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Mixed Martial Arts--- Renato Sobral to Get "All Access" Treatment on Spike TV
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

Renato Sobral, who is the number one contender for Chuck Liddell's UFC Light Heavyweight Title, will be the subject of the next "UFC All Access" special on Spike TV.

As with previous All Access specials, this one will be hosted by Rachelle Leah and will air on the last Monday night before a UFC pay-per-view event. Previous All Access specials focused on the pre-fight training of Rich Franklin, Andrei Arlovski, and Tito Ortiz.

The 30-minute special will air on Monday, August 21st at 10:00 PM. Leading into the All Access special will be the 60-minute UFC 62 Countdown Special, which will air from 9:00 PM to 10:00 PM.

The UFC 61 preview specials on July 3rd kicked off with All Access at 10:00 PM (which drew a 0.6 overall rating) and concluded with the Countdown Special from 10:30 PM to 11:30 PM (which drew a 0.8 overall rating), so this represents a slight chance in schedule for Spike TV. The move makes sense because the stronger show from a ratings standpoint will be able to provide a strong lead-in for the weaker show.

In the case of Renato "Babalu" Sobral in particular, it will be very interesting to see what he has to say before his fight with Chuck Liddell, given the fact that he is currently being positioned as a potential bump in the UFC's road to a long-awaited showdown between Liddell and Wanderlei Silva.

When the announcement was made during the UFC 61 pay-per-view broadcast that Liddell and Silva would be fighting in the UFC in November, the added line of, "...if Chuck can get past Sobral first" was included almost as an afterthought. In fact, Sobral is anything but an afterthought, and it would be unwise for any opponent to look past him.

When Liddell and Sobral previously faced off in the Octagon at UFC 40 in November 2002, Liddell won by knockout. After the loss to Liddell, Sobral went 7-0 in competition outside of the UFC and has since gone 3-0 in the UFC. In Sobral's most recent fight, he submitted Mike Van Arsdale at UFC 57 in February of this year.

Labels: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 3:36 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- UFC 61 Draws Second-Biggest Live Gate in UFC History
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

UFC 61 drew the second-biggest live gate in UFC history on Saturday, July 8th at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

According to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, the number of tickets sold for UFC 61 at the Mandalay Bay was 9,999. In addition, a total of 1,168 free comp tickets that were given away, for a total of 11,167 fans in attendance. The live gate receipts totaled $3,350,775.15.

The highest-grossing UFC event ever at the live gate is UFC 57, which took place on February 4th of this year and generated $3,382,400 in live gate receipts for the third fight between Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture.

UFC 61 is now second on the all-time list at the live gate, ahead of UFC 60 ($2,900,090 for Matt Hughes vs. Royce Gracie), UFC 52 ($2,575,450 for Liddell vs. Couture II), UFC 54 ($2,336,550 for Liddell vs. Jeremy Horn), and UFC 59 ($2,191,450 for Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin; and Tim Sylvia vs. Andrei Arlovski).

In terms of overall revenue, pay-per-view estimates are not yet available for UFC 61, but the current record-holder for total revenue is UFC 60, which generated at least $26.87 million in PPV sales and live gate receipts ($2.9 million in live gate receipts; and at least $23.97 million in PPV sales, depending on the final buyrate figures).

Be sure to check out our previous article for a complete breakdown of the UFC's live gave figures for the first half of 2006.

Labels: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 5:11 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- Matt Hughes vs. Georges St. Pierre Announced Again
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

The upcoming UFC Welterweight Title bout between Matt Hughes and Georges St. Pierre was announced again on the ESPNews program "The Hot List" this past week, with in-studio appearances by Hughes, St. Pierre, and UFC president Dana White.

There have been several occasions in the past when UFC fighters have appeared on The Hot List, which is the afternoon block of programming that airs on ESPN's all-news sister network from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM Pacific Time (3:00 PM to 6:00 PM Eastern Time). However, this time the UFC was given two segments on the show, whereas the previous UFC appearances on the show had each been limited to one segment.

While The Hot List averages approximately one-third as many viewers as the average repeat airing of UFC Unleashed on Spike TV, the difference is that the people who are watching ESPNews are likely to be mainstream sports fans who might become MMA fans once they are exposed to the sport.

Therefore, there can be no doubt that this UFC appearance on The Hot List was good for the sport. What it wasn't, however, was breaking news. It was stated multiple times on the UFC 58 broadcast on March 4th that the winner of the St. Pierre vs. BJ Penn fight would be taking on Hughes for the UFC Welterweight Title later this year.

On top of that, the UFC officially announced the Hughes vs. St. Pierre fight at a press conference in Canada on April 7th, which was covered by MMAWeekly at the time. When the Hughes vs. St. Pierre fight was officially announced at a press conference in Toronto on April 7th, St. Pierre said, "Now it's official. Now it's for real. It’s my dream come true! It's all about respect, and I finally have it... YES, FINALLY!" The official confirmation of the fight's September 23rd date (at UFC 63) was the only new thing in this additional announcement.

While the announcement of Hughes vs. St. Pierre was not breaking news, the important thing is that ESPNews apparently believed that it was breaking news. As they were cutting to a commercial break right before Dana White's appearance, Hot List host Dari Nowkhah said, "The owner of the UFC will be here next to break news on The Hot List." Nowkhah later said, "This was just announced today, right here on The Hot List! That's why you watch us, because we bring you the latest."

Again, whether it was breaking news or not, ESPNews clearly believed that it was breaking news, and hyped the segments accordingly. The segment from The Hot List was not repeated or acknowledged on ESPNews (or ESPN, for that matter) for the rest of the day, but it is believed to be only a matter of time before UFC highlights are part of SportsCenter just like any other sport. This notion is supported by the fact that ESPN anchor Dan Patrick recently said on his ESPN radio show that SportsCenter should include UFC highlights and that there's no valid reason to exclude UFC highlights.

Hughes and St. Pierre Come Across as Stars
There were two UFC-related segments on this particular edition of The Hot List, one with Hughes and St. Pierre; and the other with White. In the segment with Hughes and St. Pierre, they both came across as stars. Hughes and St. Pierre both talked about their preparation for the fight and how much training goes into each fight.

Hughes was asked if he "feels guilty" for "beating Royce Gracie good," which was a bit of an odd question, and Hughes' calm reply was that there was nothing to feel guilty about because he just went out there, did his job, and fought as hard as he could.

St. Pierre also talked briefly about his experience as one of the advisors/coaches on The Ultimate Fighter 4, and he said that he learned just as much as any of the fighters in the house during the filming.

When host Dari Nowkhah asked Hughes and St. Pierre for their best "out-of-the-ring confrontation stories," Hughes and St. Pierre both replied that there are no such stories to tell because they both avoid putting themselves into those kinds of situations. Hughes and St. Pierre came off particularly well in their responses to this question.

Hughes said that he's not out at bars in the latenight hours when such a confrontation would be more likely to take place, and if a fan ever did approach him trying to pick a fight, he would just walk away. St. Pierre said that he would also just walk away and added, "It's different in the ring, but outside of the ring, I am a gentleman." As a result of this, the host of the show went from not really knowing what to make of the UFC at the beginning of the segment to calling Hughes and St. Pierre "a couple of nice guys" at the end of the segment.

White Repeats the Same Gross Factual Errors about the UFC's History
The interview with Dana White also came off well, if you can overlook gross factual errors being repeated on national television. The oft-repeated claim that Zuffa added all of the major regulation and sanctioning to the UFC was repeated once again on The Hot List, as White said that the UFC "wasn't sanctioned by any of the major athletic commissions" before Zuffa bought it. This is not a matter for debate. It's just flat-out factually incorrect, as are any claims in newspaper articles that the "previous owners ran from regulation."

In reality, the previous owners of the UFC tried successfully to get the UFC sanctioned in New Jersey, and then tried unsuccessfully to get the UFC sanctioned in Nevada shortly before selling the company to Zuffa. Before Zuffa ever bought the UFC, it was sanctioned and regulated by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board, which was widely regarded as the second most important sanctioning body in the country.

The "old UFC" also ran fully sanctioned UFC events in states such as Iowa, Louisiana, and Mississippi, but it was New Jersey that was regarded as having the second-biggest sanctioning body (behind only Nevada's) in terms of importance and prestige.

Dana White also said on The Hot List, "When we first bought the sport, not only was it not in any of the major venues here in the United States, but it also wasn't on pay-per-view. We were on DirecTV, but we weren't on any of the cable pay-per-view systems." White's statement about the PPV situation is absolutely correct. His statement about major venues is once again factually incorrect, unless the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City is not considered a "major venue."

These factually incorrect statements would not have been noticeable to someone who isn't familiar with the actual history of MMA (including the host of The Hot List), and again, White came off well in the parts of the interview that were not about the aforementioned subjects.

In another part of the interview, White talked about The Ultimate Fighter. He said that the concept for the first three seasons of TUF was to find the best up-and-coming mixed martial artists and put them all in the same house, but the concept for the fourth season was to give second chances to a lot of former UFC stars.

When asked about Senator John McCain, who led a campaign to ban the sport of mixed martial arts in the mid-90s, Dana White said that McCain helped the sport to clean itself up, and added that all combat sports should always be sanctioned by an athletic commission because the purpose of the athletic commissions is to protect the fighters. White concluded his answer to the McCain question by saying, "We salute Senator John McCain."

When asked specifically about the Hughes vs. St. Pierre fight, White talked about how Hughes beat St. Pierre with an armbar submission with only a second left in the first round when they fought for the first time. The host asked White to explain what an armbar is, and when White did so, the host responded by saying, "Woah! These are some tough guys!"

White said that Hughes and St. Pierre have both been crushing all of the fighters who have been put in their path. White added that St. Pierre is one of the best athletes today in any sport, and that Hughes is the most dominant welterweight in the history of the UFC.

Labels: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 2:21 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- Wanderlei Silva vs. Mirko Cro Cop and Other Grand Prix Match-Ups Announced
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

Dream Stage Entertainment has announced the match-ups for the next rounds of the two Pride Grand Prix tournaments that the company is currently running. The next round of the 183-pound Grand Prix will take place on August 26th, while the final two rounds of the Open Weight Grand Prix will take place on September 10th.

In two bouts that are sure to be highly-anticipated on the September 10th card, Wanderlei Silva will face Mirko Cro Cop, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira will face Josh Barnett. The winners of these two semi-final fights will meet in the finals of the Open Weight Grand Prix later that same night, with the winner of that fight being crowned the winner of the Pride Open Weight Grand Prix.

Though both of these matches should be highly competitive, it's likely that Barnett will be the underdog against Nogueira, and Silva will be the underdog against Cro Cop.

Silva and Cro Cop actually fought once before in the Pride ring back in 2002, but the bout was not fought under MMA rules. Instead, there were special rules that required the fighters to be stood up if the fight remained on the ground for 30 seconds, or if the fighter on the bottom was able to reach the ropes. This was done to accomadate Cro Cop, given his kickboxing background. There will be no such special rules this time around.

Cro Cop got to the semi-finals of the Open Weight Grand Prix by winning his first two fights in completely one-sided fashion against Ikuhisa Minowa and Hidehiko Yoshida, whose leg was injured by Cro Cop's vicious leg kicks.

Silva, the only fighter left in the tournament who does not normally fight at heavyweight, defeated Kazuyuki Fujita by TKO in the quarter-finals. Silva was not in the first round of the tournament and was added to the second round of the tournament when Pride Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko had to withdraw due to hand surgery.

