http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=dw-silva022808
Anderson Silva is the new Mike Tyson
By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports
2-28-8
It started with a kick to the head. Then a wicked three-punch combo and soon another powerful kick, then a right cross, then a crushing upper cut and then finally an absolutely vicious knee to the face.
Chris Leben had entered the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s caged octagon in June 2006 boasting a promising future, a 15-1 record and a granite chin. Forty-nine seconds later he was knocked out by Anderson Silva.
The Brazilian, making his UFC debut, had unleashed an explosion of violence so impressive it managed to shock a sport built on explosions of violence.
“I must have said Holy (expletive) 15 times in 49 seconds,” said Dana White, the UFC president.
The crowd at the Hard Rock Casino went nuts. Fellow fighters looking on stood with mouths agape. Announcer Joe Rogan, sounding a little like he couldn’t believe what he had just seen, declared: “this is a different kind of striker.”
Indeed, Silva was. Fight fans have flocked to the UFC in recent years for the non-stop action, colorful personalities and wild brawls, but this seemed like something new. Silva wasn’t just some street fighter; he was a gifted athlete … who could also street fight.
He hit harder than a Vegas hangover but was a Brazilian jiu-jitsu master with fighting flair and a spring in his step. He was a devastating combination of pure grace and unapologetic, unadulterated fury. He didn’t hesitate to go in for the kill, but did it in a way, as brutal as the result was, that belied the old “human cock fighting” label John McCain once placed on this sport before it cleaned up its act.
This was, if you will, kind of beautiful.
The UFC website was besieged by fans demanding Silva, despite being less than a minute into his UFC career, immediately be granted a title shot. White, no dummy, set it up—Silva vs. Rich Franklin, the 19-1 middleweight (185 pound) champion.
It took Silva all of 2:49 to beat the hell out of Franklin in equally brutal fashion, causing the crowd to gasp, scream and roar, all at the same time. The final flurry included a knee to the face breaking Franklin’s nose, an ensuing kick and then another knee to end it.
And with that, it seemed, something had emerged in the fight game that many thought might be lost and gone forever—another Mike Tyson.
Clad mostly in black trunks and black shoes, Tyson exploded into the late 1980s as a boxer who rarely boxed, preferring to stalk an opponent until he all but decapitated him.
It wasn’t just that he won that thrilled fans it was how he won. He became a 37-0 heavyweight champion on the strength of 33 knockouts that were short on subtlety.
They call boxing the “sweet science,” but this was pure primal power. Mike Tyson fights weren’t just fights they were happenings not to be missed; the opening bell serving as the most exciting moment in sports. You couldn’t dare tune in late (he dropped 17 guys in the first round) or ever turn away (one punch could end it).
Every fight was electric, not just in the arena, but on television. It didn’t matter who Tyson was fighting, you tuned in for the carnage, to witness that moment he was seemingly uncaged and sent to the ring.
“When Mike walked out from the dressing room, you know someone was going to get their ass kicked,” said White before pausing. “God, I loved Mike Tyson.”
Not since Ali was the sport bigger, fans feasting on raw blood lust. There was simply nothing like Tyson then. There certainly has been nothing like him since.
But soon Tyson unraveled and the most exciting moment in American sports became Barry Bonds in a batter’s box or Michael Jordan in the open court or any other take your pick moment.
With the sagging fortunes of boxing it didn’t even seem possible that a “fighter” could regain such a title.
White, once a boxing trainer and gym owner, had even abandoned the sport to help turn the UFC into a sensation. He had felt that same energy on a number of cards, fans jacked to see Chuck Liddell or Randy Couture.
But as big as those guys had gotten, as intense and memorable as their battles were, there still hadn’t been that tour de force, that quick strike, overwhelming, indomitable presence who upon leaving his dressing room you knew, absolutely knew, was about to deliver a beating. The how would surprise, even if the what was expected.
And now here was this 6-foot-2 Brazilian nicknamed Spider, attacking like a pit bull. Here was, A different kind of striker.
“It is the magic hour,” Silva said of his aggressive style through a translator. “I train really hard and it all comes out, all the hard work really comes out. I just go.”
So now here was a guy who White had high hopes for when he signed him from a rival organization, just overwhelming the competition, never letting any of his five UFC fights last past the middle of the second round.
“This guy has come into the UFC and literally walked through the division,” White said. “He walked into the octagon like he owned it.”
Just like Tyson, it wasn’t that he won, but how he won. Different sport, same principle.
Silva says he was a big Tyson fan growing up but he laughs at the comparison. “Why not Roy Jones, Jr.?” he said Thursday. “Why not Michael Jordan?”
Considering the sad state of Tyson’s life, who can blame him? The thing is, other than the Tyson-esque destruction Silva produces when the fight is on, he has nothing in common with Iron Mike.
