The UFC was aired for the first time on FOX TV in the US, meaning the sport was finally unleashed on the American masses.
By Fergus Ryan
The Ultimate Fighting Championship had its most important event ever last Saturday night. UFC on Fox: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos at the Honda Centre in Anaheim, California, was the first network TV show in their 7 year deal with FOX. While some may view this as the sport cracking the mainstream, the struggle for broad social acceptance is far from over.
The UFC’s deal with FOX will allow them broadcast a number of events each year on free to air TV. This in turn opens the door for the UFC to realise its dream of making MMA the most popular sport in the world. No doubt they will consider their debut show a success as the event had on average 5.6 million people watching through the hour long broadcast. This number is over 3 times higher than the promotion’s highest selling pay-per-view event (UFC 100, 1.6 million buys) and, maybe a better barometer, the Ultimate Fighter reality series shows (around 1.5 million viewers a week) that are also available on free to air TV.
FOX are making positive noises after the event too. Junior Dos Santos versus Cain Velasquez was the most watched professional fight since boxing heavyweights Lennox Lewis and Vladimir Klitschko drew 7 million viewers to their HBO fight in 2003. Boxing on TV has been dying a slow and painful death over the last decade. The only big crowd pullers left in the sport (Pacquiao and Mayweather) are approaching the end of their careers, so FOX are smart to look elsewhere for combat sport product.
Having said all that, the NBA final series earlier in the year averaged about 10 million viewers a game. A regular season NFL match would get anything between 15-20 million a game and the Superbowl attracts around 40-50 million viewers each year. While these numbers dwarf the UFC’s debut showing its important to remember it was just the debut. It is estimated that UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro was watched by around 30 million local viewers on Brazilian TV. It is entirely possible the UFC will compete with the NFL and NBA viewing numbers through the course of their 7 year deal with FOX.
The media reaction in the US has been mixed. The broadcast lasted an hour and the fight only managed 64 seconds. Many have praised the overall quality of the production. Some are saying the fight wasn’t enough to convince the first time viewer they should tune in again. A few are sticking to the mantra that MMA is needless violence in a cage.
If only the US viewing public had seen what we did. Irish viewers that tuned into Setanta saw the co-main event air ahead of the Dos Santos-Velasquez fight. This turned out to be a contender for fight of the year and could have been up there with Bonnar-Griffin as one of the defining fights in the sport’s brief history. Ben Henderson beat Clay Guida after 15 minutes of non-stop action where both had opportunities to finish the fight. Ben Henderson seems to be unsubmittable and in my opinion is the best lightweight in the UFC. Henderson is expected to fight Frankie Edgar for the title at UFC 144 in February 2012.
Though the main event was brief Dos Santos is a worthy champion. Blessed with possibly the best boxing skills in the UFC and a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, he could go on to become a dominant champion, something the heavier weight classes have lacked for a long time. Velasquez suffered only his first defeat in losing the title and promised to win his belt back. We may not have seen the last fight between these two as their ability and age almost guarantees they will fight again at some point in the future.
While the fights or the viewer numbers for UFC on FOX might not have set the world on fire, the important thing is it happened. MMA is now on free to air TV is the US. Based on their progress so far you would have to feel confident that the UFC can continue to promote the sport in a positive light.
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