Week three of TUF XII sees continued growth.

Episode three of TUF XII saw a slight uptick in the overall audience as the average audience hit 1.8 million, one hundred thousand more than last week.

As I said last week, we won't have a decent idea of just how this season will do until the fifth week or so. If the numbers stay at this level, it will be one of the more successful seasons. Thus far, things have been understated. No fireworks, in or out of the house, but the teasers certainly suggest that chaos is coming.

Confrontations certainly can draw interest, but seasons 7-9 had plenty of that and did some of the weaker ratings. Junie Browne did bring numbers up a tad, but his season delivered lackluster numbers overall.

Episode one: 1.3 rating with a 2.0 in M18-34, a 1.8 in M18-49 and an average audience of 1.6 million.
Episode two: 1.2 rating with 1.84 in M18-34, a 1.7 in M18-49 and an ave audience of 1.7 million.
Episode three: 1.3 rating with a 1.9 in M18-34, a 1.71 in M18-49 and an ave audience of 1.8 million.

For comparison, here are the first three eps of season eleven:
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.

Fun with numbers: UFC Heavyweight finishes 2010-2006.

Ok, so this time around I have put together the numbers for the UFC Heavyweights for the last five years. I think it is hard to get much out of this because of the thinness of the division. When you look at some of the match-ups, the outcome was pretty much a foregone conclusion.

Regardless, here they are. In the next week or two, I will post the rest of the UFC divisions. SF will follow in late October.

2010 thus far:
# of fights: 27
KO/TKOs: 14 for 52%
Subs: 6 for 22%
Decisions: 7 for 26%

2009:
# of fights: 24
KO/TKOs: 12 for 50%
Subs: 5 for 21%
Decisions: 7 for 29%

2008:
# of fights: 23
KO/TKOs: 17 for 74%
Subs: 3 for 13%
Decisions: 3 for 13%

2007:
# of fights: 13
KO/TKOs: 4 for 31%
Subs: 1 for 13%
Decisions: 8 for 62%

2006:

# of fights: 20
KO/TKOs: 13 for 60%
Subs: 3 for 15%
Decisions: 5 for 25%

Total:
# of fights: 107
KO/TKOs: 59 for 55%
Subs: 18 for 17%
Decisions: 29 for 28%

TUF XII episode two holds onto week one audience.

Two weeks into TUF XII, the numbers look solid,

Episode two did a 1.2 rating with a 1.84 in the Males 18-34 demo, 1.7 in Males 18-49 and had an average audience of 1.7 million.

By comparison, the second ep of TUF XI did a 1.2 rating with a 1.9 in M18-34, 1.54 in M18-49 and an ave aud of 1.5 million.

The series appeared to be in trouble when seasons 8 and 9 saw individual episodes dip below 1.0, a number that is generally seen as the benchmark for success. One thing I find interesting is that last season, and so far this season, were tame in terms of hijinks and mayhem. They focused more on the fights and less on pranks and drinking. While there is no doubt that Evans, Jackson and Kimbo are partially responsible for the renewed interest, I wonder if the lack of wackiness has helped keep some of those folks coming back for more?

 I don't think we will have any real idea of just how well the season will do until episode four or five.

Episode one: 1.3 rating with a 2.0 in M18-34, a 1.8 in M18-49 and an average audience of 1.6 million.
Episode two: 1.2 rating with 1.84 in M18-34, a 1.7 in M18-49 and an ave audience of 1.7 million.

Meaningless statistics: UFC Finishes 2006-2010

2010 thus far:
# of fights: 165
KO/TKOs: 51 for 31%
Subs: 40 for 24%
Decisions: 73 for 44%
DQ: 1 for 1%

2009:
# of fights: 221
KO/TKOs: 70 for 32%
Subs: 54 for 24%
Decisions: 95 for 43%
DQ: 1 for .5%
NC: 1 for .5%

2008:
# of fights: 199
KO/TKOs: 83 for 42%
Subs: 52 for 26%
Decisions: 64 for 32%

2007:
# of fights: 154
KO/TKOs: 50 for 33%
Subs: 48 for 31%
Decisions: 54 for 35%
DQ: 1 for .5%
NC: 1 for .5%

2006:

# of fights: 157
KO/TKOs: 55 for 35%
Subs: 50 for 32%
Decisions: 52 for 33%

Total:
# of fights: 896
KO/TKOs: 309 for 35%
Subs: 244 for 27%
Decisions: 338 for 38%
DQ: 3 for -
NC: 2 for -

Sarah Kaufman shines, in cage and ratings, for STRIKEFORCE Challengers 9.

Sarah Kaufman's relationship with Strikeforce has been rocky. Earlier this year, she talked about being a free agent despite being the SF 135 lb champion. She expressed a desire to get back with Strikeforce, only to later find out that they exercised the championship clause without telling her and extended her previous contract.

Leading up to this card, she talked about being frustrated at not just being relegated to a challengers card, but not even headlining.