His long, lanky frame bears little resemblance to Tyson’s intimidating stocky block of power. He smiles a lot, dances often and carries himself with the care-free attitude. He loves Spider-Man, once worked at Burger King and according to the London Daily Star, after granting Franklin a title rematch and then painfully annihilating him again, apologized for administering the whipping—“I am so sorry I had to do that to you again.”
A former Brooklyn purse snatcher he’s not.
“Mike was a guy you’d be scared to meet,” White said. “Anderson Silva is the sweetest guy in the world.
“At least,” White continued, “until he steps into the octagon to finish you.”
Silva will meet PRIDE middleweight champion Dan Henderson Saturday in Columbus, Ohio, in a title unification match.
Online, the secondary market has a single seat going for up to $1,000. Hotel rooms anywhere near downtown Columbus were gone weeks ago. Millions more are expected to watch around the world via pay per view and the internet. (Disclosure, Yahoo! Sports is an online partner with UFC).
The UFC in particular and mixed martial arts in general, is big business. Its pay per view buys surpassed boxing a couple years back and show no signs of slowing. Silva is its best fighter, ranked the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world regardless by almost everyone, including Yahoo! Sports.
But as fast as the sport is growing, Silva is anything but a household name. Mainstream media still mostly ignore the sport and as old and stagnant as boxing may be, in terms of publicity, its ceiling remains far higher than the UFC. If a boxer was doing what Silva was doing, everyone would know him.
Of course, no one would have an easy time marketing a 32-year-old from Curitiba, Brazil, who speaks no English. Great orator is not a term ever used to describe Tyson (“I’ll fade into Bolivian”), but you could still put him on Jay Leno’s couch. Silva has no such option.
Which might make this phenomenon even better.
He’s captured the imagination of fans purely on his performance. He is the antithesis of the modern sports star, far too many of whom are little more than marketing sensations and Nike commercials, more sizzle than steak.
Silva is doing this the old-fashioned way, one ass kicking at a time.
“Fight fans don’t care what he has to say, they care how he fights,” said White. This is a nice sentiment but he knows it’ll be a struggle to turn this guy into the kind of crossover star Americans Liddell, Couture and Tito Ortiz became.
Still, the proof is in the poundings.
“I will fight anybody, anytime, any place for any reason,” Silva said.
Henderson, a hard-hitting former Olympic wrestler considered the second best middle weight in the world, is the next “anybody.” This will be Silva’s sternest UFC test and if he can dominate Henderson, there is no logical opponent on the horizon.
“If this guy walks through Dan Henderson like he’s walked through everyone else in the UFC, I don’t know if anyone will ever beat Anderson Silva,” White said. Henderson’s strategy is simple; don’t get caught up in the electricity of the Tyson moment, then avoid getting knocked out long enough to get Silva to the ground and hope he can wear him down wrestling.
The big question with Silva is whether he can stand a long fight; a question, of course, that exists solely because he crushes everyone so quickly.
“He’s definitely beatable,” Henderson said, undaunted. “I’m going out there to beat him up.”
A lot of guys used to say that about Tyson, too.
Dan Wetzel is Yahoo! Sports national columnist.
Showing posts with label Ultimate Fighting Championship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ultimate Fighting Championship. Show all posts
Sunday, March 2, 2008
UFC lines up blue-chip sponsor
http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news;_ylt=AsECiEiH6_mDu7MMmaA5re49Eo14?slug=dm-ufcbud022808
UFC lines up blue-chip sponsor
By Dave Meltzer, Yahoo! Sports
2-28-8
The Ultimate Fighting Championship landed its biggest corporate sponsor today with the announcement of Bud Light as the exclusive beer sponsor of both the UFC and its sister promotion, World Extreme Cagefighting.
“Landing Anheuser-Busch and Bud Light is huge for us, our fighters and especially our fans,” said UFC president Dana White. “We’ve got the No. 1 selling beer in the world and one of the top marketers in all of sports as our sponsor. If our TV ratings, pay-per-view buys and venue sellouts weren’t enough, this definitely cements UFC as a major player in sports business.
When White was on a CNBC special last year about mixed martial arts and being given credit for the success of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, it was noted that a major hurdle his company had yet to overcome was getting blue chip corporate sponsors.
White said the company was doing fine on its own and didn’t necessarily need anything like that.
“I knew at the time we were going to get this deal,” said White. “It takes so long to get these deals done.”
Bud Light’s insignia will appear in the center of the mats in UFC and WEC cages as well as on bumpers during UFC pay-per-view events, in the background at weigh-ins and press conferences, as well as being the presenting sponsor of at least two pay-per-view events per year. It will also be the official beer sponsor of UFC Fight Nights on Spike.