Prior to fighting Fujita, Silva split two fights with Ricardo Arona in 2005. In the semi-finals of Pride's 205-pound Grand Prix last August, Silva lost to Ricardo Arona by unanimous decision in a fairly one-sided fight, and Silva's teammate Mauricio "Shogun" Rua went on to win the tournament. In the rematch between Silva and Arona on December 31, 2005, Silva won a very controversial split decision.

If Silva can make it through his fight (or fights) on September 10th without injury, he will be fighting Chuck Liddell in the UFC in November, provided that Liddell defeats Renato "Babalu" Sobral on August 26th and is able to do so without suffering any injuries.

The other semi-final bout in the Pride Open Weight Grand Prix will be a battle of two top-level heavyweights, as Josh Barnett takes on Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Barnett is coming off of two very impressive submission victories over Aleksander Emelianenko and Mark Hunt in the first two rounds of the tournament. Prior to those two fights, Barnett's Pride career consisted of two losses to Mirko Cro Cop and a victory over Kazuhiro Nakamura.

Nogueira was inexplicably matched up against Zulu, Jr. in the first round of the tournament because DSE president Nobuyuki Sakakibara felt that Zulu, Jr. is "like the Brazilian Bob Sapp." After easily winning in the first round of the Grand Prix, Nogueira defeated fellow Brazilian Fabricio Werdum by unanimous decision in the tournament quarter-finals on July 1st. Nogueira's last loss came at the hands of Fedor Emelianenko on December 31st, 2004.

The semi-finals and finals of the Pride Open Weight Grand will take place on September 10th, along with a full line-up of non-tournament bouts that have not yet been announced.

As with the previous round of the tournament, this event will have no television clearance in Japan other than the satellite-based pay-per-view channel SkyPerfecTV, due to the fact that Fuji TV terminated its contract with DSE. The event is scheduled to debut on North American pay-per-view on Sunday night, September 10th.

Pride Bushido Grand Prix Match-Ups
In an event that will air on Fox Sports instead of pay-per-view in the United States, Dream Stage is also gearing up for the next round of the 183-pound Pride Bushido Grand Prix. The quarter-final match-ups have been announced for the event, which will take place on August 26th. In the round of eight, Dan Henderson will take on Kazuo Misaki, Paulo Filho will face Ryo Chonan, Denis Kang will go up against Amar Suloev, and Akihiro Gono will face Gegard Mousasi.

Dan Henderson won the eight-man Pride Grand Prix for 183-pound fighters in 2005, as he defeated Ryo Chonan and Akihiro Gono in the first two rounds of the tournament before winning an extremely close split decision over Murilo Bustamante in the finals. In Henderson's most recent fight, a non-tournament bout in April of this year, he defeated Kazuo Misaki by unanimous decision, but Misaki looked much better in the fight than most expected. Henderson received a bye in the first round of this tournament due to injury, thus advancing to the final eight of this year's tournament.

After losing to Henderson in April, Kazuo Misaki was the biggest underdog in the entire tournament when he faced Phil Baroni in the first round of the Bushido Grand Prix in June. However, Misaki defied the odds and won a fairly one-sided fight against Baroni by unanimous decision. Misaki will now get the opportunity to avenge his prior loss to Henderson.

Paulo Filho is one of the favorites to win the tournament, and he is still undefeated in his MMA career with a record of 12-0. Filho holds submission wins over Amar Suloev, Ryuta Sakurai, and Akira Shoji, as well as decision wins over Yuki Kondo and Ikuhisa Minowa. Most recently, Filho defeated Murilo "Ninja" Rua by unanimous decision in April of this year, and followed that up with an extremely one-sided decision victory over Gregory Bouchelaghem in the first round of this year's Bushido Grand Prix in June.

Filho's opponent will be Ryo Chonan, who was not expected to be able to compete in the next round of the tournament. Chonan defeated Joey Villasenor by decision in the first round of the tournament, but Chonan suffered a broken orbital bone in the process. Chonan defeated Anderson Silva by submission in December 2004, and he has gone 2-0 since his knockout loss at the hands of Dan Henderson in last year's tournament.

In a battle of two fighters who were underdogs in the first round of the tournament, Denis Kang will face Amar Suloev. Kang has not lost in his last 18 fights and has looked extremely impressive in his last two Pride fights, as he defeated Mark Weir by submission and subsequently knocked out Murilo "Ninja" Rua in just 15 seconds.

Kang's opponent, Amar Suloev, pulled off a big upset when he defeated 2005 Grand Prix finalist Murilo Bustamante in a clear-cut unanimous decision in the first round of this year's Bushido Grand Prix. Suloev is now 2-1 in his Pride career, with victories over Bustamante and Dean Lister, and a submission loss to Paulo Filho.

The final quarter-final match-up will pit Akihiro Gono up against Gegard Mousasi. Gono scored a big upset in last year's 183-pound Grand Prix when he defeated highly regarded Daniel Acacio by unanimous decision, but then he got knocked out by Dan Henderson in the next round of the tournament. In the first round of this year's 183-pound Grand Prix, Gono was effective in turning the tables on explosive Cuban fighter Hector Lombard, who looked amazing in the first minute or so of the fight, but couldn't keep up with Gono for the entire bout duration.

After defeating Lombard by unanimous decision, Gono will now face another explosive fighter in Gegard Mousasi, who entered this year's Grand Prix with an MMA record of 12-1-1, but very little name recognition. Mousasi looked impressive in his Pride debut against Olympic Gold Medalist Makoto Takimoto in June, but will be facing a much tougher test against Gono.

In non-tournament bouts on the August 26th Bushido card, Tatsuya Kawajiri, who is widely regarded as one of the top five lightweight fighters in the world, will take on UFC and Pride veteran Chris Brennan. The undefeated Strikeforce Lightweight Champion, Gilbert Melendez, will make his Pride debut against Nobuhiro Obiya; while Shooto standout Shinya Aoki will face the Pat Miletich-trained Jason Black; and Hatsu Hioki will take on Jeff Curran.

The quarter-finals of Pride Bushido's 183-pound Grand Prix will take place in Japan on Saturday, August 26th, which is the same date as UFC 62. Dream Stage Entertainment recently announced that instead of airing on pay-per-view, the August 26th Bushido event will air on Fox Sports Net on Sunday, August 27th.

It would be impossible for DSE to air all of those fights in a narrow time window for TV, and it has not been announced which fights (if any) will air on FSN other than the four tournament match-ups.

Labels: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Pride Fighting Championships News

posted by Ivan Trembow at 12:37 AM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- Most-Watched Fights of The Ultimate Fighter's Third Season
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

A total of 15 fights aired on the third season of The Ultimate Fighter, and what follows is a ranking of the fights from #1 to #15 in terms of viewership, along with a breakdown of which specific fighters drew the highest average ratings.

Kendall Grove and Josh Haynes each took two of the top four spots, but Haynes was also in the #15 position for his semi-final fight against Jesse Forbes.

1. Kendall Grove defeats Ed Herman: 2.5 rating (fight aired on TUF 3 live finale)

2. Michael Bisping defeats Josh Haynes: 2.5 rating (fight aired on TUF 3 live finale)

3. Kendall Grove defeats Ross Pointon: 2.3 rating (fight aired on Episode 3)

4. Josh Haynes defeats Tait Fletcher: 2.1 rating (fight aired on Episode 7)

5. Rory Singer defeats Solomon Hutcherson: 2.1 rating (fight aired on Episode 5)

6. Matt Hamill defeats Mike Nickels: 2.0 rating (fight aired on Episode 9)

7. Ed Herman defeats Danny Abaddi: 2.0 rating (fight aired on Episode 8)

8. Kalib Starnes defeats Mike Stine: 1.9 rating (fight aired on Episode 1)

9. Michael Bisping defeats Kristian Rothaermel: 1.8 rating (fight aired on Episode 4)

10. Matt Hamill defeats Jesse Forbes: 1.6 rating (fight aired on TUF 3 live finale)

11. Ed Herman defeats Rory Singer: 1.6 rating (fight aired on Episode 11)

12. Kendall Grove defeats Kalib Starnes: 1.6 rating (fight aired on Episode 10)

13. Michael Bisping defeats Ross Pointon: 1.6 rating (fight aired on Episode 12)

14. Noah Inhofer defeats Jesse Forbes: 1.5 rating (fight aired on Episode 2)

15. Josh Haynes defeats Jesse Forbes: 1.3 rating (fight aired on Episode 12)

Individual Fighter Averages
Here's how the individual fighters rank in terms of average viewership for their fights on TUF 3 (including the live finale). This list only includes fighters who fought at least twice.

1. Kendall Grove: 2.13 average over three fights

2. Ed Herman: 2.03 average over three fights

3. Josh Haynes: 1.97 average over three fights (tied with Michael Bisping)

3. Michael Bisping: 1.97 average over three fights (tied with Josh Haynes)

5. Ross Pointon: 1.95 average over two fights

6. Rory Singer: 1.85 average over two fights

7. Matt Hamill: 1.80 average over two fights

8. Kalib Starnes: 1.75 average over two fights

9. Jesse Forbes: 1.47 average over three fights

only had one fight on the air: Tait Fletcher, Solomon Hutcherson, Mike Nickels, Danny Abaddi, Mike Stine, Kristian Rothaermel, Noah Inhofer

TUF 1 vs. TUF 2 vs. TUF 3
In terms of overall ratings, the twelve-episode regular season of TUF 3 drew ratings of 2.0, 1.3, 1.9, 1.6, 1.6, 1.7, 1.9, 1.8, 1.8, 1.5, 1.5, and 1.4, so the regular season average was a 1.7 overall rating.

The Ultimate Fighter 3's average rating of 1.7 is better than TUF 1's average rating of 1.6, and is significantly better than TUF 2's average rating of 1.4.

The ratings for TUF 3 were even more impressive in the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic. In that demo, the first season averaged a 2.2 rating, the second season averaged a 2.5 rating, and the third season averaged a 2.9 rating.

Labels: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 7:05 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- Pride's U.S. Drug Testing
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

When Pride runs its first show in the United States on October 21st at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, the drug testing will be different than it normally is in Pride. For starters, there will actually be drug testing. Pride's fighters are not tested for steroids in Japan at any time, but that will obviously not be the case in the United States.

Keith Kizer, the Nevada State Athletic Commission's Executive Director, told MMAWeekly, "Testing for Pride would be the same as for other promoters." Kizer was previously the Chief Deputy Attorney General for the state of Nevada. Kizer is now the Executive Director of the NSAC after previous Executive Director Marc Ratner was hired by Zuffa to work for the UFC.

What this means for Pride is that any fighters who participate in championship fights will be drug tested. The NSAC also has the option of randomly drug test other fighters, but has not used this option with MMA events more than a handful times in recent years.

If there are no title fights on any given MMA card, including Pride's October show, the NSAC could choose to drug test the two main event fighters, or two fighters who are randomly selected out of all the fighters competing on the event.

The NSAC's drug policy is such that when Wanderlei Silva challenges for the UFC Light Heavyweight Title, which could happen in November, there is a 100 percent chance that he will be drug tested, as is the case with all fighters in title bouts.

The same will apply for any other Pride fighters who compete in the United States, whether they're competing on a UFC show or a Pride USA show. If it's a title fight, the fighters are definitely going to be drug tested. If it's not a title fight, the fighters are very unlikely to be drug tested.

The NSAC's drug tests screen for steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs, as well as a number of illegal recreational drugs. They do not currently test for abuse of Human Growth Hormone (HGH), nor does any other major sanctioning body, due to the fact that a reliable test for HGH abuse has not yet been developed. However, the World Anti-Doping Agency claims to be close to developing a reliable test for HGH abuse.

