It was the biggest night in the history of the UFC. A night where the fledgling sport was to obtain what it had sought since its inception eighteen years ago: legitimacy.
Long derided as ‘human cockfighting’ this was supposed to be the night where MMA became back page news. For now, however, the ‘fastest growing sport in the world’ will have to keep waiting.
It wasn’t an all out for 47 day. But they would have struggled to break 150. And I’m not shooting at the fighters. Junior Dos Santos proved not only how powerful these warriors are, but also how unpredictable the sport can be.
The target must be aimed at both the UFC and Fox for providing, commercially speaking, a horribly produced ‘special’ that would have struggled to impress hardened MMA addicts let alone the new fans they wanted to attract.
After all the fanfare surrounding the UFC and its multi-million dollar seven year deal with Fox, the whole experience was overwhelmingly deflating.
For those of us who have battled and argued with uninformed skeptics of the sport for years, we were left unimpressed. For those new to the world of MMA, there was no sense of just how far this sport has come since Gracie Jiu-Jitsu wowed us in 1993.
How about a video package highlighting the history of the UFC to begin? Or for new fans, even a quick run-down on how the rules work and are applied?
Think of the legions of boxing fans out there, disaffected with the lack of talent in their world right now. I’m sure they would have been startled when referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy didn’t give Cain a ten-count to get back to his feet.
The weaknesses in just showing one fight on television were also clearly demonstrated.
The Guida v Henderson battle was always going to be a classic. Two of the most entertaining fighters in the sport vying for a shot at Frankie Edgar’s Lightweight Title.
It therefore beggars belief why the fight was not shown live, but also presented with any kind of build up to give the fight any relevance. Again, for a new fan, there is no appreciation for who these guys are nor what they have accomplished and one of the fights of the year was only viewable on Facebook.
Dana White and the Fertitta brothers have accomplished so much in ten years and deserve rich praise. But for the first time yesterday, they seriously misstepped.
For long-time fans, it was a regular UFC event. For new-fans, it was likely a non-event.
UFC management have put on a happy PR face today. The ratings were solid, without being astounding at over five million in the US. Placing it somewhere between a college football game and an episode of NCIS.
And here in Australia, you can find an article on it buried deep in your state’s news websites if you have the time to look. Still well below the Pacquiao headlines and the Australian Open golf however.
The UFC is growing at an astounding rate. But for not at least, the search for legitimacy will continue for at least a little longer yet.
Tristan Rayner
Editor
LAS, the international broadcast was very different to UFC on FOX - they had Dana White and Brock Lesnar as the panellists and only showed the HW fight. Heck, the UFC even painted over the blood in the cage! It was a cookie-cutter type show, but that's what works in the US. We - and ONE HD - had the unbranded international version with Guida v Henderson.
Sam Brown
Roar Guru
I think the Fox special was very good. It wasn't aimed at hardcore MMA enthusiasts or even people who have watched more than a few UFC fights, it wanted to attract brand new fans. I think the biggest thing the UFC did wrong was omitting the Henderson/Guida fight from the proceedings. It would have shown off how athletic these men really are and been a great all-round MMA display with a little stand-up, ground work, submission attempts, etc for people who haven't seen MMA before. It would have built perfectly to the big heavyweight title fight. Instead the uneducated watchers were left with a only tantalizing glimpse of what MMA trly is.
Damien
Roar Guru
Nice to see a UFC article on the Roar that's about a business issue rather than the actual fights. Its nice to see them (fight commentary) as well BTW. However Joel I thought the UFC did a pretty good job. My take on the UFC's strategy to become mainstream is that they are going for the slower, methodical track. This event was seen by the UFC as the first date in a seven year relationship with Fox. No need to go for a knockout punch. There is going to be so much UFC content on the Fox platform thru The Ultimate Fighter Series and the UFC Fight Nights etc. that the UFC will eventually become mainstream even if they don't offer 'free' events. They're going in the right direction IMO, which I reckon is more important than how fast they're travelling. The UFC already has a very strong brand so I reckon they just wanted to make sure that the production went smoothly and that they fit in everything they wanted within their timeslot. I also like their choice of the main event. I reckon Valesquez would have been the least known of the UFC Champions (not counting the WEC divisions which were just recently assimilated into the UFC). Jones, Silva, GSP, and Edgar already have good fan bases. Even thought Valesquez is Mexican and should in theory have a huge fan base I still think he's behind the other Champs. This event would have gotten him some good exposure. Only problem is JDS didn't follow the script. The UFC is losing craploads of money doing this 'for free' but as Dana White said they're looking at this loss as an investment. Maybe the fact that the UFC is already losing money on this event they wanted to control those losses by not getting too many 'Big names' on the card which would have cost them way more. Personally I like the UFC business model. They 'grow' most of their own stars which means they're generally cheaper. This was the problem with Affliction & the other MMA organisations which were forced to pay top dollar for their big names and it basically sent them all broke. (A very general statement I know. Thats a whole different topic altogether). I can see a day when there are 2 UFC Main Events a month. One for USA and the other one an international one. They already have a few per year but this would make it once a month. Also I reckon soon there will be an international TUF series just like the US version. The mind boggles at the ammount of fights the UFC would be able to put on during this time. All that content in conjunction with the UFC fitness gyms, the video games and the like I just can't see how anything can stop the UFC becoming mainstream..
LeftArmSpinner
Roar Guru
Joel, I'm not sure what you were watching but ONEHD had a preview on the previous evening and there were three fights including the Guida fight. However, there were better fighters that could have been included on the card. Faber, Edgar, Machida, Jones etc. I dont understand why they didnt go with them, except that heavyweights to seem to count for more. I would have also been happy for Evens, Ortiz, or Jackson in their division..................