The deal goes into effect with UFC 84, which takes place on May 24 from Las Vegas, headlined by B.J. Penn vs. Sean Sherk, Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida and Wanderlei Silva vs. Keith Jardine. It will also be the official beer sponsor on all WEC events on Versus.
“UFC has developed a huge following in recent years and is wildly popular with the 21-to-34-year-old fans we want to reach,” said Tony Ponturo, vice president of global media and sports marketing for Anheuser Busch, Inc.
“The number of people attending live events, buy the pay-per-views and talking about UFC around the water cooler continues to grow. It’s just a great place for us to be.”
White said Budweiser will also aid in marketing and publicizing the events and gives the company more power in garnering television deals by bringing the major sponsor with them to the table.
Bud Light joins Harley Davidson as the company’s major blue-chip sponsors.
The announcement follows the official announcement that the April 2 live event from Broomfield, CO, will be a live three-hour special. According to Brian Diamond, Senior Vice President of Spike TV, the special was in response to UFC fans contacting the station because the 12-match show featured so many interesting match-ups, and is filled with names developed on Spike’s Ultimate Fighter series.
The live fights will feature former TUF winner Nathan Diaz vs. Kurt Pellegrino, Houston Alexander vs. James Irvin, Karo Parisyan vs. Thiago Alves, Matt Hamill vs. Tim Boetsch and a main event featuring Boston natives and TUF alums Kenny Florian vs. Joe Lauzon. Diamond said they hope to be able to broadcast at least seven fights within the three-hour window. Preliminary matches include Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard, Spencer Fisher vs. Marcus Aurelio, Roman Mitichiyan vs. George Sotirpolous, Din Thomas vs. Josh Neer, Clay Guida vs. Samy Shiavo, Tommy Spear vs. Anthony Johnson and Manny Gamburyan vs. Jeff Cox. Maynard, Mititchiyan, Sotiroplous, Thomas, Spear and Gamburyan were on recent seasons of Ultimate Fighter, Edgar is an undefeated top lightweight contender and Guida, another lightweight, is among the company’s most popular fighters because of an all-out style that resulted in two of the company’s best matches of 2007.
The special, which has already sold out the 6,700-seat arena, airs 7-10 p.m. Eastern time, preceding the debut of the new season of The Ultimate Fighter reality show. The show, featuring coaches Quinton Jackson and Forrest Griffin, has about a week left in filming. After it concludes, Jackson will defend the light heavyweight title against Griffin on July 5 in Las Vegas. The hope is with 13 weeks of the two competing with each other, which will include one episode where the two nearly get into a fight, that it will be the biggest pay-per-view event up to that point of 2007. The formula has worked in building big matches in the past, most notably in 2006 when a Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock match coming off the series did 775,000 buys, still the second best figure in company history.
Diamond said they will take the Ultimate Fight Night shows on a case-by-case as to whether to go three hours or the previous two hours.
White also said that Brock Lesnar, whose debut on Feb. 2 led the company to one of its most successful pay-per-view events in its history, losing to Frank Mir, will have his second UFC fight in August. No opponent has been named but the leading candidate appears to be Justin McCulley.
He also said the most anticipated WEC match thus far, a featherweight title defense by Urijah Faber against Jens Pulver, will take place this summer from Sacramento as a live special on Versus.
Dave Meltzer covers mixed martial arts for Yahoo! Sports. Meltzer, who has published the pro wrestling trade industry publication the Wrestling Observer Newsletter since 1982, began covering MMA with UFC 1 in 1993. He is a graduate of San Jose State University, and has written for the Oakland Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and The National.
UFC lines up blue-chip sponsor
By Dave Meltzer, Yahoo! Sports
2-28-8
The Ultimate Fighting Championship landed its biggest corporate sponsor today with the announcement of Bud Light as the exclusive beer sponsor of both the UFC and its sister promotion, World Extreme Cagefighting.
“Landing Anheuser-Busch and Bud Light is huge for us, our fighters and especially our fans,” said UFC president Dana White. “We’ve got the No. 1 selling beer in the world and one of the top marketers in all of sports as our sponsor. If our TV ratings, pay-per-view buys and venue sellouts weren’t enough, this definitely cements UFC as a major player in sports business.
When White was on a CNBC special last year about mixed martial arts and being given credit for the success of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, it was noted that a major hurdle his company had yet to overcome was getting blue chip corporate sponsors.
White said the company was doing fine on its own and didn’t necessarily need anything like that.
“I knew at the time we were going to get this deal,” said White. “It takes so long to get these deals done.”
Bud Light’s insignia will appear in the center of the mats in UFC and WEC cages as well as on bumpers during UFC pay-per-view events, in the background at weigh-ins and press conferences, as well as being the presenting sponsor of at least two pay-per-view events per year. It will also be the official beer sponsor of UFC Fight Nights on Spike.