One specific fighter who you might think would be competing on Pride's U.S. debut show is Josh Barnett, but he will not be allowed to fight on the show unless he takes and passes a drug test.

After Barnett won the UFC Heavyweight Title in March 2002, he failed his NSAC post-fight drug test when banned anabolic steroids were found in his system.

The normal procedure for such a situation is that the fighter gets suspended for a certain number months, then they have to take a drug test and pass it, and then their license to fight in Nevada is reinstated when they prove that they're clean. That's the process that Tim Sylvia and Nathan Marquardt went through after they failed drug tests in 2003 and 2005, respectively.

However, that's not what happened in Josh Barnett's case. In Barnett's case, he failed a drug test, got suspended, went to Japan, and never fought in the United States again. He has never been re-issued a license by the NSAC because he has never taken a follow-up NSAC drug test.

When asked whether Barnett would have to pass a drug test before he could be licensed to fight by the NSAC, the NSAC's Keith Kizer told MMAWeekly, "Josh Barnett would have to provide a clean urine test before licensure, as did others in the same situation."

In addition to passing a drug test sometime before the event takes place, Barnett would also be overwhelmingly likely to have to take another drug test immediately after his fight as well.

In general, when a fighter has failed an NSAC drug test in the past, that fighter is subjected to more drug testing than any fighter who has never failed an NSAC drug test. In the specific cases of Sylvia and Marquardt, even after they served their suspensions and passed drug tests in order to get their licenses back, they were also drug tested immediately after their first fights back from suspension.

In the case of Kimo Leopoldo, he failed a drug test in Nevada back in 2004 (after his UFC 48 fight against Ken Shamrock) and then couldn't be licensed to fight in California in 2006 until he passed a drug test. Unlike Sylvia and Marquardt, Kimo failed this pre-sanctioning drug test, and he now faces another possible suspension as a result.

Labels: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Pride Fighting Championships News

posted by Ivan Trembow at 7:34 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- As an update to yesterday's story about the history of the UFC, more factually incorrect information has been put forth in media interviews.

In a Washington Times article, Zuffa president Dana White said that after Zuffa bought the UFC, "The first thing we knew we had to do was to get it sanctioned by all the major athletic commissions. We sat down with officials from Nevada and New Jersey in 2002, and we got that done." As pointed out many times before, and once again in the letter from the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board, that is a lie.

Another lie directly from White in the same article he said that the previous owners of the UFC "refused to be sanctioned... we took the opposite approach and embraced sanctioning."

The author of the Washington Times article, Thom Loverro, also added that Zuffa "... created weight classes. It went to a rounds system [of] five-minute rounds, five rounds for championship fights... It trained referees to move in quickly and stop a bout when a fighter was defenseless. And it began drawing not barroom brawlers, but legitimate athletes, many of them, like Couture, former college wrestling champions."

Another gem from the author of the article: "[In MMA], there are no Don Kings, no promoters, no sanctioning bodies like the World Boxing Council and the various other entities that get a piece of everything... There is only Ultimate Fighting Championship, which controls all the fighters and dictates how much they get paid."

As I wrote in the editorial on Wednesday, "This particular set of deceptions and distortions, constantly repeated to mainstream media members who print them without knowing any better, is also completely unnecessary. Zuffa legitimately did a lot of great things for the sport in the aforementioned time period (and also has in the years since then), such as getting sanctioning in Nevada, unifying the rules between Nevada and the pre-existing New Jersey sanctioning, and getting back on cable PPV, so there's no need to lie about it. The truth is flattering enough. There's no valid reason for continuing to propagate these lies, and yet it keeps happening."

Labels: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 1:08 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- New Jersey Commission Corrects Mainstream UFC Stories
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

If you have read a mainstream media article about the UFC in recent months, you've likely read about Zuffa's purchase of the UFC and its subsequent sanctioning in Nevada. What you're unlikely to have seen is any acknowledgment of the fact that the UFC was already sanctioned in 2000 by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board, which is widely regarded as the second most influential athletic commission in the country, behind only Nevada's.

The authors of many of these articles have written that most of today's rules were added to the sport after Zuffa bought the company. Many of the articles have also said that the UFC was not sanctioned by any major athletic commission before the Zuffa purchase, or that the UFC actually got sanctioned in New Jersey after the Zuffa purchase.

In the case of the latter claim, it's not just the authors of the articles who have made these kinds of statements, as UFC president Dana White has made the same kind of statements on two occasions in the past week. White said on ESPNews' The Hot List that the UFC "wasn't sanctioned by any of the major athletic commissions" before the Zuffa purchase, and White also said to the Washington Times, "The first thing we knew we had to do was to get it sanctioned by all the major athletic commissions. We sat down with officials from Nevada and New Jersey in 2002, and we got that done."

As a result of many different mainstream media articles that have made the same factually incorrect statements about the history of the UFC, the following letter was sent to several mainstream media journalists by Nick Lembo, Counsel to the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board.

Lembo has given MMAWeekly permission to publish this letter.


"Hello, this is Nick Lembo, Counsel to the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board.

I am writing to clarify what, in my opinion, were misleading, confusing or erroneous statements recently published in some major newspaper articles regarding the sport known as mixed martial arts.

Thank you for your interest and coverage of the mixed martial arts. Please review the following, which may assist you, in case you wish to author any future news articles on the subject.

Be advised that:

New Jersey sanctioned mixed martial arts before Zuffa even bought the UFC. UFC 28 was held in Atlantic City, NJ on November 17, 2000. This event was sanctioned by New Jersey while the UFC was an entity and a name owned by SEG ( Bob Meyrowitz). This event was held under the below listed rules awaiting administrative publication. In fact, an entity unrelated to the UFC, SEG or Zuffa held a sanctioned event in Atlantic City, prior to UFC 28, on September 30, 2000. This organization was known as the the IFC.

The UFC had already accepted, by virtue of staging an event in Atlantic City in November 2000, every below listed rule before Zuffa bought it. Accordingly, knees to the head of a downed opponent , certain elbow strikes, head butts and 20 other actions were already denoted as fouls that could result in disqualification. Additionally, weight classes, stringent medical requirements and strict regulatory oversight were in place at that time. The rules that applied as of the date of that show are listed below.

It should be noted that even before New Jersey sanctioned the sport, the California State Athletic Commission had prepared detailed rules to regulate mixed martial arts but they were not implemented solely due to governmental issues surrounding the budgeting process.

Please find the following language in our administrative proposal, written in 2001, regarding martial arts.

In past years, the State
Athletic Control Board (SACB) had been hesitant to sanction mixed
martial arts events due to the lack of formal rules in the sport which
created health and safety concerns. For example, the sport generally did
not divide contestants into weight classes, had contestants participate
in several matches on the same evening and did not provide time limits
on either round or bout length. However, in the last year or so,
promoters of mixed martial arts events began to develop formal rules and
regulations which included procedures to minimize the risk of injury to
the contestant. After becoming aware that detailed regulations were now
in place for most mixed martial arts events, the SACB then began a
course of communications with the California State Athletic Commission
with regard to the subject of regulating mixed martial arts events.
California has established rules and regulations for the conduct of the
sport in their state. As of September 2000, the SACB began to allow
mixed martial arts promoters to conduct events in New Jersey upon
submission and review of their established rules and regulations. In
addition, the promoters had to agree to incorporate the SACB's medical
testing and safety requirements. The intent was to allow the SACB to
observe actual events and gather information needed to determine what
would be necessary to establish a comprehensive set of rules to
effectively regulate the sport. On April 3, 2001, the SACB held a
meeting in Trenton to discuss the regulation of mixed martial arts
events. This meeting was set up by SACB Commissioner Larry Hazzard, Sr.
in an attempt to unify the myriad of rules and regulations which have
been utilized by the different mixed martial arts organizations. At this
meeting, the proposed uniform rules were agreed upon by the SACB,
several other regulatory bodies, numerous promoters of mixed martial
arts events and other interested parties in attendance. The meeting was
quite comprehensive and lasted over three hours. At the conclusion of
the meeting, all parties in attendance were able to agree upon a uniform
set of rules to govern the sport of mixed martial arts. In recent
months, other states, including Nevada, have begun to sanction mixed
martial arts events based upon the SACB's regulatory framework which
arose at the conclusion of the April meeting. The SACB anticipates that
this proposal will result in uniform rules for mixed martial arts events
held throughout the United States. In a similar sense, in March of 1998,
the SACB proposed uniform rules for the conduct of championship
professional boxing matches. Since the proposal, these rules for
championship rules have become the norm throughout the country.


SUBCHAPTER 24A; MIXED MARTIAL ARTS UNIFORM RULES

13:46-24A.1 Weight classes of mixed martial artists

(a) Mixed martial artists shall be divided into the following classes:

1.Flyweight under 125.9 pounds;
2.Bantamweight 126 lbs. - 134.9 pounds;
3.Featherweight 135 lbs. - 144.9 pounds;
4.Lightweight 145 lbs. - 154.9 pounds;
5.Welterweight 155 lbs. - 169.9 pounds;
6.Middleweight 170 lbs. - 184.9 pounds;
7.Light Heavyweight 185 lbs. - 204.9 pounds;
8.Heavyweight 204 lbs. - 264.9 pounds; and
9.Super Heavyweight over 265 pounds.

13:46-24A.2 Fighting area

(a) The fighting area canvas shall be no smaller than 18 feet by 18
feet and no larger than 32 feet by 32 feet. The fighting area canvas
shall be padded in a manner as approved by the Commissioner, with at
least one inch layer of foam padding. Padding shall extend beyond the
fighting area and over the edge of the platform. No vinyl or other
plastic rubberized covering shall be permitted.

(b) The fighting area canvas shall not be more than four feet above the
floor of the building and shall have suitable steps or ramp for use by
the participants. Posts shall be made of metal not more than six inches
in diameter, extending from the floor of the building to a minimum
height of 58 inches above the fighting area canvas and shall be properly
padded in a manner approved by the Commissioner.

(c) The fighting area canvas area shall be enclosed by a fence made of
such material as will not allow a fighter to fall out or break through
it onto the floor or spectators, including, but not limited to, vinyl
coated chain link fencing. All metal parts shall be covered and padded
in a manner approved by the Commissioner and shall not be abrasive to
the contestants.

(d) The fence shall provide two separate entries onto the fighting area
canvas.

13:46-24A.3 Stools

(a) A ring stool of a type approved by the Commissioner shall be
available for each contestant.

(b) An appropriate number of stools or chairs, of a type approved by
the Commissioner, shall be available for each contestant's seconds.
Such stools or chairs shall be located near each contestant's corner.

(c) All stools and chairs used must be thoroughly cleaned or replaced
after the conclusion of each bout.

13:46-24A.4 Equipment

For each bout, the promoter shall provide a clean water bucket and a
clean plastic water bottle in each corner.

13:46-24A.5 Specifications for bandages on mixed martial artist's
hands

(a) In all weight classes, the bandages on each contestant's hand
shall be restricted to soft gauze cloth not more than 13 yards in length
and two inches in width, held in place by not more than 10 feet of
surgeon's tape, one inch in width, for each hand.

(b) Surgeon's adhesive tape shall be placed directly on each hand for
protection near the wrist. The tape may cross the back of the hand twice
and extend to cover and protect the knuckles when the hand is clenched
to make a fist.

(c) The bandages shall be evenly distributed across the hand.

