Fedor vs. Werdum delivers nice numbers.

MMAJunkie is reporting that Saturday's Fedor vs. Werdum event, on Showtime, had an average audience of 550,000 viewers. According to the site, that number includes DVR and on-demand viewings. The main event, when including the aforementioned viewings, ended up over 700,000.

These numbers are good. I would say that anything under 400k would have been a failure and anything over 450k is a success.

Between the gate/attendance, the ratings and the media fallout from the event, Strikeforce should regain some of the momentum they had lost in the past couple of months. One has to assume they are hoping it will bring CBS back to the table. Strikeforce previously had a two event deal with CBS and that deal ended with the Nashville card.

While this bout was obviously a big one, it did not hurt that Strikeforce and Showtime promoted it a fair amount and this was a bout that had been talked about for some time. Strikeforce needs to get the ball rolling earlier for upcoming cards and get chatter going. While they obviously don't have the resources Zuffa does, the UFC cards are generally known months in advance. There is online chatter well before the official marketing push starts up.

In the future, Strikeforce should take the position that there no minor cards and give every show a proper build-up, as well as making an effort to make the major bouts known earlier.

UFC 114 posed to become second biggest PPV in UFC history.

From Dave Meltzer's Wrestling Observer (Subscription required):

Some updates on PPV numbers. UFC 114 (Quinton Jackson vs. Rashad Evans) based on the latest cable estimates is at 1,050,000 buys putting it at No. 2 on the company’s all-time list (well, tied with the 2006 Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz match). That’s up from the first day estimates. As far as confirmation, trending patterns indicated a big number, but not quite that big (maybe 850,000) but the reports on bar traffic (through the roof, very close to that of UFC 100) would coincide with the larger number.

Wow, that is more than most expected it to do. The initial estimates were around 900k. I think it is safe to say the UFC has considerable momentum right now. Last year, the UFC did eight million buys and it seems a safe bet they will pass that this year.

Estimated buy rates of late:
UFC 115: 520,000
UFC 114: 1,050,000
UFC 113 520,000
UFC 112 500,000
UFC 111 770,000

Dan Miller to get another chance with the UFC.

MMA Junkie is reporting that despite losing three fights in a row, the UFC will not be showing Dan Miller the door just yet.

The article cites somebody close to Miller as saying the MW will get one more chance to break his losing streak.

Miller's three losses are to Sonnen, Maia and Bisping. Prior to the Bisping bout, it came out just how tough things have been for Dan. He and his wife lost their first child just before the Sonnen fight and their second child, born weeks before the Maia fight, has faced serious health problems and has been battling for survival.

Here is hoping his next bout is against a slightly less challenging opponent. Not to say I think he should get an easy fight, but maybe somebody the way up as opposed to a top 15 guy. He is still 3-3 in the UFC and 11-4 overall.

Rampage Greatest Hits

Anchor Bay
Release date: DVD: June 1st,l 2010, Blu-ray: June 8th, 2010
MSRP: DVD: $19.97, Blu-ray: $29.97

Quinton Rampage Jackson is about to gain more fame than ever before, thanks to his potrayal of B.A. Boracus in the upcoming film version of THE A-TEAM. But Jackson is already famous in the MMA world as one of the hardest hitting Light Heavyweights alive. Jackson first came to fame in the now defunct Pride Fighting Champions of Japan and eventually came to the UFC, in 2007, and won the LHW championship.

Last year, Quinton and UFC president Dana White got into a spat about Jackson pulling out of a planned bout so he could star in THE A-TEAM. Neither guy is shy when it comes to speaking his mind and a very colorful pissing match played out on the internet.

Jackson and White eventually made up and the UFC is now releasing Rampage Greatest Hits (Why is it not Rampage's Greatest hits?). Had Jackson not come back, this collection might have had a totally different line-up filled with Jackson's losses and mugshot. But the boys did make up and each has since found other targets for their anger.

There is a voice-over introduction by Jonathan Adams, setting the scene before bouts.

Fights included:
Rampage Jackson vs. Yuki Ishikawa (Pride 17)
Jackson vs. Igor Vovchnchyn (Pride 22)
Jackson vs. Kevin Randleman (Pride 25)
Jackson vs. Chuck Liddell I (Pride Final Conflict 2003)
Jackson vs. Ricardo Arona (Pride Critical Countdown 2004)
Jackson vs. Marvin Eastman (UFC 67, Quinton's UFC debut)
Jackson vs. Chuck Liddell (UFC 71, Quinton becomes the UFC Light Heavyweight champion)
Jackson vs. Dan Henderson (UFC 75, While not officially a unification bout, Dan was the final Pride 205 pound champion)
Jackson vs. Wanderlei Silva (UFC 92)
Jackson vs. Keith Jardine (UFC 96)

It is interesting listening to the differences between Pride commentators Bas Rutan, Stephen Quadros and Mauro Ranallo and the UFC's Joe Rogan and Michael Goldberg. Die-hard MMA fans will argue passionately as to who was the best, but I will simply say that I enjoyed both and found Bas Ruttan co(first Quardos and later Ranallo) more playful.