The deal goes into effect with UFC 84, which takes place on May 24 from Las Vegas, headlined by B.J. Penn vs. Sean Sherk, Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida and Wanderlei Silva vs. Keith Jardine. It will also be the official beer sponsor on all WEC events on Versus.
“UFC has developed a huge following in recent years and is wildly popular with the 21-to-34-year-old fans we want to reach,” said Tony Ponturo, vice president of global media and sports marketing for Anheuser Busch, Inc.
“The number of people attending live events, buy the pay-per-views and talking about UFC around the water cooler continues to grow. It’s just a great place for us to be.”
White said Budweiser will also aid in marketing and publicizing the events and gives the company more power in garnering television deals by bringing the major sponsor with them to the table.
Bud Light joins Harley Davidson as the company’s major blue-chip sponsors.
The announcement follows the official announcement that the April 2 live event from Broomfield, CO, will be a live three-hour special. According to Brian Diamond, Senior Vice President of Spike TV, the special was in response to UFC fans contacting the station because the 12-match show featured so many interesting match-ups, and is filled with names developed on Spike’s Ultimate Fighter series.
The live fights will feature former TUF winner Nathan Diaz vs. Kurt Pellegrino, Houston Alexander vs. James Irvin, Karo Parisyan vs. Thiago Alves, Matt Hamill vs. Tim Boetsch and a main event featuring Boston natives and TUF alums Kenny Florian vs. Joe Lauzon. Diamond said they hope to be able to broadcast at least seven fights within the three-hour window. Preliminary matches include Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard, Spencer Fisher vs. Marcus Aurelio, Roman Mitichiyan vs. George Sotirpolous, Din Thomas vs. Josh Neer, Clay Guida vs. Samy Shiavo, Tommy Spear vs. Anthony Johnson and Manny Gamburyan vs. Jeff Cox. Maynard, Mititchiyan, Sotiroplous, Thomas, Spear and Gamburyan were on recent seasons of Ultimate Fighter, Edgar is an undefeated top lightweight contender and Guida, another lightweight, is among the company’s most popular fighters because of an all-out style that resulted in two of the company’s best matches of 2007.
The special, which has already sold out the 6,700-seat arena, airs 7-10 p.m. Eastern time, preceding the debut of the new season of The Ultimate Fighter reality show. The show, featuring coaches Quinton Jackson and Forrest Griffin, has about a week left in filming. After it concludes, Jackson will defend the light heavyweight title against Griffin on July 5 in Las Vegas. The hope is with 13 weeks of the two competing with each other, which will include one episode where the two nearly get into a fight, that it will be the biggest pay-per-view event up to that point of 2007. The formula has worked in building big matches in the past, most notably in 2006 when a Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock match coming off the series did 775,000 buys, still the second best figure in company history.
Diamond said they will take the Ultimate Fight Night shows on a case-by-case as to whether to go three hours or the previous two hours.
White also said that Brock Lesnar, whose debut on Feb. 2 led the company to one of its most successful pay-per-view events in its history, losing to Frank Mir, will have his second UFC fight in August. No opponent has been named but the leading candidate appears to be Justin McCulley.
He also said the most anticipated WEC match thus far, a featherweight title defense by Urijah Faber against Jens Pulver, will take place this summer from Sacramento as a live special on Versus.
Dave Meltzer covers mixed martial arts for Yahoo! Sports. Meltzer, who has published the pro wrestling trade industry publication the Wrestling Observer Newsletter since 1982, began covering MMA with UFC 1 in 1993. He is a graduate of San Jose State University, and has written for the Oakland Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and The National.
Elite XC deal could change MMA
http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news;_ylt=Anr45MfBjhQGR3ZAhS._.uU9Eo14?slug=dm-elitecbs022808
Elite XC deal could change MMA
By Dave Meltzer, Yahoo! Sports
2-28-8
The entire landscape of mixed martial arts changed today. Maybe.
The announcement that CBS will broadcast live Elite XC shows on Saturday nights in prime time is potentially the biggest deal in the history of the sport in North America.
But no matter what is said about a multi-year commitment and four shows per year, when it comes to television, like everything, it will live and die by the ratings.
“The sport of MMA airing on CBS is the single biggest thing to happen to the sport,” said Elite XC promoter Gary Shaw. That sounds like a promoter over hyping his latest announcement, but if the show is successful, that’s exactly what it will be.
But it’s going to take a huge promotional effort by the network and the company to build the event and make it fly.
Even the most-watched Ultimate Fighting Championship event in history, the Sept. 8 show headlined by Quinton Jackson vs. Dan Henderson in a UFC-Pride light heavyweight championship unification match, drew 4.7 million viewers. While those are great numbers for cable television, they don’t come close to what would be a desirable audience number for CBS, even on a Saturday night.