(d) Bandages and tape shall be placed on the contestant's hands in
the dressing room in the presence of the inspector and in the presence
of the manager or chief second of his or her opponent.

(e) Under no circumstances are gloves to be placed on the hands of a
contestant until the approval of the inspector is received.

13:46-24A.6 Mouth pieces

(a) All contestants are required to wear a mouthpiece during
competition. The mouthpiece shall be subject to examination and approval
by the attending physician.

(b) The round cannot begin without the mouthpiece in place.

(c) If the mouthpiece is involuntarily dislodged during competition,
the referee shall call time, clean the mouthpiece and reinsert the
mouthpiece at the first opportune moment, without interfering with the
immediate action.

13:46-24A.7 Protective equipment

(a) Male mixed martial artists shall wear a groin protector of their
own selection, of a type approved by the Commissioner.

(b) Female mixed martial artists are prohibited from wearing groin
protectors.

(c) Female mixed martial artists shall wear a chest protector during
competition. The chest protector shall be subject to approval of the
Commissioner.

13:46-24A.8 Gloves

(a) The gloves shall be new for all main events and in good condition
or they must be replaced.

(b) All contestants shall wear either four, five or six ounce gloves,
supplied by the promoter and approved by the commission. No contestant
shall supply their own gloves for participation.


13:46-24A.9 Apparel

(a) Each contestant shall wear mixed martial arts shorts, biking
shorts, or kick-boxing shorts.

(b) Gi's or shirts are prohibited during competition.

(c) Shoes are prohibited during competition.

13:46-24A.10 Appearance

(a) All contestants shall be cleanly shaven immediately prior to
competition, except that a contestant may wear a closely cropped
mustache.

(b) Hair shall be trimmed or tied back in such a manner as not to
interfere with the vision of either contestant or cover any part of a
contestant's face.

(c) Jewelry or piercing accessories are prohibited during competition.


13:46-24A.11 Round length

(a) Each non-championship mixed martial arts contest shall be three
rounds, of five minutes duration, with a one minute rest period between
each round.

(b) Each championship mixed martial arts contest shall be five rounds,
of five minutes duration, with a one minute rest period between each
round.

13:46-24A.12 Stopping a contest

The referee and ringside physician are the sole arbiters of a bout and
are the only individuals authorized to enter the fighting area at any
time during competition and authorized to stop a contest.

13:46-24A.13 Judging

(a) All bouts will be evaluated and scored by three judges.

(b) The 10-Point Must System will be the standard system of scoring a
bout. Under the 10-Point Must Scoring System, 10 points must be awarded
to the winner of the round and nine points or less must be awarded to
the loser, except for a rare even round, which is scored (10-10).

(c) Judges shall evaluate mixed martial arts techniques, such as
effective striking, effective grappling, control of the fighting area,
effective aggressiveness and defense.

(d) Evaluations shall be made in the order in which the techniques
appear in (c) above, giving the most weight in scoring to effective
striking, effective grappling, control of the fighting area and
effective aggressiveness and defense.

(e) Effective striking is judged by determining the total number of
legal heavy strikes landed by a contestant.

(f) Effective grappling is judged by considering the amount of
successful executions of a legal takedown and reversals. Examples of
factors to consider are take downs from standing position to mount
position, passing the guard to mount position, and bottom position
fighters using an active, threatening guard.

(g) Fighting area control is judged by determining who is dictating the
pace, location and position of the bout. Examples of factors to consider
are countering a grappler's attempt at takedown by remaining standing
and legally striking ; taking down an opponent to force a ground fight;
creating threatening submission attempts, passing the guard to achieve
mount, and creating striking opportunities.

(h) Effective aggressiveness means moving forward and landing a legal
strike.

(i) Effective defense means avoiding being struck, taken down or
reversed while countering with offensive attacks.

(j) The following objective scoring criteria shall be utilized by the
judges when scoring a round;

1. A round is to be scored as a 10-10 Round when both contestants
appear to be fighting evenly and neither contestant shows clear
dominance in a round;

2. A round is to be scored as a 10-9 Round when a contestant wins by a
close margin, landing the greater number of effective legal strikes,
grappling and other maneuvers;

3. A round is to be scored as a 10-8 Round when a contestant
overwhelmingly dominates by striking or grappling in a round.

4. A round is to be scored as a 10-7 Round when a contestant totally
dominates by striking or grappling in a round.

(k) Judges shall use a sliding scale and recognize the length of time
the fighters are either standing or on the ground, as follows:

1. If the mixed martial artists spent a majority of a round on the
canvas, then:
i. Effective grappling is weighed first; and
ii. Effective striking is then weighed

2. If the mixed martial artists spent a majority of a round standing,
then:
1. Effective striking is weighed first; and
2. Effective grappling is then weighed

3. If a round ends with a relatively even amount of standing and canvas
fighting, striking and grappling are weighed equally.

13:46-24A.14 Warnings

(a) The referee shall issue a single warning for the following
infractions. After the initial warning, if the prohibited conduct
persists, a penalty will be issued. The penalty may result in a
deduction of points or disqualification.

1. Holding or grabbing the fence;
2. Holding opponent's shorts or gloves; or
3. The presence of more than one second on the fighting area
perimeter.

13:46-24A.15 Fouls

(a) The following are fouls and will result in penalties if committed:
1. Butting with the head;
2. Eye gouging of any kind;
3. Biting or spitting at an opponent;
4. Hair pulling;
5. Fish hooking;
6. Groin attacks of any kind;
7. Intentionally placing a finger in any opponent's orifice;
8. Downward pointing of elbow strikes;
9. Small joint manipulation;
10. Strikes to the spine or back of the head;
11. Heel kicks to the kidney;
12. Throat strikes of any kind;
13. Clawing, pinching, twisting the flesh or grabbing the clavicle;
14. Kicking the head of a grounded fighter;
15. Kneeing the head of a grounded fighter;
16. Stomping of a grounded fighter;
17. The use of abusive language in fighting area;
18. Any unsportsmanlike conduct that causes an injury to opponent;
19. Attacking an opponent on or during the break;
20. Attacking an opponent who is under the referee's care at the
time;
21. Timidity (avoiding contact, or consistent dropping of mouthpiece,
or faking an injury);
22. Interference from a mixed martial artists seconds;
23. Throwing an opponent out of the fighting area;
24. Flagrant disregard of the referee's instructions;
25. Spiking an opponent to the canvas on his or her head or neck.

(b) Disqualification occurs after any combination of three or the fouls
listed in (a) above or after a referee determines that a foul was
intentional and flagrant.

(c) Fouls will result in a point being deducted by the official
scorekeeper from the offending mixed martial artist's score.

(d) Only a referee can assess a foul. If the referee does not call the
foul, judges shall not make that assessment on their own and cannot
factor such into their scoring calculations.

(e) A fouled fighter has up to five minutes to recuperate.

(f) If a foul is committed, the referee shall:

1. call time;

2. check the fouled mixed martial artist's condition and safety; and

3. assess the foul to the offending contestant, deduct points, and
notify each corner's seconds, judges and the official scorekeeper.

g) If a bottom contestant commits a foul, unless the top contestant is
injured, the fight shall continue, so as not to jeopardize the top
contestant's superior positioning at the time.

1. The referee shall verbally notify the bottom contestant of the
foul.

2. When the round is over, the referee shall assess the foul and notify
both corners' seconds, the judges and the official scorekeeper.

3. The referee may terminate a bout based on the severity of a foul.
For such a
flagrant foul, a contestant shall lose by disqualification.

13:46-24A.16 Injuries sustained during competition

(a) If an injury sustained during competition as a result of a legal
maneuver is severe enough to terminate a bout, the injured contestant
loses by technical knockout.

(b) If an injury sustained during competition as a result of an
intentional foul is severe enough to terminate a bout, the contestant
causing the injury loses by disqualification.

(c) If an injury is sustained during competition as a result of an
intentional foul and the bout is allowed to continue, the referee shall
notify the scorekeeper to automatically deduct two points from the
contestant who committed the foul.

(d) If an injury sustained during competition as a result of an
intentional foul causes the injured contestant to be unable to continue
at a subsequent point in the contest, the injured contestant shall win
by technical decision, if he or she is ahead on the score cards. If the
injured contestant is even or behind on the score cards at the time of
stoppage, the outcome of the bout shall be declared a technical draw.

(e) If a contestant injures himself or herself while attempting to foul
his or her opponent, the referee shall not take any action in his or her
favor, and the injury shall be treated in the same manner as an injury
produced by a fair blow.

(f) If an injury sustained during competition as a result of an
accidental foul is severe enough for the referee to stop the bout
immediately, the bout shall result in a no contest if stopped before two
rounds have been completed in a three round bout or if stopped before
three rounds have been completed in a five round bout.

(g) If an injury sustained during competition as a result of an
accidental foul is severe enough for the referee to stop the bout
immediately, the bout shall result in a technical decision awarded to
the contestant who is ahead on the score cards at the time the bout is
stopped only when the bout is stopped after two rounds of a three round
bout, or three rounds of a five round bout have been completed.

(h) There will be no scoring of an incomplete round. However, if the
referee penalizes either contestant, then the appropriate points shall
be deducted when the scorekeeper calculates the final score.
13:46-24A.17 Types of Bout Results

(a) The following are the types of bout results:

1. Submission by:
i. Tap Out:When a contestant physically uses his hand to indicate that
he or she no longer wishes to continue; or
ii. Verbal tap out:When a contestant verbally announces to the referee
that he or she does not wish to continue;

2. Technical knockout by:
i. Referee stops bout;
ii. Ringside physician stops bout; or
iii. When an injury as a result of a legal maneuver is severe enough to
terminate a bout;

3. Knockout by failure to rise from the canvas;

4. Decision via score cards:
i. Unanimous: When all three judges score the bout for the same
contestant;
ii. Split Decision: When two judges score the bout for one contestant
and
one judge scores for the opponent; or
iii. Majority Decision: When two judges score the bout for the same
contestant and one judge scores a draw;

5. Draws:
i. Unanimous - When all three judges score the bout a draw; ii.
Majority - When two judges score the bout a draw; or
iii. Split - When all three judges score differently and the score
total results in a draw;
6. Disqualification:When an injury sustained during competition as a
result of an intentional foul is severe enough to terminate the
contest;

7. Forfeit:When a contestant fails to begin competition or prematurely
ends the contest for reasons other than injury or by indicating a tap
out;

8. Technical Draw: When an injury sustained during competition as a
result of an intentional foul causes the injured contestant to be unable
to continue and the injured contestant is even or behind on the score
cards at the time of stoppage;

9. Technical Decision:When the bout is prematurely stopped due to
injury and a contestant is leading on the score cards; and

10. No Contest:When a contest is prematurely stopped due to accidental
injury and a sufficient number of rounds have not been completed to
render a decision via the score cards.

SUBCHAPTER 24B ADDITIONAL MIXED MARTIAL ARTS RULES

13:46-24B.1 Licensing

(a) All mixed martial arts events shall be subject to the licensing
requirements of N.J.A.C. 13:46-4.

(b) The fee for a mixed martial artist license shall be as set forth in
N.J.A.C. 13:46-4.25(b). Other license fees shall be as set forth in
N.J.A.C. 13:46-4.25(a).

13:46-24B.2 Bond procedure

All mixed martial arts events shall be subject to the bond procedure
requirements of N.J.A.C.13:46-4.8.

13:46-24B.3 Inspectors

All mixed martial arts events shall be subject to the presence, duties
and compensation of inspectors as required by N.J.A.C. 13:46-9.