Then, on Saturday night, she let her skills do the talking. She stopped Roxanne Modafferi, via a wicked power bomb, in the second round. After the fight, she again talked about wanting to be on a bigger card.

Some have pointed out that very few women fighters draw and that SF is being right by simply having women's fighting. There is a saying, if you are going to do something, you should do it right.

The ratings seem to back Sarah up: While the show averaged 197,000 viewers, it peaked for Sarah's fight with 254,000 viewers.

The idea behind the Challengers cards is to showcase up and coming talent. Sarah is a champion and should be put front and center. If the average fan thinks that SF does not care about the ladies 135 champ and division, it is unlikely that he will either. I am not saying she should be headlining the main cards, but why not have the women's title fights in the middle of the regular cards. If not, why have them at all?

Finally, the Challengers cards feel almost like throwaway cards. If the idea is to use them to build up guys, they should be promoting them a hell of a lot more. less than 200k watched this card and that is a bad number no matter how you spin it. And it is not just the Challengers cards that lack the PR build, we have seen it in the past for some of the regular Showtime cards. Strikeforce is not big enough that they can let cards fly in under the radar, they need to work hard to build EVERY card. They need to not simply establish a solid fanbase, but build it up. That is something they have failed to do.

The SF cards usually have some fun fights, ones that could help convince casual fans that Strikeforce is the real deal and is must-see MMA. If not for Sarah Kaufman, I don't know that anyone would have been talking about this card at all.

If Werdum and Fedor dance again, who does Overeem face? I have a suggestion.

Last Saturday’s main event, while exciting and note worthy, has left Strikeforce with a dilemma. The obvious next step appears to be a rematch between Fedor Emilienenko and Frabrico Werdum. Personally, I don’t know that I agree with that since A) A win by Fedor leaves Werdum in a position not much better than he was in prior to beating Fedor. B) Fedor has but one more bout on his Strikeforce deal. If he wins, he could walk away and SF would be left with a weakened heavyweight division.

But Fedor and co want a rematch and Werdum wants a rematch. Since M1 has shown an unwillingness to do anything that does not appeal to them, it seems all be assured that a rematch will take place.

Now the problem with this is that it leaves the heavyweight champ, Alistar Overeem, on the sidelines twiddling his thumbs. As most know, Overeem wont the HW title two years ago and only recently defended it (when he mugged Brett Rogers). To have him sit on his ass for another six to eight months is asinine and would further reduce the credibility of the title, something SF can ill afford.

Looking at the SF HW division, while there are some solid fighters, none really are in position to challenge for the title. Big Foot Silva is one fight past his loss to Werdum and Rogers just lost to Overeem. Sergie Kaeriejre may earn a shot down the line, but he has not yet fought in SF and not only does he not deserve the fight, but he is an unknown to U.S. fans (Ok, an unknown to those that are not MMA geeks).

Fearing for the well being of Strikeforce, I pondered this and have thought of one solution. It has it’s downsides, but would give the division some depth and provide an instant challenge for the title.

Sign Mirko Cro-cop. Mirko just became a free agent, having recently completed his contract with the UFC. He is on a two fight win streak, including one on one of the biggest PPVs in MMA history. He also has some history with Overeem. The two fought in Japan for the Dream organization in a bout that was ruled a no contest after Alistar smooshed Mirko’s family jewels. Both chattered a bit about and certainly could deliver some entertaining pre-fight banter. Would Mirko win? Probably not, \but he still has the tools and name value to make him a worthy addition.

There are a couple of downsides. The first is that it will almost certainly push Dana over the edge and make Strikeforce his mortal enemy. And while that will provide hours of entertainment for MMA fans and media, it also means more road bumps for SF down the line. Dana is not without power and we all know he is more than willing to use (abuse?) it.

The second negative is that Mirko will come with a fairly high price tag. He has also expressed some doubts about his future in MMA and writing big checks to a less than motivated fighter is a dicey proposition. I think that fights with Overeem, Werdum and/or Fedor could be appealing to Mirko.
But Mirko/Overeem is a solid bout and one that would allow the Werdum/Fedor rematch to take place with keeping the title active.

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.

Numbers for episode 9 of TUF, ep 3 of Prime Time:

After a softer week eight, TUF bounced back a bit with a 1.1 rating and an ave audience of 1.5 million.

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: 1.1 rating with an ave aud of 1.5 million

The go home episode of PRIME TIME: Rampage vs. Evans drew 1.1 million viewers, up from 875,000 for the second episode. The debut episode did a show high 1.2 million viewers.

Early numbers for UFC 113.

Early estimates for UFC 113 look to be around 500-540k buys.

Dave Meltzer, in the last Observer (Subscription required and recommended), stated it appears to have done 520,000 and that the first had done 450,000.