Within the male 18-34 age group, the big show UFC numbers would be successful on a network level, but MMA at this point has proven to have a narrow reach. It doesn’t do well with older people. It doesn’t do badly with women within the 18-34 group, but for network prime time success, you need to draw strongly in more than one age group.
Boxing’s much-lauded “Contender” series failed on the network level. World Wrestling Entertainment programming, far more popular on cable television than MMA, was successful on NBC in the ’80s, but drew poor numbers the past two years in a similar prime time slot with the revival of “Saturday Night’s Main Event.”
The first Elite XC show, which is tentatively scheduled for April 26th and likely headlined by Kimbo Slice, will either be the most watched MMA event ever in the United States, or it will be a failure. One could make a strong argument that above and beyond UFC’s first live television special in 2005, where Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar became instant stars by having almost the perfect match at the perfect moment for the sport, this is the most important night, going forward, in the sport’s U.S. history.
If the shows get poor ratings, the entire sport will be stigmatized with the idea that it has its cult popularity and is simply cable TV fare. It will be a huge blow for a sport which, with its phenomenal growth over the past few years, has been written up as the next NASCAR. Conversely, successful numbers, particularly if they maintain, will entrench MMA as a major sport in this country.
“Mixed martial arts is one of the fastest growing sports in the country and a wildly popular entertainment vehicle for upscale, young adult audiences,” said Kelly Kahl, senior executive vice president of CBS Primetime. “It’s original programming for Saturday night; it’s live, creating an event-atmosphere; and it’s something that hasn’t been seen on network television, until now.”
It’s not a surprise that CBS made a deal for MMA. Both CBS and NBC negotiated for MMA programming for months. CBS’ interest in UFC predated the writers’ strike, while NBC’s interest picked up with the idea of looking for new live programming during the strike. That CBS went with Elite XC over the established UFC is a surprise, and is believed to have happened because Dana White wouldn’t compromise on giving the network control of the broadcast.
White noted earlier this week, before the deal was announced, that he wasn’t going to sign a bad deal for the company, even with a network station. The control issue also likely cost UFC a deal with HBO last year. UFC’s strategy of playing hardball and trying to get the deal on its terms simply wasn’t going to work with a network, but the gamble was that a big player wouldn’t take the chance with an organization that has nowhere near the name recognition and level of mainstream stars.
Because Showtime, part owner of Elite XC, is part of the Viacom family, which owns CBS, they fell into a deal that as a fledgling group, gives them a level of exposure they couldn’t afford to turn down.
“I don’t know why they didn’t get it,” said Gary Shaw, promoter of Elite XC. “If I had to guess, I’d say that it was Dana White. I don’t know that. I don’t worry about the UFC. If the prom queen wants to go out with me, I don’t ask why she isn’t dating the quarterback. I just show up at 8 p.m. at her door. I’ve said all along I think the UFC is great.
“I like the Fertittas and Marc Ratner (UFC vice president of regulatory affairs) is like a brother to me. But the problem is no fighter can be bigger than Dana White or the UFC. For us, the fighters will always be the biggest stars.”
Shaw’s most successful MMA event was the Feb. 16 show in Miami, which drew a 1.9 rating on Showtime. It was the highest rating for a non-UFC MMA event, largely due to the unique Kimbo Slice vs. Tank Abbott main event. But that’s only 522,000 viewers, and Elite XC will need ten times that audience number, if not more, to do competitive numbers on CBS.
The show also sold out the 6,187-seat BankUnited Center in Miami, which benefited from Slice being a hometown star. For CBS events, Shaw said they are looking at running 15,000-seat arenas with the new Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., being among the venues under consideration for the debut show.
Most of the details of the deal have not been made official. CBS will be paying Elite XC a fee per show. They haven’t agreed to a time slot, although with affiliate news commitments, it would have to be either 8-10 p.m. or 9-11 p.m. The broadcast team hasn’t been agreed to, but both sides will have input into the decision. Shaw said that once the date and the venue are finalized, they would begin finalizing the matches.
Shaw said he expected the shows to be similar to the Elite XC events on Showtime.
“It’s the same type of show,” he said. “I think we do a very good production with competitive fights.”
Another key is that, with so many people watching the first show and presumably so much hype, if someone makes a good showing, they can become an instant star, similar, to what happened to Griffin stemming from the first “Ultimate Fighter” finals. The impact of a great match will be multiplied tenfold.
An unknown fighter who does a sensational finish will almost instantly become one of the best known fighters in the country. A genuine match of the year could end up being the most talked about fight in history. Similarly, the affects of a poor show will be magnified like never before.