Labels: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 12:41 AM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- The UFC and the Joys of Re-Writing History

(Plus: Pro Wrestling Booking and Squash Matches in MMA)

Editorial by Ivan Trembow

Note: This editorial was written specifically for Ivan's Blog. Also, the opinions expressed in this editorial are those of Ivan Trembow, and with the exception of the specific quotes in this article, these statements do not necessarily reflect the opinions of anyone else.

Within seconds of UFC 60 going on the air on May 27th, Zuffa put its well-respected play-by-play man, Mike Goldberg, in one of the most uncomfortable positions that any announcer can find themselves in. He was, through no fault of his own, put in a position to be deceptive. In this case, it was about the show being "sold out." Goldberg and Joe Rogan did a good job on commentary throughout the evening, as they normally do, but anyone who has been following the sport in recent months is fully aware of the fact that UFC 60's ticket sales came nowhere close to Zuffa's publicly expressed expectations.

Any other UFC event with the same level of attendance would be viewed as a huge success at the live gate, but it's a different story altogether when you have an event that UFC president Dana White repeatedly said would break the all-time attendance records, and it winds up not coming close to doing so. The event was not "sold out," as Goldberg said. Whether UFC management simply told Goldberg that the event was sold out and he repeated it, or whether he was specifically told to say that the event was sold out even though it wasn't, it's generally not an accident when an announcer says, "We're sold out!" several times during a broadcast.

The high ticket prices for UFC 60 were slashed several weeks before the event, and even then, free "comp" tickets were still being given away en masse, in an attempt to make it look good for the cameras. There were promotions such as the one on the KROQ radio station where you didn't even have to be the X numbered caller to get free tickets, as is normally the case with ticket give-aways. Anyone who called got free tickets because there were so many of them to give away.

As recently as the Hughes-Gracie countdown show on Spike TV shortly before UFC 60, White was saying that there would be "over 20,000 fans" in the building, which would have been an extremely difficult task, given the fact that it was configured to hold 16,947 fans.

Zuffa claimed after the event to have sold 14,802 tickets, which is also false. The legitimate attendance numbers for UFC 60 were 10,347 paid tickets and 4,418 free tickets. The total attendance was 14,765, and approximately one-third of those people got into the show for free. Zuffa also floated the ridiculous claim both before and after the event that UFC 60 had a live gate approaching $9 million, which is only a correct statement if you consider $2,900,090 (the actual live gate) to be "approaching $9 million." The actual live gate was, as Dave Meltzer put it, "less than one-third of the numbers that the company had thrown around in the media leading into the show."

I don't know the specific reason that UFC management gave the directive to say that the event was "sold out," but whatever the reason, it was unnecessary. Is it not enough to talk about how far the sport has come, and point out that it would have been unthinkable just six years ago when the UFC was barely alive to suggest that the UFC would be having a big show at the Staples Center? Is it not enough to pan the crowd and make it look impressive to the average PPV viewer without feeling the need to have your play-by-plan man lie about the place being sold out? Is it not enough to say that you had a gigantic live gate of $2.9 million rather than floating the ridiculous $9 million figure?

Unfortunately, this is just a small part of a much bigger trend of deception. On the subject of attendance, Zuffa said that UFC 59 in Anaheim sold 17,000 tickets in just a few days, and it still says on the UFC web site that the event had over 17,000 fans in attendance. The legitimate attendance, as released by the California State Athletic Commission and the arena, was a sellout of 13,814, which is also a very impressive figure. Again, is it not impressive enough to sell out an arena configured for 13,814 seats? Why is there a perceived need to lie and claim that you sold over 17,000 tickets?


The Undefeated Royce Gracie?
The same sentiment applies to the much more blatant lie about Royce Gracie's "MMA record" of 11-0. When the UFC first started up with the false advertising in countless commercials on Spike TV in the weeks before UFC 60, I thought it was just a mistake. After all, the original UFC 60 commercials on Spike TV made it a point to say that Royce Gracie was "undefeated in the Octagon," which is a way of suggesting that he has never lost a fight without actually saying it, and there's nothing wrong with that. That is simple "slight of hand marketing" and is done all the time. That wouldn't be all that big of a deal.

It crossed the line into being some of the most blatant false advertising in recent memory when the updated commercials that the UFC ran on Spike TV simply referred to Royce as "the undefeated Royce Gracie." Again, one could think that it might be a mistake and not intentional, but it ended up being a conscious effort to deceive people, because Royce Gracie was repeatedly listed as having an "MMA record" of 11-0 on the UFC 60 PPV broadcast.

Everyone else on the card had their MMA records listed, but Royce had his UFC record listed, while still having it called his MMA record (and it wasn't even his accurate UFC record). For a large percentage of viewers who aren't knowledgeable enough about the sport to know any better, they probably believed it, and that was the whole point of doing it. If a certain percentage of the viewing audience doesn't know any better, you can often get away with deceiving them.

Zuffa is very much in the business of trying to control the flow of information (actual Dana White quote regarding web site traffic in a recent newspaper interview: "Our web site is a real machine for us. We get a lot of hits. They can't go anywhere else to read it, so they come to us.") Part of the advantage of trying to control the flow of information is that you can often re-write history and get away with it. Vince McMahon has done it for years in WWE in many different ways, and the UFC has moved closer and closer to McMahon's less-than-pleasant image by re-writing history in any way that they see fit.

The convenience must be wonderful. Are you on bad terms with Tito Ortiz for a while? Just delete him from the UFC's history, then add him back when he signs another contract with you. Are you on bad terms with Frank Shamrock? Just delete him from the UFC's history, too, and pretend with a straight face at a "Top 10" ceremony that he's not one of the top ten fighters in UFC history. (A couple years later, after he breaks the North American MMA attendance record, keep it on the down-low when you offer him a big-money contract to return to the UFC.)

Is it more convenient for you to lie and say that Royce Gracie is undefeated than it is to display his actual MMA record? Just write your own history and declare that his MMA record is now 11-0. This will make it look like Matt Hughes was the first man to ever beat Royce, even though that's a complete farce.

The fact of the matter is that in reality, Royce Gracie's MMA record going into the Hughes fight was 13-1-3, and that's if you don't count his first fight with Hidehiko Yoshida since it wasn't fought under MMA rules (the rules in that fight limited striking), or the so-called loss to Harold Howard in the fight that never happened at UFC 3.

In addition to his one previous loss, Royce has had three draws in his career, all in bouts where it was agreed before the fight that there would be no judges' decision if the fight went to the time limit. Royce fought to a draw with Ken Shamrock way back in 1995 (which Shamrock would have won if there were judges), and he fought to a draw with Yoshida in 2003 (which Gracie would have won if there judges). Most recently, Gracie fought to a draw (which could have gone either way if there were judges) last December in a fight where Gracie weighed-in at 190 pounds and his opponent, Hideo Tokoro, weighed-in at 152 pounds.

Far more significant than the three draws on Gracie's record is the one previous defeat on his legitimate MMA record of 13-1-3 going into the Hughes fight. That one previous loss came against Kazushi Sakuraba in an epic 90-minute fight, in front of a massive crowd at the Tokyo Dome, in one of the most historically significant MMA matches of all time. In other words, I'm pretty sure that it happened and that I didn't imagine it.

Despite this, there were countless TV commercials referring to Royce as "the undefeated Royce Gracie," and it repeatedly said on the screen during UFC 60, "MMA Record: 11-0." Just because the UFC made the choice not to acknowledge Royce's previous loss in the lead-up to his fight at UFC 60 does not mean that the previous loss doesn't exist, especially given that his previous loss took place in one of the most famous MMA matches of all time.

If anyone wants to try to correct me on a technicality by saying, "But his UFC record really was 11-0!" then that could easily be countered by three points. One, his previous UFC record was not 11-0; it was 11-0-1. Second, it specifically said during UFC 60 on a repeated basis that 11-0 was his "MMA record," as opposed to his "UFC record." Third, with the logic that 11-0 really was his UFC record, then why is it that every other fighter in recent UFC history has had their overall MMA record displayed on the screen instead of just their UFC record? If you're only displaying UFC records, shouldn't Assuerio Silva's record have been listed as 0-1 going into his fight against Mike Swick at UFC 60?

While trying to establish the UFC as a real sport, things this like only serve to make Zuffa look bush league, which is the exact opposite of the image that they want to project. As Dave Meltzer wrote in the Wrestling Observer, "Royce's history was rewritten to where his most famous matches were suddenly no longer part of his story, and the term 'undefeated' constantly being used was not just misleading, but outright deceptive... As much as the UFC wants to be taken seriously as a real sport, Major League Baseball doesn't erase its own history, make up team records or individual player records during the World Series, have commentators change the results of famous games, or claim sell-outs that aren't so. Even boxing, a sport that the UFC compares itself with and talks about being the more honest version of, doesn't do that. HBO Boxing doesn't pretend fights that didn't air on HBO actually didn't happen. Even WWE, with its decades long history of dishonesty, doesn't even do that anymore."

What causes the "Royce Gracie is undefeated" lie to make such little sense is that it was completely unnecessary. Zuffa could have just as easily pushed to new viewers and reinforced to long-time viewers that Royce Gracie is a legend in the sport who changed the entire perception of fighting in the United States, and they could have sold the fight just as well in doing so without lying about his MMA record. Instead, they lied in order to enhance something that didn't necessarily need to be enhanced.


Zuffa Pays TUF Winners Six-Figure Salaries?
The same can be said about the so-called "six-figure" contracts that are awarded to the winners of The Ultimate Fighter. If you say to the average person that you're making "six figures" in salary from a particular employer, that is widely regarded to mean that you are making in excess of $100,000 per year from that employer (hence the actual phrase "six figures"... this concept is not rocket science).

Zuffa's use of the phrase "six figures" is misleading and has been since the first season, when it was specifically said by Zuffa (and reported at the time) that the TUF winner's contracts were for three years and $350,000. In reality, the winner's contracts for the first three seasons have the following terms.

The TUF winner's contracts bind the fighter exclusively to the UFC for three years, with three fights per year. In the first year, the salary for each fight is $12,000 to fight and an additional $12,000 to win. Fighting income for the year would range from $36,000 to $72,000, depending on wins and losses.

In the second year, it's $16,000 and $16,000 per fight, meaning that fighting income for the year would range from $48,000 to $96,000. In the third year, it's $22,000 and $22,000 per fight, meaning that fighting income for the year would range from $66,000 to $122,000. That is actually a six-figure income in one year out of three, or zero years out of three, depending on wins and losses.

Total fighting income paid to the fighter by Zuffa over the course of the three-year contract would range from $150,000 to $300,000, depending on wins and losses, and would only hit the $300,000 mark if the fighter went 9-0 in his first nine UFC fights. The UFC could just as easily say that the winners of TUF get "UFC contracts" or even "big UFC contracts," and they would still have an attractive prize for TUF. There is no need to be so misleading about the terms of the deal.

This is straight out of the WWE playbook, where there was a so-called "Million Dollar Tough Enough competition" that was won by MMA fighter Daniel Puder, and the reality of the contract was actually, "It's four years at $250,000 per year, and only the first year is guaranteed, and you're very likely to be released after one year."

One area in which Zuffa may have actually topped McMahon on the classless scale is in the percentage of revenue that goes to the talent, which I have written about extensively in the past and once again this past week with a series of articles looking at the UFC's PPV sales, live gate revenue, and fighter salaries. One example from earlier this year is that UFC 59 generated a total of over $18 million in gross revenue, and yet there were still six different fighters on the UFC 59 card who made $5,000 or less (which is less than the cost of a 60-second commercial on The Ultimate Fighter).