It is also interesting to listen and watch the differences between the Japanese (Pride) and UFC (U.S. and U.K.) audiences. The UFC crowds are more vocal and rowdy, with those of Pride being more reserved.
I am not going to go into too much detail about the fights themselves, but I will comment on this: It was interesting to re-watch Jackson/Liddell I. UFC President Dana White sat in on commentary and complained (bitched) about Chuck not following the game plan of throwing leg kicks early in the fight. Years later, it came out that Chuck had sustained a hamstring injury prior to the bout. Knowing that, one can understand why Liddell opted to make it a boxing match. I want to stress I am not making excuses for Chuck, he may well have still gotten blasted, but knowing about that injury does make things a little more interesting. As Chuck kept it quiet and Dana had no clue. Even if Chuck had thrown more kicks, Jackson might have still worn him down and put him out. Dana does show some class by offering to bring the UFC crew to Jackson's locker room to help him prepare for the finals latter that night.
While the intent is clearly to make Jackson look good, not including some o his losses certainly weakens this set. Including his Pride debut, a loss to MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba, would hardly hurt his legacy. Jackson did better than many expected and that historic bout should be here. We hear Jackson say he felt he beat Forrest, yet viewers are not allowed to judge for themselves.
Picture:
The quality is uniformly good. Some of the later UFC bouts look better (especially on the Blu-ray) but nothing looks bad. Some of the older footage does have some issues, but it is minor and certainly does not affect the overall viewing pleasure. The Blu-ray does feature the UFC bouts in HD and they look great. The Pride bouts are in a 4:3 ration with the UFC ones in 16:9.
Extras:
Nothing really. This I don't get. Why not toss in some old Pride promos or something? Give us a little extra stuff here! If nothing else, there should be a biography to give folks a look at Jackson and his life. They certainly have the footage from past UFC countdown shows.

While Die-hard MMA fans likely have most of these bouts on separate DVDs, this is a nice collection for casual fans interesting to seeing some of Jackon's older bouts. With the inclusion of aforementioned bouts and some biographical material, this could be a really great release. As it is, it is still a solid disc with bang for the buck.

Order RAMPAGE GREATEST HITS on DVD or Blu-ray.

Jeremy Lynch

Best of WEC coming in September.

Recently the WEC signed a home entertainment deal (DVD, Blu-ray) with Image Entertainment. The first release will be the epic Aldo vs. Faber ppv from last month. I am be talking about that closer to the release date (July 20th), but wanted to give folks a heads up on another release.

On Sept 7th, 2010, Zuffa (parent company of WEC and UFC) and Image Entertainment will UFC Presents: The Best of WEC (World Extreme Cagefighting).

This one disc package will contain the following fights:
Torres vs. Mizugaki
McCullough vs. Cerrone
Faber vs. Pulver I
Torres vs. Maeda
Brown vs. Faber II
Cerrone vs. Henderson

Now I am certainly a fan of the UFC, but I can't recall a WEC show that failed to deliver. This set features some of the best bouts, of the last couple of years, from the WEC. Each of these is stellar. Cerrone/Henderson was considered by many to be the best MMA fight of 2009. Faber/Brown II saw Uriah Faber, despite breaking BOTH hands, give champion Mike Brown everything he could handle for five rounds. Faber/Pulver has a legend (Pulver) squaring off against the (then) reigning Featherweight Champ in Faber and while Faber's victory seemed certain, Jens never gave up and seemed to reach down time and time again to take it to the judges.

The Blu-ray release is $19.98 with the DVD being $14.98.

The Ultimate Fighter's ratings hold steady.

In a season that, outside of X with Kimbo, has been the strongest in quite some time, folks stuck with TUF to watch Tito leave.

Episode ten did a 1.3 rating with an average audience of 1.5 million, the same as last week.

Whether it is the star power of Tito and Chuck, the drama of Tito leaving or simply the new folks from season ten sticking around, this season has been a definite success with an average weekly audience of 1.66 million viewers and an ave rating of 1.3 thus far.

Many of the recent seasons seasons that have had fighters doing insane things and certain guys labeled, or acting like, a bad boy. This season has seen everyone behave for the most part and nobody has really stepped up as a Leben, Gabe or Junnie.

Season so far:
Episode 1: 1.5 rating with a 2.1 in M18-34, 1.8 in M18-49 and an ave aud of 1.9 million.
Episode 2: 1.2 rating with a 1.9 in M18-34, 1.54 in M18-49 and an ave aud of 1.5 million
Episode 3: 1.3 rating with a 1.63 in M18-34, 1.53 in M18-49 and an ave aud of 1.6 million.
Episode 4: 1.5 rating with a 2.4 in M18-34, a 1.9 in M18-49 and an ave aud of 2 million.
Episode 5: 1.3 rating with a 2.6 in M18-34, a 1.92 in M18-49 and an ave aud of 1.8 million.
Episode 6: 1.3 rating with a 1.54 in M18-34, 1.4 in M18-49 and an ave aud of 1.7 million
Episode 7: 1.3 rating with a 1.9 in m18-34, a 1.7 in m18-49 and an ave aud of 1.8 million
Episode 8: 1.0 rating with a 1.5 in m18-34, a 1.2 in m18-49 and an ave aud of 1.3 million
Episode 9: 1.3 rating with an ave aud of 1.5 million
Episode 10: 1.3 rating with an ave aud of 1.5 million

Prelim buyrates for UFC 114 over 900,000.

Dave Meltzer, on Observer Radio, has reported that the early numbers, for UFC 114, suggest a buy rate of 925,000.

That is a little higher than I thought (I was thinking 825-850), but the Prime Time series did great numbers and I think this drew more than usual from the African-American community. I went to Champps in St. Paul and while it was an ave crowd for the first part of the show, it was easily the biggest UFC crowd by the time the main event started. The main event crowd was 25-30% of the final audience. That is more than I have seen before.

This number is higher than many onliners were speculating. MMAPayout and Tapology both predicted a buy rate of around 700,000.

I think 700k would have been the lowest pos this could do and still be success. 800k would be a strong number and 900 has to been seen as a big success. I can't help but wonder what it would have done if this fight took place at UFC 107.


It is worth pointing out that these early numbers can be off by 10-15%. But even so, the worst case would still be around 800,000.