But it also adds to an over-saturation problem. UFC is producing roughly two shows per month. Elite is now adding four CBS dates to the 16 or so Showtime dates they had planned for this year. That’s a lot of events in a sport with a finite number of stars, and in which the stars can only fight a few times per year.
Even with the deal giving his company the largest television exposure in a business where television exposure is the life blood, Shaw doesn’t feel Elite XC is on the verge of leapfrogging UFC as the top promotion.
“No, I’m a realist,” he said. “UFC is No. 1. I am Pepsi to their Coke, Avis to their Hertz.”
Elite XC deal could change MMA
By Dave Meltzer, Yahoo! Sports
2-28-8
The entire landscape of mixed martial arts changed today. Maybe.
The announcement that CBS will broadcast live Elite XC shows on Saturday nights in prime time is potentially the biggest deal in the history of the sport in North America.
But no matter what is said about a multi-year commitment and four shows per year, when it comes to television, like everything, it will live and die by the ratings.
“The sport of MMA airing on CBS is the single biggest thing to happen to the sport,” said Elite XC promoter Gary Shaw. That sounds like a promoter over hyping his latest announcement, but if the show is successful, that’s exactly what it will be.
But it’s going to take a huge promotional effort by the network and the company to build the event and make it fly.
Even the most-watched Ultimate Fighting Championship event in history, the Sept. 8 show headlined by Quinton Jackson vs. Dan Henderson in a UFC-Pride light heavyweight championship unification match, drew 4.7 million viewers. While those are great numbers for cable television, they don’t come close to what would be a desirable audience number for CBS, even on a Saturday night.
Within the male 18-34 age group, the big show UFC numbers would be successful on a network level, but MMA at this point has proven to have a narrow reach. It doesn’t do well with older people. It doesn’t do badly with women within the 18-34 group, but for network prime time success, you need to draw strongly in more than one age group.
Boxing’s much-lauded “Contender” series failed on the network level. World Wrestling Entertainment programming, far more popular on cable television than MMA, was successful on NBC in the ’80s, but drew poor numbers the past two years in a similar prime time slot with the revival of “Saturday Night’s Main Event.”
The first Elite XC show, which is tentatively scheduled for April 26th and likely headlined by Kimbo Slice, will either be the most watched MMA event ever in the United States, or it will be a failure. One could make a strong argument that above and beyond UFC’s first live television special in 2005, where Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar became instant stars by having almost the perfect match at the perfect moment for the sport, this is the most important night, going forward, in the sport’s U.S. history.
If the shows get poor ratings, the entire sport will be stigmatized with the idea that it has its cult popularity and is simply cable TV fare. It will be a huge blow for a sport which, with its phenomenal growth over the past few years, has been written up as the next NASCAR. Conversely, successful numbers, particularly if they maintain, will entrench MMA as a major sport in this country.
“Mixed martial arts is one of the fastest growing sports in the country and a wildly popular entertainment vehicle for upscale, young adult audiences,” said Kelly Kahl, senior executive vice president of CBS Primetime. “It’s original programming for Saturday night; it’s live, creating an event-atmosphere; and it’s something that hasn’t been seen on network television, until now.”
It’s not a surprise that CBS made a deal for MMA. Both CBS and NBC negotiated for MMA programming for months. CBS’ interest in UFC predated the writers’ strike, while NBC’s interest picked up with the idea of looking for new live programming during the strike. That CBS went with Elite XC over the established UFC is a surprise, and is believed to have happened because Dana White wouldn’t compromise on giving the network control of the broadcast.
White noted earlier this week, before the deal was announced, that he wasn’t going to sign a bad deal for the company, even with a network station. The control issue also likely cost UFC a deal with HBO last year. UFC’s strategy of playing hardball and trying to get the deal on its terms simply wasn’t going to work with a network, but the gamble was that a big player wouldn’t take the chance with an organization that has nowhere near the name recognition and level of mainstream stars.
Because Showtime, part owner of Elite XC, is part of the Viacom family, which owns CBS, they fell into a deal that as a fledgling group, gives them a level of exposure they couldn’t afford to turn down.
“I don’t know why they didn’t get it,” said Gary Shaw, promoter of Elite XC. “If I had to guess, I’d say that it was Dana White. I don’t know that. I don’t worry about the UFC. If the prom queen wants to go out with me, I don’t ask why she isn’t dating the quarterback. I just show up at 8 p.m. at her door. I’ve said all along I think the UFC is great.
“I like the Fertittas and Marc Ratner (UFC vice president of regulatory affairs) is like a brother to me. But the problem is no fighter can be bigger than Dana White or the UFC. For us, the fighters will always be the biggest stars.”
Shaw’s most successful MMA event was the Feb. 16 show in Miami, which drew a 1.9 rating on Showtime. It was the highest rating for a non-UFC MMA event, largely due to the unique Kimbo Slice vs. Tank Abbott main event. But that’s only 522,000 viewers, and Elite XC will need ten times that audience number, if not more, to do competitive numbers on CBS.