The top fighters are now making more money due to the huge explosion in revenue that started in early 2005. However, the UFC fighters who fill out the prelims and even the main cards are still getting paychecks that should be embarrassing for any self-respecting businessman to be paying fighters, given the company's huge revenue streams and its desire to be seen as a major-league sport. Even if it's basic capitalism to pay as little as possible, the UFC's pay scale is not doing the company any favors if Zuffa wants the UFC to be seen as a major-league sport, as opposed to a bush-league sport whose athletes have to get side jobs to support themselves, or a sport like boxing with a trashy mainstream media image.


Zuffa Added Most of the Rules and Regulations?
When it comes to talking to mainstream media reporters, lying is the norm rather than the exception for Zuffa, and there is a mountain of evidence to back up that assertion.

Again, on the issue of re-writing history, what do you do if you're Zuffa and you want to inflate your place in the history of the sport? Just tell mainstream media reporters who don't know any better that it was only since 2001, when Zuffa started running things, that the UFC added things like weight classes (actually 1997), multiple judges scoring a fight if it goes the distance (1995), doctors at ringside (1993), medical exams of fighters (1993), time limits (1995), gloves (1995), multiple timed rounds (1999), the banning of groin strikes (1994), the ability of the referee to stop the fight (1994), and whatever else you can get them to believe.

The mainstream media reporters won't bother to do five minutes of research to correct you, and it'll seem like you took the sport directly from a no-rules street fighting contest into a civilized affair! You won't be directly quoted, but the same series of lies will just happen to appear in most mainstream media articles about the UFC in which you're quoted talking about other things.

You want examples? There are literally far too many to list, so let's focus on some of the more recent and high-profile examples.

In the high-profile trade journal MultiChannel News in June, the author of an article about the UFC happened to write this immediately after quoting Dana White about something else: "Once Zuffa purchased the franchise from [Bob] Meyrowitz, it immediately imposed rules to make the sport more appealing to state athletic commissions and cable operators. The sport has outlawed such moves as eye gouging, biting and kicks to the crotch. Much like boxing, the UFC emphasized weight classes and allowed referees to stop matches at their discretion. In 2001, Zuffa was able to convince boxing-friendly athletic associations in New Jersey and Nevada to sanction UFC fights."

Besides the usual lies about when various rules were implemented (seriously, eye gouging and biting?), the MultiChannel News article also repeated Zuffa's oft-mentioned claim that it got the UFC sanctioned in both Nevada and New Jersey. In reality, before Zuffa ever bought the UFC, it was sanctioned and regulated by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board, which was widely regarded as the second most important sanctioning body in the country.

The "old UFC" also ran fully sanctioned UFC events in states such as Iowa, Louisiana, and Mississippi, but it was New Jersey that was regarded as having the second-biggest sanctioning body (behind only Nevada's) in terms of importance and prestige. In addition to getting fully sanctioned in New Jersey, the previous owners of the UFC also made an unsuccessful attempt to get sanctioned in Nevada shortly before selling the UFC to Zuffa for $2 million, which means that it's complete BS whenever you read that the previous owners "ran from regulation" or "ran from sanctioning."

There was a flood of poorly-researched hack-jobs about Zuffa's history in early July, which coincided with a flood of Dana White interviews in mainstream newspapers, and this kicked off with an article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The article repeatedly misspelled the name of former UFC president Bob Meyrowitz, which shows how much research was done for the article, and the author of the article wrote that Meyrowitz "kept conducting UFC cards in states without athletic commissions that would not regulate it, which only fueled the sport's outlaw reputation and further angered McCain."

Immediately before that point in the article, Dana White is quoted as saying, "I could see that if this was done the right way, if someone didn't run away from regulation but embraced it, if someone cleaned it up and shined it a little, this thing could be huge." Shortly after the line about Meyrowitz and his non-existent rebel UFC events in states that specifically banned MMA, White is quoted again, this time saying, "We all felt if we made some changes and embraced regulation, this had the potential to just go crazy."

Again, that is re-writing history at best, and lying through your teeth at worst. The previous owners did not "run away from regulation." They sought sanctioning and actually got it in New Jersey, and then shortly before selling the UFC to Zuffa, the previous owners tried unsuccessfully to get it sanctioned in Nevada.

The article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal added the following, just in case any knowledgeable readers were still wondering if the article was a hack-job: "White traveled the country like a carnival barker... It wasn't long before New Jersey and Nevada approved the UFC and agreed to allow mixed martial arts fights, leading to nearly every major boxing state approving it."

Even the Washington Post, which normally does a good job with basic fact-checking, fell for this line of BS in a July 8th article that also happened to quote Dana White about Zuffa's purchase of the UFC in 2001. The author of the article wrote, "UFC President Dana White and Zuffa LLC took over in 2001 and since then the UFC has tightened its rules and restrictions. It banned elbowing, head-butting and knee strikes to the head while on the ground, introduced weight classes and implemented various other protections, such as referee training, and mandatory fight doctors." We've already gone over the timeline of when those things were actually implemented (much earlier than 2001).

Several days after the Washington Post story was published, a much longer article (which also quoted Dana White about Zuffa's purchase of the UFC) appeared in the Boston Globe, and it repeated an even more brazen set of lies. The author of the Globe article actually wrote that Zuffa "resurrected UFC from the scrap heap of bad marketing and no-holds-barred mayhem when they bought the company name from Bob Meyrowitz for around $160,000. At the time ultimate fighting had a sullied reputation. No state would sanction its bouts because it had no rules and boasted of its refusal to cooperate with state regulatory bodies."

Zuffa bought the UFC for $160,000? No state would sanction UFC bouts in 2001? The UFC had no rules in 2001? The previous owners boasted of their refusal to cooperate with state regulatory bodies? I think the Boston Globe may have set a new record for "most factually incorrect information ever fit into a few sentences," but it fits right in with the kinds of things that Zuffa would like everyone to believe.

But wait, the Boston Globe didn't also repeat the lies about Zuffa creating all of the rules, right? No, they did that, too: "By 1997, no-holds-barred events had been relegated to smoke-filled rooms in unregulated states... but by using Lorenzo Fertitta’s connections as a former Nevada boxing commissioner, doors began to open within the regulatory community when UFC came up with a set of rules. Where once anything was allowed, turning events into bloody barroom brawls without the cocktail glasses, [Dana] White and his associates added strict adherence to such things as weight classes, five-minute rounds, judges, and mandatory drug testing... [Zuffa] embraced regulatory bodies in states such as Nevada, New Jersey, and California, which had refused to acknowledge UFC."

The Wrestling Observer responded to the Boston Globe story by writing, "The story features the same b.s. about how in 2001, no state would sanction MMA when Bob Meyrowitz owned it and how the old UFC refused to cooperate with state athletic commissions. The truth is the exact opposite... Yes, another story about how the new owners added rules, and embraced regulation. It’s almost sickening how much this crap gets propagated and nobody does one iota of research to see how bogus it is."

Regarding one specific similarity to Vince McMahon's similar pattern of propaganda, Meltzer wrote, "Old-time wrestling fans will love this one. The old UFC was held in 'smoke-filled rooms in unregulated states' [according to the Boston Globe article]. That was the old Vince McMahon line about taking pro wrestling out of smoke filled arenas... what took both out of smoke-filled arenas was the creation of indoor smoking laws, not promoters."

One interesting side note to the Boston Globe article is that White also acknowledged in the article, "If there was no Web when we started, we wouldn't have been able to sustain it. UFC stayed alive on the Web. Our [demographic] could never have found out about us without it because the mainstream media was ignoring us." So, just to clarify, it's not what White isn't aware that the Internet kept the UFC alive for a time. He's fully aware of that; it's just not going to stop him from trying to control the flow of information and crack down on any form of independent, MMA-dedicated media.

In the biggest coup of all from a spreading of misinformation standpoint, an Associated Press reporter bit on the BS-bearing hook and included the same kind of factually incorrect in an AP news story about the UFC. As an AP article, it appeared in the majority of major (and minor) newspapers across the United States, as well as huge web sites throughout the world, including ESPN.com. The story claimed that when Zuffa bought the UFC and got it sanctioned in Nevada in 2001, "Out went bloody head butts and other vicious blows that could cause serious harm. In came a skilled and conditioned fighter."

With the exception of the lie about the previous owners "running from sanctioning," White is usually bright enough to not actually be quoted on the record repeating these lies. They just happen to show up in every mainstream article that quotes him talking about other topics. But in a very brazen example just this week on ESPNews' The Hot List, White flat-out lied, on the record, for everyone to see on national television.

On The Hot List, White said that the UFC "wasn't sanctioned by any of the major athletic commissions" before Zuffa bought it. This is not a matter for debate. It's just flat-out factually incorrect, as I've already detailed in this article.

Dana White also said on The Hot List, "When we first bought the sport, not only was it not in any of the major venues here in the United States, but it also wasn't on pay-per-view. We were on DirecTV, but we weren't on any of the cable pay-per-view systems." While I wasn't aware that Zuffa "bought the sport," White's statement about the PPV situation is absolutely correct. However, his statement about major venues is once again factually incorrect, unless the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City is not considered a "major venue."

White knew better than to repeat the lies about Zuffa adding all of the rules on national television. Interestingly, Dave Meltzer noted in the Observer several months back that when longtime Observer subscriber Dave Doyle (who writes about MMA for Fox) was talking to White for an interview, White dropped any signs of trying to pretend that Zuffa added most of the UFC's rules... as soon as it became clear in the conversation that Doyle was a longtime MMA fan who knew the history of the sport and would be able to tell the difference between reality and BS (as opposed to mainstream media reporters who know nothing about MMA and will repeat anything that you tell them because they don't know any better and generally won't bother to do five minutes of research).

Regarding the specific line that the previous owners of the UFC "ran from sanctioning," which is one line that Dana White does not have a problem giving on-the-record in any mainstream media interview, the previous owners did not "run from sanctioning," and Zuffa knows that based on the circumstances of how Zuffa bought the UFC. In fact, one of the last things that the previous owners did before selling the UFC to Zuffa was to try unsuccessfully to get the UFC sanctioned in Nevada.

Here's the actual story about how SEG came to sell the UFC to Zuffa, gathered from multiple issues of the Wrestling Observer, with edits made in brackets to fill in context or correct grammar, and with a timeline clarification courtesy of Whaledog.com: "Meyrowitz [former UFC president Bob Meyrowitz] would go to InDemand [the PPV company] and ask what he needed to do to get back on InDemand, and they said the UFC needed to get sanctioned [by a major sanctioning body]. He got sanctioned in New Jersey, and was basically told that he needed to get it sanctioned in Nevada, as that was the most influential athletic commission in the country. [Meyrowitz] set up a meeting in Las Vegas, and at the time, sanctioning was going to happen based on what inside sources were telling both Meyrowitz and InDemand. Suddenly, the night before the approval that was going to be the step to put the UFC back on the map, Meyrowitz was told that he was going to be voted down [the next day, when his request was scheduled to be voted on by the members of the Nevada State Athletic Commission]. He didn't have the votes. He was also told that if he followed through the next day, and was voted down, he would never have an opportunity to be sanctioned. So, he pulled out, they created some cover reason as to why he was pulling his attempt at sanctioning, and basically he was screwed. Lorenzo Fertitta [the current co-owner of the UFC] was an influential member of the Nevada commission at the time. [Approximately one year later], Fertitta purchased the UFC [for $2 million], then got sanctioning in Nevada, and then got on PPV."

