talk and all that jazz, but he's not charismatic in the least.

 

[SHOGUN]

It's hard as hell for UFC fighters to get over because ZUFFA doesn't really talk people up, and when they do they never go outside of the same handful of buzz words/phrases. IE: "He's an explosive Brazilian striker with good jiu-jitsu." - I can link that to Shogun, Aldo, Luiz Cane, Rafael Dos Anjos, Barbosa, etc.

They don't do enough to get people invested in a fighter because they are scared shitless at the chance that person will become bigger than the brand, which is nigh impossible in today's climate. UFC is exactly like WWE in this regard.

 

[EmpireWF]

Fact remains they only have a few draws (Brock, GSP)....guys like Rashad/Rampage aren't draws by themselves but can be huge draws if the right fight comes together.

Bones may be the only guy on the cusp of breaking out but so far, not a lot to show for how great of a fighter he's been. Perhaps Bones/Rashad (if it ever happens) can lead to that.

Anderson is not a big draw by himself (like Rampage/Rashad) but has found a money drawing partner in Sonnen.

The impact of Fox on the Cain/JDS winner will be interesting to check out in 2012.

155 and under cannot draw...unless you're talking about Faber, and even he has been somewhat cold I think.

 

[calgaryballer]

It's hard as hell for UFC fighters to get over because ZUFFA doesn't really talk people up, and when they do they never go outside of the same handful of buzz words/phrases. IE: "He's an explosive Brazilian striker with good jiu-jitsu." - I can link that to Shogun, Aldo, Luiz Cane, Rafael Dos Anjos, Barbosa, etc.

They don't do enough to get people invested in a fighter because they are scared shitless at the chance that person will become bigger than the brand, which is nigh impossible in today's climate. UFC is exactly like WWE in this regard.

Zuffa does a better job talking up everyone who is supposed to beat the champ. 'Okami will really be the guy to test Silva', 'Hardy has the power to test GSP', etc etc etc. I know they need the matches to seem competitive to sell, but what's the point of having incredibly dominant champions if seemingly everyone who puts together a 3 fight win streak is on their level?

 

[Liquidrob]

Like I said in the past, once the fad of watching 'The UFC' wears off which it has this year, it goes from ' hey, you watching the UFC tonight?' To ' who's fighting tonight?' And like shogun said, they don't sell the fighter, same canned promos and phrases every time, throw in some rain and you have your UFC intro

If could be frankie edgar or joe lauzon, same crap every time, they don't want real personality on display

 

[EmpireWF]

How would you go about getting Edgar over to the casual fans?

 

[Liquidrob]

How would you go about getting Edgar over to the casual fans?

This is not an Edgar thing, it's almost all there champs besides GSP, And1 can only draw with help, non of these guys are over besides GSP and Brock, And1 got the relentless p4p push for years which was a gimmick at first to get him over

If you sell the UFC over the fighters every chance you get, this is what you get when the UFC fad wears off

 

[Liquidrob]

When you make Dana White your biggest star, the fans eventually figure out that he doesn't fight and it isn't worth 50 bucks because he is a promoter who says fuck a lot

 

[EmpireWF]

They've found themselves stuck in the mud in that regard because certain guys have 'it' and others dont. Size never prevented Penn from getting over and yet there's Edgar, Aldo and Cruz who will likely never be able to draw on their own.

 

[Liquidrob]

Besides Penn they never promoted or paid a LW at all, and that's because BJ fought higher and won a belt

 

[SHOGUN]

Besides Penn they never promoted or paid a LW at all, and that's because BJ fought higher and won a belt

Yep. Ironically, the reason why ZUFFA rarely pushes fighters now is mainly because of BJ.

 

[SHOGUN]

They've found themselves stuck in the mud in that regard because certain guys have 'it' and others dont. Size never prevented Penn from getting over and yet there's Edgar, Aldo and Cruz who will likely never be able to draw on their own.