The show also sold out the 6,187-seat BankUnited Center in Miami, which benefited from Slice being a hometown star. For CBS events, Shaw said they are looking at running 15,000-seat arenas with the new Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., being among the venues under consideration for the debut show.
Most of the details of the deal have not been made official. CBS will be paying Elite XC a fee per show. They haven’t agreed to a time slot, although with affiliate news commitments, it would have to be either 8-10 p.m. or 9-11 p.m. The broadcast team hasn’t been agreed to, but both sides will have input into the decision. Shaw said that once the date and the venue are finalized, they would begin finalizing the matches.
Shaw said he expected the shows to be similar to the Elite XC events on Showtime.
“It’s the same type of show,” he said. “I think we do a very good production with competitive fights.”
Another key is that, with so many people watching the first show and presumably so much hype, if someone makes a good showing, they can become an instant star, similar, to what happened to Griffin stemming from the first “Ultimate Fighter” finals. The impact of a great match will be multiplied tenfold.
An unknown fighter who does a sensational finish will almost instantly become one of the best known fighters in the country. A genuine match of the year could end up being the most talked about fight in history. Similarly, the affects of a poor show will be magnified like never before.
But it also adds to an over-saturation problem. UFC is producing roughly two shows per month. Elite is now adding four CBS dates to the 16 or so Showtime dates they had planned for this year. That’s a lot of events in a sport with a finite number of stars, and in which the stars can only fight a few times per year.
Even with the deal giving his company the largest television exposure in a business where television exposure is the life blood, Shaw doesn’t feel Elite XC is on the verge of leapfrogging UFC as the top promotion.
“No, I’m a realist,” he said. “UFC is No. 1. I am Pepsi to their Coke, Avis to their Hertz.”
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Liddell Redeems Himself in UFC 79
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/30/AR2007123000155.html
Liddell Redeems Himself in UFC 79
St. Pierre Takes Welterweight Match
By Ryan Mink
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, December 30, 2007; D10
Chuck Liddell never lost his fame. But after two straight losses, the Ultimate Fighting Championship megastar had seemingly lost the tenacity that made him beloved by fans and feared by opponents.
Last night in UFC 79, Liddell earned back everything he had lost. The fight that has been dissected and desired for years didn't disappoint as Liddell came out on top with a unanimous decision over PRIDE legend Wanderlei Silva of Brazil.
"It's great to be back," Liddell said in a television interview afterward.
As Liddell (21-5) walked into the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas last night, he came in jogging with a hop in his step. For the first time since his last win a year ago against rival Tito Ortiz, he looked like he thirsted to step into the cage.
The two fighters sized each other up for the first minute 30 seconds, but soon after delivered the fight fans were hoping for. It was a toe-to-toe brawl, the kind of fight Liddell became known for in his seven straight wins from 2004 to '06 and four defenses of his light heavyweight title.
"That was good ole fashioned banging each other," Liddell said. "He had a lot better chin than I thought he did. I hit him with a lot of shots real hard and he kept coming."
Silva (31-8-1) was also coming off two straight losses and looking to earn back some pride. He had won 18 straight fights from 2000 to '04 and was making his UFC debut.
The second round was the most furious of the fight with Liddell opening a pair of cuts on Silva's face with his classic big right hands. But with each roundhouse Liddell landed, Silva threw a flurry back at him. Liddell was bleeding behind his left ear by the end of the second round.
The third round was where Liddell's punches finally began to break Silva's will. Liddell began the round with a clean takedown, only the second time they went to the mat, but Silva was up in 20 seconds. Liddell then landed one of his biggest shots with a spinning backfist.
Liddell punched Silva into the corner and the two wildly threw punches at each other with Liddell landing the bulk of them. It looked like Liddell could have ended the fight on a couple of occasions as Silva was backed against the cage. But as if out of respect, Liddell backed off. Silva wiped away the blood and the two started trading blows again.
After the final bell sounded, Liddell got off the mat and raised both arms. He didn't smile. Rather, he displayed an expression of part exhaustion and part relief.
He was hesitant to say this was the biggest fight of his career, but others such as UFC President Dana White weren't. When Liddell, 38, needed a win most, he earned it swinging.
"I knew this was a big fight for everybody, especially me to get back on track and get my title back," Liddell said. "It would have been a travesty if we didn't fight. It was a great fight for the fans."
In the main event, Georges St. Pierre dominated four-time all-American Matt Hughes with a number of takedowns and fine work from the mount position to win the interim welterweight title.
St. Pierre ultimately won with an arm-bar submission with six seconds left in the second round and will get the desired rematch with current but injured champion Matt Serra, who shockingly took St. Pierre's title away in UFC 69.