There are dozens and dozens more examples of mainstream articles that quote Dana White as part of the article, and also just happen to keep giving Zuffa far more credit than is deserved for adding all of the rules, along with repeating the same set of lies about the previous owners of the UFC.

This particular set of deceptions and distortions, constantly repeated to mainstream media members who print them without knowing any better, is also completely unnecessary. Zuffa legitimately did a lot of great things for the sport in the aforementioned time period (and also has in the years since then), such as getting sanctioning in Nevada, unifying the rules between Nevada and the pre-existing New Jersey sanctioning, and getting back on cable PPV, so there's no need to lie about it. The truth is flattering enough. There's no valid reason for continuing to propagate these lies, and yet it keeps happening.


MMA is Merging with Pro Wrestling
It should also be troubling to any hardcore fan of MMA that the direction of the UFC is becoming increasingly similar to pro wrestling. Keep in mind, this is coming from someone who is actually a fan of pro wrestling, butalso wants MMA to be more of a "real sport" than what it is becoming. This trend towards a pro wrestling-like product should be a lot more upsetting to you if happen to be one of the many MMA fans who dislike pro wrestling.

It's also important to note that I still find the UFC product to be enjoyable even in its current form, and there are still a decent amount of quality fights to be found in the UFC. There's just nowhere near as many as there would be if the current UFC product actually had anything to do with determining who the best fighters are (you know, like how every season of the NFL determines who the best football team is, and every season of the NBA determines who the best basketball team is).

I have written previously about the worked pull-aparts between Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock on The Ultimate Fighter 3, and have explained exactly what I mean by the phrase "worked pull-aparts." Ken Shamrock was even kind enough to add more pro wrestling terminology into the hype during the ridiculous Episode 12 pull-apart. An interesting note to add on that front is that when TUF 3 contestant Tait Fletcher was asked in an interview with Jason Milloff about the interaction between Ortiz and Shamrock, Fletcher said, "It was a joke. It was comedy. Again, you could probably see me laughing... when Ken goes off into his pro wrestling/WWE mode, does he really expect anyone to take him seriously? That’s kind of hard to do."

But I'm not just talking about the worked pull-aparts and other nonsense such as having a fighter on TUF 3 who has a losing record in MMA. I'm also talking about the fact that it is now considered commonplace for the UFC to book squash matches in PPV main events just to elevate someone or pop a PPV buyrate.

Make no mistake about it, Pride does this all the time as well. The difference is that Pride has been, from its very inception, rooted in the tradition of pro wrestling, since it was originally born out of the UWFI, a "strong-style pro wrestling" company. On the other hand, the UFC has always vehemently claimed to be above this kind of thing, and has always balked at any pro wrestling comparisons, actually going so far as to deny the viewership crossover between UFC programming and pro wrestling on Spike TV (even when overwhelming evidence shows that the two audiences are, in large part, the same people).

There's a name for something where you match people against each other to draw money and you know the outcome ahead of time. It's called pro wrestling. The only difference between pro wrestling and the UFC in this particular area is that the match outcomes themselves are pre-determined in pro wrestling, whereas the best they can possibly do in the UFC is to manipulate the matchmaking in order to create main event fights where they can have 90% or higher certainty that a particular fighter is going to win. (Think Matt Hughes vs. Royce Gracie, or Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock, which was indeed the "main event" of UFC 61 since it was given the vast majority of the hype going into the event.)

Bruce Mitchell recently wrote a column in the Pro Wrestling Torch about the UFC's trend to be more like pro wrestling, focusing specifically on TUF 3. This is just an excerpt from a much larger column: "Years ago, fans thought WWF wrestling was real conflict. Today they don't. They still buy tickets based on how the McMahon family manipulates the circumstances around the fighters to get the fans excited enough to buy things... Dana White does the same thing that Vince McMahon and [TNA booker] Jeff Jarrett do. Do you think he chose Tito Ortiz or Ken Shamrock as coaches for Ultimate Fighter because they were the best instructors he could find to teach apprentice fighters, or because their hatred for each other makes good TV? Do you think UFC chose those apprentices solely based on their potential as fighters, like that 33 year old big mouth, or because they'd make good TV personalities? Do you think he's promoting Ortiz vs. Shamrock as a big time main event because they're the two best fighters in the Octagon, or is it because they're two marketable personalities who know how to present themselves and their enmity in charismatic ways? Hell, Shamrock is 42 years old and hasn't won a big match in years."

The UFC's pro wrestling-like direction goes further than the Ortiz-Shamrock dynamic that Mitchell wrote about. For every PPV main event on the UFC's 2006 schedule that is legitimately a championship-level fight, featuring one fighter who is a champion against another fighter who deserves a title shot (like Matt Hughes vs. Georges St. Pierre, Chuck Liddell vs. Renato Sobral, and hopefully Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva), there's another PPV main event on the schedule that exists for the sole purpose of drawing money and/or elevating someone with a huge mismatch (like Hughes vs. Gracie, or Ortiz vs. Shamrock).

Of course, the actual fights are not fixed, and I am not suggesting for a second that they are. Zuffa can never know for sure if the fighter who they expect to win is going to win. Three examples: Rich Franklin still had to go out there and actually win the fight against Ken Shamrock, but the fight was a mismatch that was ultimately booked to draw money and give Franklin a big win over a big name. The same statement applies to Hughes vs. Gracie (White even said before UFC 60 in a media conference call that he would be "pretty screwed" if Gracie won), and it also applies to Ortiz vs. Shamrock, which was always regarded as a fight that was overwhelmingly likely to give Ortiz a big win over a big name before his tentatively planned Light Heavyweight title shot.

It's generally not a good sign if you paid $40 for a PPV main event (like Hughes vs. Gracie) and it would be completely accurate for you to think, "That fight was booked specifically for Fighter A to destroy Fighter B, and everyone involved knew that it was overwhelmingly likely to happen, and that is exactly what did happen, and now Fighter A's standing in the sport has been elevated, and that's why exactly the fight was booked in the first place." That's how pro wrestling is booked, with the only difference being that the promoters can be 100 percent certain of the results in pro wrestling, while MMA promoters can only be 90+ percent certain with mismatched shoot fights. One product is a work and the other is a shoot, but they are becoming increasingly similar.

When Vince McMahon recently said in a MultiChannel News article that the people at Zuffa "don't quite know what they're doing in terms of building characters," the author of the article asked Dana White about the subject of bringing new stars into the UFC. The author of the article then wrote, "White said UFC's momentum won't be pinned down by a lack of star power anytime soon. He added the Ultimate Fighter reality series will continue to unveil up and coming superstars, whose careers fans will be able to track through its live events."

In other words, the new stars in the UFC's future will not be the top free agents from around the world. Sure, some of them will be, and there will also be inter-promotional deals like the one with Pride to bring in Wanderlei Silva for what White described as "probably" a three-fight deal at the UFC 61 post-fight press conference. But with the exception of a few cases like this, the "new stars" in the UFC's future will primarily be TUF contestants.

There wouldn't necessarily be anything wrong with that if TUF really was an outlet for the top up-and-coming MMA fighters in the world to get a shot in the UFC, but that is not the case. If you look at the fighters who were on the second and third seasons of TUF, the amount of people who had no business being on the show given their lack of MMA experience was actually larger than the amount of people who could be accurately described as "up-and-coming MMA fighters."

On the upcoming fourth season, there will be 16 former UFC fighters, exactly two of whom have winning records in the UFC. Far from being "former top fighters who just got off-track," which is how this season of TUF is being sold by the UFC, the combined UFC record of the eight welterweights on the fourth season of TUF is 16 wins and 17 losses. The combined UFC record of the middleweights on TUF 4 is four wins and 15 losses (total combined UFC record for both weight classes: 20-32).

Regarding the UFC's trend towards a pro wrestling-like product, the UFC's own Heavyweight Champion, Tim Sylvia, said this in a Las Vegas Review-Journal article about UFC 61: "The only reason he [Ken Shamrock] is fighting is because he's got a mouth and he likes to do that wrestling [talk], that WWE stuff." Sylvia added, "We don't need that. We are world-class athletes, and we need to let our talents make the case for us. People who really know the sport know that, but we're still growing, and we need to represent ourselves a certain way."

In response to that statement by Sylvia, Jeff Thaler wrote the following on Whaledog.com: "Sylvia raises a good point, but the reason Shamrock is headlining [UFC 61] is easy to explain. The UFC likes Ken Shamrock because it promotes itself more like a professional wrestling promotion than a sport - promoting its brand first, its president second, and actual athletes last. Manufactured hype is more important to Zuffa than the quality of athletes or fights."

As Dave Meltzer recently wrote in the Wrestling Observer, "The UFC... would rather try to create their own stars [on The Ultimate Fighter] than pay huge money for people they don't believe have name recognition past the Internet crowd. The truth is, the UFC has never been, at any point in its existence, about trying to find out who the best fighters in the world are."

I can't call that an inaccurate statement, but isn't "finding out who the best are" supposed to be what a real sport is all about when it comes down to it? If there's a situation such as the 2005 NBA Playoffs where the two teams meeting in the NBA Finals are viewed as being an undesirable TV ratings match-up, the NBA doesn't decide to put Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in the Finals. The top two teams play, regardless of whether it's going to draw the biggest business. It's a real sport, and that's how it works. Similarly, if two of the smallest-market teams in the NFL make it to the Super Bowl next season, the NFL is not going to decide to bump one of them for the star power of Peyton Manning and the Colts.

The emphasis in the UFC is not on who the best fighters are. Who cares about that, right? (Apparently not Dana White, who recently said in an interview that he doesn't know too much about Fedor Emelianenko, who is almost universally regarded as the most dominant MMA fighter in the world.) The emphasis is purely on who can draw money, and who can be elevated by a fight in order to draw money in subsequent fights. It doesn't have to be that one-sided, nor does it have to be completely in the opposite direction.

It's actually quite possible for the UFC to have entertaining fighters and entertaining fights, while still ultimately trying to match up the best fighters. The proposed Liddell-Silva fight is an excellent example, but that kind of thing is the exception rather than the norm in today's UFC. Just looking at the UFC 60 card, the same card that was headlined by the Hughes-Gracie farce, one can clearly see that it's possible for certain fights to deliver on both sides of this coin, and there's no reason that the main events can't do this more often as well.

Looking at the UFC 60 card, you've got the Hughes-Gracie squash match, where Zuffa got the exact result that it expected, not unlike a lamb being led to slaughter (which is sad, given all that Royce Gracie has done for the sport of MMA).

On the other hand, just look at the Mike Swick and Brandon Vera fights (Swick fought Hoe Riggs, and Vera fought Assuerio Silva). Swick and Vera are generally entertaining, charismatic fighters. Sure, Zuffa probably hoped that Swick and Vera would each win their respective fights because they are both potential future stars, but were Swick and Vera given opponents that were almost certain to result in easy victories for them? No, they weren't.

Swick and Vera were matched up against Joe Riggs and Assuerio Silva, respectively. Riggs and Silva are tough opponents, and either of them could very well have beaten Swick or Vera. In the end, Swick and Vera won fights against tough opposition, and they earned the boost in stature that they got from doing so.

This is the kind of balance that Zuffa should be trying to have in more of its main events as well. For the PPV main events in particular, is it really too much to ask when you're paying $40 to have one fighter who is a champion going up against another fighter who deserves a title shot?

I'm not suggesting that the UFC should be completely antiseptic or sterile, but it would be nice if the UFC resembled a "real sport" more than it resembled a shoot form of pro wrestling.