Early reports on UFC 113 on 5/8 in Montreal have the show doing 520,000 buys, slightly above the 450,000 that the first Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua fight did. We should note that there were cable reports as high as 687,000 for the show, and trending patterns were only slightly behind GSP vs. Dan Hardy and the highest besides that show since August, which would also indicate something closer to the latter than the former. There are a lot of other measures that also indicate the higher number, but as far as the number of buys from people who would have the numbers and that can be confirmed, the lower number is the best number we've got.

I had heard a broader range of 500-540k, but Meltzer is almost always solid. It should be noted that these early reports can be off by 10-15% and that more reliable numbers should start floating out in another week to week and a half. That said, I will be shocked beyond words if they ends up anywhere NEAR 687k.

My own prediction was 575-600k. Anything over 500k is solid. 520k is not a great number, but it is good for a show that got little real promotion. Zuffa appears to have opted to focus their marketing power on the upcoming Evans/Jackson fight (UFC 114), a card that will do one of the bigger, if not the biggest, buyrate of the year. One thing that is noteworthy: Kimbo Slice's presence on the card does not appear to have had any real impact on the buyrates.

That is not to say he can't still pop some ratings on television, but it does not appear to go beyond free TV.

Ratings slip in week eight of TUF XI.

The numbers took a drop this week as episode eight did a 1.0 with an ave audience of 1.3 million.

General thinking is that the NBA playoffs damaged TUF as the Lakers/Suns game drew over seven million viewers.

I am betting next week will be one of the bigger drawing episodes of the season as the promo announces Tito pulling out of the Liddell fight, we get two fights and there is a confrontation between the coaches.

Thus far, this is the strongest season since TUF V with Pulver and Penn.
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 m18-36, a 1.7 in m18-49 and an ave aud of 1.8 million

TUF XI week seven numbers holding steady.

Just past the half-way point of the season, TUF XI is still drawing strong numbers. Episode seven delivered a 1.3 rating with 1.8 million viewers.

Thus far, this is the strongest season since TUF V with Pulver and Penn.
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

Numbers of ep one of PRIME TIME: Rampage vs. Evans looking good.

Episode one of UFC Primetime: Rampage vs. Evans delived a damn impressive 1.2 million veiwers and had a rating of 0.9.

For comparison, the first ep of GSP/Hardy did one million viewers while GSP/Penn did 880,000.

Obviously we don't know if they can sustain those numbers but if they can, UFC 114 will likely be one of the biggest of the year. Don't forget that THE A-TEAM launches in early June and there will be a moderate amount of PR for it in the week leading up to UFC 114.

Meaningless Statistics: Strikeforce 2006-2010.

Hey folks! On Monday, I posted the stats for WEC from 2007 to 2010 and tonight, I have the numbers for STRIKEFORCE.

The numbers for SF are tough to analyze because of the Challenger/Young Guns cards as well as the fact that the early cards had a very mixed bag regarding talent.

2010 thus far:
# of fights: 43
KO/TKOs: 19 for 44%
Subs: 9 for 21%
Decisions: 14 for 33%
Draw: 1 for 2%

2009:
# of fights: 97
KO/TKOs: 33 for 34%
Subs: 34 for 35%
Decisions: 14 for 28%
DQ: 1 for 1%
No Contests: 1 for 1%

2008:
# of fights: 85
KO/TKOs: 31 for 37%
Subs: 28 for 33%
Decisions: 26 for 31%

2007:
# of fights: 47
KO/TKOs: 21 for 45%
Subs: 10 for 21%
Decisions: 15 for 32%

2006:
# of Fights: 47
KO/TKOs: 16 for 34%
Subs: 19 for 40%
Decisions: 10 for 21%
Draws: 1 for 2%

Overall:
# of fights: 319
KO/TKOs: 120 for 39%
Subs: 100 for 31%
Decisions: 93 for 29%
Draw: 2 for 1%
DQ: 1 for less than 1%
No Contest: 2 for 1%

Meaningless statistics: WEC finishes 2007-2010

Let me start out by saying the point of this post is to simply show the percetages of finishes.

For a while, I have been planning on taking a look at how fights end in the various orgs. Tonight, fueled by vodka and caffeine, I decided to start this project.

Here is a look at how fights have gone in the WEC in the last few years:

2010 thus far:
# of fights: 32
KO/TKOs: 5 for 16%
Subs: 13 for 41%
Decisions: 13 for 41%
Draw: 1 for 2%

2009:
# of fights: 80
KO/TKOs: 25 for 31%
Subs: 17 for 21%
Decisions: 37 for 46%
No Contests: 1 for 1%

2008:
# of fights: 61
KO/TKOs: 28 for 46%
Subs: 16 for 26%
Decisions: 15 for 25%
Draw: 1 for 2%
DQ: 1 for 2%

2007:
# of fights: 66
KO/TKOs: 21 for 32%
Subs: 28 for 41%
Decisions: 17 for 26%

Overall:
# of fights: 239
KO/TKOs: 79 for 33%
Subs: 74 for 31%
Decisions: 82 for 34%
Draw: 2 for 1%
DQ: 1 for less than 1%
No Contest: 1 for less than 1%