After break dancing in the middle of the ring, St. Pierre (15-2) wore the interim belt for just a minute before taking it off and tossing it on the ground.
"Yes, it's a good collection," St. Pierre said in a television interview. "But the belt I want is with Matt Serra. Until I get my belt back, I'm not going to consider myself champion."
Afterward, the 34-year-old former welterweight champion Hughes (43-6) said he will have to think about whether he will fight again.
Other fighters making their UFC debuts had a tough time as Lyoto Machida (12-0) remained unbeaten by submitting highly-regarded and stronger Sokoudjou (4-1) with an arm triangle with 40 seconds left in the second round. Heavyweight Eddie Sanchez (10-1) pounded Soa Palelei (8-2) behind a technical knockout via strikes.
Lightweight Rich Clementi (38-12-1) submitted longtime rival Melvin Guillard (39-8-3) with a rear naked choke with 20 seconds remaining in the first round.
Liddell Redeems Himself in UFC 79
St. Pierre Takes Welterweight Match
By Ryan Mink
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, December 30, 2007; D10
Chuck Liddell never lost his fame. But after two straight losses, the Ultimate Fighting Championship megastar had seemingly lost the tenacity that made him beloved by fans and feared by opponents.
Last night in UFC 79, Liddell earned back everything he had lost. The fight that has been dissected and desired for years didn't disappoint as Liddell came out on top with a unanimous decision over PRIDE legend Wanderlei Silva of Brazil.
"It's great to be back," Liddell said in a television interview afterward.
As Liddell (21-5) walked into the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas last night, he came in jogging with a hop in his step. For the first time since his last win a year ago against rival Tito Ortiz, he looked like he thirsted to step into the cage.
The two fighters sized each other up for the first minute 30 seconds, but soon after delivered the fight fans were hoping for. It was a toe-to-toe brawl, the kind of fight Liddell became known for in his seven straight wins from 2004 to '06 and four defenses of his light heavyweight title.
"That was good ole fashioned banging each other," Liddell said. "He had a lot better chin than I thought he did. I hit him with a lot of shots real hard and he kept coming."
Silva (31-8-1) was also coming off two straight losses and looking to earn back some pride. He had won 18 straight fights from 2000 to '04 and was making his UFC debut.
The second round was the most furious of the fight with Liddell opening a pair of cuts on Silva's face with his classic big right hands. But with each roundhouse Liddell landed, Silva threw a flurry back at him. Liddell was bleeding behind his left ear by the end of the second round.
The third round was where Liddell's punches finally began to break Silva's will. Liddell began the round with a clean takedown, only the second time they went to the mat, but Silva was up in 20 seconds. Liddell then landed one of his biggest shots with a spinning backfist.
Liddell punched Silva into the corner and the two wildly threw punches at each other with Liddell landing the bulk of them. It looked like Liddell could have ended the fight on a couple of occasions as Silva was backed against the cage. But as if out of respect, Liddell backed off. Silva wiped away the blood and the two started trading blows again.
After the final bell sounded, Liddell got off the mat and raised both arms. He didn't smile. Rather, he displayed an expression of part exhaustion and part relief.
He was hesitant to say this was the biggest fight of his career, but others such as UFC President Dana White weren't. When Liddell, 38, needed a win most, he earned it swinging.
"I knew this was a big fight for everybody, especially me to get back on track and get my title back," Liddell said. "It would have been a travesty if we didn't fight. It was a great fight for the fans."
In the main event, Georges St. Pierre dominated four-time all-American Matt Hughes with a number of takedowns and fine work from the mount position to win the interim welterweight title.
St. Pierre ultimately won with an arm-bar submission with six seconds left in the second round and will get the desired rematch with current but injured champion Matt Serra, who shockingly took St. Pierre's title away in UFC 69.
After break dancing in the middle of the ring, St. Pierre (15-2) wore the interim belt for just a minute before taking it off and tossing it on the ground.
"Yes, it's a good collection," St. Pierre said in a television interview. "But the belt I want is with Matt Serra. Until I get my belt back, I'm not going to consider myself champion."
Afterward, the 34-year-old former welterweight champion Hughes (43-6) said he will have to think about whether he will fight again.
Other fighters making their UFC debuts had a tough time as Lyoto Machida (12-0) remained unbeaten by submitting highly-regarded and stronger Sokoudjou (4-1) with an arm triangle with 40 seconds left in the second round. Heavyweight Eddie Sanchez (10-1) pounded Soa Palelei (8-2) behind a technical knockout via strikes.
Lightweight Rich Clementi (38-12-1) submitted longtime rival Melvin Guillard (39-8-3) with a rear naked choke with 20 seconds remaining in the first round.
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