To be fair to Aldo and Cruz, there are no names 145 and under outside of Florian and Faber (maybe Torres....?). The WEC guys just got to the UFC and have been doing dark matches for most of that time. I can't really fault them for not being able to become draws. Their opportunities have been far and few between. Example, When Aldo faced Hominick, both guys barely got a few minutes on the Countdown/previews, and when Aldo faced Florian it was mainly about Florian's last shot at gold, while he got the same ol' buzz word treatment and highlights.

I don't ever see Edgar becoming a draw unless they ramp up the Real Life Rocky/tremendous heart gimmick because he's bland and feels like a vulnerable champion. Him beating the most over LW should have done something for him, but it hasn't.

 

[KINGOFOOTBALL]

Unless theres 3 of them fighting Andre the Giant noone wants to see midgets on a main event.

I have next to zero interest in anything less than 170. If it wasnt for GSP/Hughes/Koscheck itd be 185.

I think we all knew the number of PPVs these few months were retarded. Buys would be much higher if they killed one and put the fights on another card. But I think our poster of the year said theyd be ok with nickle and diming the ppv numbers.

Overexposure is a bitch. Ive had no inkling to purchase any of these cards , TUF is sitting on my dvr for the first time , and Jones ducking Rashad has left me with no fights Im genuinely looking forward to.

 

[Bigpapa42]

Unless theres 3 of them fighting Andre the Giant noone wants to see midgets on a main event.

I have next to zero interest in anything less than 170. If it wasnt for GSP/Hughes/Koscheck itd be 185.

I think we all knew the number of PPVs these few months were retarded. Buys would be much higher if they killed one and put the fights on another card. But I think our poster of the year said theyd be ok with nickle and diming the ppv numbers.

Overexposure is a bitch. Ive had no inkling to purchase any of these cards , TUF is sitting on my dvr for the first time , and Jones ducking Rashad has left me with no fights Im genuinely looking forward to.

Think you got that one backward, homes.

Oh, and guys who fight at 135 can be 160 or even 170 "normally". So those "midgets" are actually often just average sized guys who are a bit on the short side and can cut.

 

[EmpireWF]

Unless theres 3 of them fighting Andre the Giant noone wants to see midgets on a main event.

I have next to zero interest in anything less than 170. If it wasnt for GSP/Hughes/Koscheck itd be 185.

Never understood this from non-casuals. Who cares if the guy is 7 foot or 5 foot, as long as they put on a hell of a show in the cage?

Overexposure is a bitch. Ive had no inkling to purchase any of these cards , TUF is sitting on my dvr for the first time , and Jones ducking Rashad has left me with no fights Im genuinely looking forward to.

No doubt overexposure sucks balls...138& 140 will get lost in the shuffle with underwhelming cards.

You mean to tell me you're not looking forward to any of these? Shogun/Hendo, Brock/Overeem, Cain/JDS, Bendo/Guida, Penn/Diaz, Wand/Cung, Faber/Bowles, Bisping/Miller, Bones/Machida, Hominick/KoreanZombie....

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Its a tricky deal. Would you rather do four shows that do around 200k, or one show that does 600? You end up making more on running four shows (you also make four gates), but you play the overexposure game.

Zuffa is cocky and think they can eventually run shows every night like other sports. I think they understand that they are killing the novelty, but I don't think they ever thought buys would go as low as they have.

I think long term they see themselves moving away from the PPV model as the primary source of income. MOAR is the business model moving forward. They want to cut tv deals and run multiple shows in the same day (UFC Japan on TV during the day + a PPV that night). They aren't going to stop.

 

[SHOGUN]

At what point does the overexposure cross that line into to where it becomes a detriment?

 

[Liquidrob]

At what point does the overexposure cross that line into to where it becomes a detriment?

well, it already has because there PPV numbers have gone down for the first time in years, but also other factors

I cant wait for the PPV era to be over for MMA, fans shouldnt have to pay this much to follow a sport, Pride was a great thing for fans in japan during that era, TV contracts are better for us as fans and it gets the fighters more exposure/sponsers because of a broader audience