Labels: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 4:08 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- UFC Fighter Salaries for 2006
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

Complete Salary Breakdown for UFC 57, UFC 58, UFC 59, UFC 60, UFC 61, UFC Ultimate Fight Night 3, UFC Ultimate Fight Night 4, UFC Ultimate Fight Night 5, and UFC Ultimate Finale 3

Over the past few days, MMAWeekly has given you an in-depth look at the UFC's pay-per-view and live gate revenue information for the first half of 2006. Today, we conclude this series with an in-depth look at the salaries that UFC fighters were paid in the first half of 2006.

As with any professional sport, the salaries of UFC fighters are public record and should be easily accessible to anyone who wants to know them. It has been that way with legitimate professional sports for decades, and there's no reason that MMA should be any different if it is indeed a legitimate professional sport (which it is).

As documented in MMAWeekly's articles on the UFC's live gate and PPV revenue figures, the UFC broke its own all-time records for live gate revenue one time in the first half of 2006 (with UFC 57), while also breaking its own all-time records for PPV sales three different times in the first half of 2006 (first with UFC 57, then again with UFC 59, and then once again with UFC 60).

We're not going to re-print all of the UFC salaries from 2005, but you can access all of them in the 2005 archives. In total, the combined payroll for the fighters on the average UFC PPV event in 2005 was $476,000. The combined payroll for the fighters on the average UFC-Spike TV event in 2005 was $176,000.

Known and Unknown Factors
Before we get started with the fighter salaries, it's important to make a distinction between what's known and what isn't known. One of the things that we do not know is the amount of money that Spike TV pays the UFC for every live fight special that the UFC produces for the network, so we can't include those figures in the article when we're listing an event's gross revenue vs. an event's gross fighter payroll.

There is other information that is not included because it's not known, such as how the UFC splits revenue with its PPV partners, or how much money the UFC makes in sponsorships for any given PPV event.

We also do not know the dollar amounts for what UFC president Dana White reportedly referred to in a recent radio interview as the "secret money" that the UFC pays its top PPV main event fighters for high-selling PPV events (fighters including Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Royce Gracie, and Matt Hughes). Zuffa did not disclose that information for this article.

Zuffa was also given the opportunity to disclose which fighters got the $5,000 to $10,000 bonus amounts for having the single best fight, best knockout, or best submission on any given UFC event, but Zuffa also did not disclose that information. The salaries in this article are the disclosed fighter salaries, meaning the salaries that the UFC disclosed to the state athletic commissions.

The things that we do know include the live gate figures for each event (as covered in more detail in the live gate article), the PPV sales figures for each event (as covered in more detail in the PPV sales article), the UFC's average advertising rates for its Spike TV shows (which were published in a TV trade journal that cited Neilsen Monitor Plus), and the disclosed fighter salaries that the UFC is, by law, required to give to the Nevada State Athletic Commission and California State Athletic Commission.

Ad Rates and TUF Winner's Contracts
Regarding the TV ad rates in particular, the average price for a 30-second commercial on UFC programming is $3,500, so the gross advertising revenue is $112,000 per hour. Therefore, the gross advertising revenue for a UFC broadcast is $224,000 if it's a two-hour broadcast; or $336,000 if it's a three-hour broadcast.

Also, we've gotten many questions from readers in recent weeks and months asking how much the winners of The Ultimate Fighter actually make with their supposedly "six-figure" deals. We've answered this question before, but it's worth briefly recapping one more time. If you say to the average person that you're making "six figures" in salary from a particular employer, that is widely regarded to mean that you are making in excess of $100,000 per year from that employer. However, that is not the case with the TUF winner's contracts.

As previously reported by MMAWeekly, each TUF winner's contract bind the fighter exclusively to the UFC for three years, with three fights per year. In the first year, the salary for each fight is $12,000 to fight and an additional $12,000 to win. Fighting income for the year would range from $36,000 to $72,000, depending on wins and losses. In the second year, it's $16,000 and $16,000 per fight, meaning that fighting income for the year would range from $48,000 to $96,000. In the third year, it's $22,000 and $22,000 per fight, meaning that fighting income for the year would range from $66,000 to $122,000. That is actually a six-figure income in one year out of three, or zero years out of three, depending on wins and losses.

Through three seasons, the nine TUF fighters who have gotten winner's contracts are Forrest Griffin, Stephan Bonnar, Diego Sanchez, Rashad Evans, Joe Stevenson, Luke Cummo, Michael Bisping, Kendall Grove, and Ed Herman. Fighters from TUF who did not win the competition generally get paid no less than $5,000 for each of their UFC fights (with rare exceptions), while the UFC's minimum for fighters who have not been on The Ultimate Fighter is still $2,000. This can be seen as recently as UFC 61 earlier this month.

Fighter Salaries
Here is a full listing of each fighter's pay on every UFC event that has taken place so far in 2006, along with the disclosed fighter payroll for all of the fighters combined on each event, as well as the known event revenue for each show.

(For more information on the known event revenue, including the pay-per-view buyrate numbers and paid attendance figures that enabled us to calculate the statistics below, please check out our previous articles on the UFC's PPV revenue and live gate totals.)

There will be no editorializing in this article, so it is left to you, the reader, to reach your own judgments as to whether you believe that UFC fighters in general are underpaid, overpaid, or fairly compensated for their services.


UFC Ultimate Fight Night 3
Event took place on January 16, 2006 and aired on Spike TV
-Tim Sylvia: $80,000 (defeated Assuerio Silva in main event)
-Stephan Bonnar: $24,000 (defeated James Irvin)
-Jason Von Flue: $10,000 (defeated Alex Karalexis)
-Josh Burkman: $10,000 (defeated Drew Fickett)
-Chris Leben: $10,000 (defeated Jorge Rivera)
-Duane Ludwig: $8,000 (defeated Jonathan Goulet)
-Assuerio Silva: $8,000 (lost to Tim Sylvia in main event)
-Spencer Fisher: $8,000 (defeated Aaron Riley)
-Drew Fickett: $6,000 (lost to Josh Burkman)
-James Irvin: $5,000 (lost to Stephan Bonnar)
-Jorge Rivera: $5,000 (lost to Chris Leben)
-Alex Karalexis: $3,000 (lost to Jason Von Flue)
-Aaron Riley: $3,000 (lost to Spencer Fisher)
-Jonathan Goulet: $3,000 (lost to Duane Ludwig)
Gross Totals:
Disclosed Fighter Payroll: $183,000
Known Event Revenue: $368,600 (includes live gate of $144,600 and TV ad revenue of $224,000)


UFC 57
Event took place on February 4, 2006 and aired on PPV
-Chuck Liddell: $250,000 (defeated Randy Couture in main event)
-Randy Couture: $225,000 (lost to Chuck Liddell in main event)
-Renato "Babalu" Sobral: $32,000 (defeated Mike Van Arsdale)
-Frank Mir: $26,000 (lost to Marcio Cruz)
-Paul Buentello: $22,000 (beat Gilbert Aldana)
-Joe Riggs: $20,000 (defeated Nick Diaz)
-Mike Van Arsdale: $16,000 (lost to Renato Sobral)
-Keith Jardine: $10,000 (defeated Mike Whitehead)
-Nick Diaz: $10,000 (lost to Joe Riggs)
-Alessio Sakara: $10,000 (defeated Elvis Sinosic)
-Brandon Vera: $10,000 (defeated Justin Eilers)
-Marcio Cruz: $8,000 (defeated Frank Mir)
-Elvis Sinosic: $6,000 (lost to Alessio Sakara)
-Jeff Monson: $6,000 (defeated Branden Lee Hinkle)
-Mike Whitehead: $5,000 (lost to Keith Jardine)
-Justin Eilers: $5,000 (lost to Brandon Vera)
-Branden Lee Hinkle: $4,000 (lost to Jeff Monson)
-Gilbert Aldana: $2,000 (lost to Paul Buentello)
Gross Totals:
Disclosed Fighter Payroll: $667,000
Known Event Revenue: $19.36 million to $19.76 million (includes PPV revenue of $15.98 million to $16.38 million; plus live gate of $3,382,400)


UFC 58
Event took place on March 4, 2006 and aired on PPV
-Georges St. Pierre: $48,000 (defeated BJ Penn)
-Rich Franklin: $32,000 (defeated David Loiseau in main event)
-Nathan Marquardt: $30,000 (defeated Joe Doerksen)
-BJ Penn: $25,000 (lost to Georges St. Pierre)
-Tom Murphy: $10,000 (defeated Icho Larenas)
-Mike Swick: $10,000 (defeated Steve Vigneault)
-David Loiseau: $9,000 (lost to Rich Franklin in main event)
-Spencer Fisher: $8,000 (lost to Sam Stout)
-Yves Edwards: $8,000 (lost to Mark Hominick)
-Rob Macdonald: $5,000 (lost to Jason Lambert)
-Joe Doerksen: $5,000 (lost to Nathan Marquardt)
-Jason Lambert: $4,000 (defeated Jason Macdonald)
-Mark Hominick: $4,000 (defeated Yves Edwards)
-Sam Stout: $4,000 (defeated Spencer Fisher)
-Icho Larenas: $3,000 (lost to Tom Murphy)
-Steve Vigneault: $2,000 (lost to Mike Swick)
Gross Totals:
Disclosed Fighter Payroll: $207,000
Known Event Revenue: $11.90 million to $12.25 million (includes PPV revenue of $10.14 million to $10.49 million; plus live gate of $1,758,450)


UFC Ultimate Fight Night 4
Event took place on April 6, 2006 and aired on Spike TV
-Stephan Bonnar: $24,000 (defeated Keith Jardine in main event)
-Luke Cummo: $24,000 (defeated Jason Von Flue)
-Rashad Evans: $24,000 (defeated Sam Hoger)
-Josh Koscheck: $14,000 (defeated Ansar Chalangov)
-Chris Leben: $14,000 (defeated Luigi Fioravanti)
-Joe Stevenson: $12,000 (lost to Josh Neer)
-Josh Neer: $8,000 (defeated Joe Stevenson)
-Jon Fitch: $8,000 (defeated Josh Burkman)
-Sam Hoger: $7,000 (lost to Rashad Evans)
-Dan Christison: $6,000 (defeated Brad Imes)
-Brad Imes: $6,000 (lost to Dan Christison)
-Chael Sonnen: $6,000 (defeated Trevor Prangley)
-Trevor Prangley: $6,000 (lost to Chael Sonnen)
-Jason Von Flue: $5,000 (lost to Luke Cummo)
-Luigi Fioravanti: $5,000 (lost to Chris Leben)
-Keith Jardine: $5,000 (lost to Stephan Bonnar in main event)
-Josh Burkman: $5,000 (lost to Jon Fitch)
-Ansar Chalangov: $2,000 (lost to Josh Koscheck)
Gross Totals:
Disclosed Fighter Payroll: $181,000
Known Event Revenue: $423,150 (includes live gate of $199,150 and TV ad revenue of $224,000)


UFC 59
Event took place on April 15, 2006 and aired on PPV
-Tito Ortiz: $200,000 (defeated Forrest Griffin in co-main event)
-Andrei Arlovski: $90,000 (lost to Tim Sylvia in co-main event)
-Tim Sylvia: $90,000 (defeated Andrei Arlovski in co-main event)
-Evan Tanner: $40,000 (defeated Justin Levens)
-Karo Parisyan: $16,000 (defeated Nick Thompson)
-Sean Sherk: $16,000 (defeated Nick Diaz)
-Forrest Griffin: $16,000 (lost to Tito Ortiz in co-main event)
-David Terrell: $12,000 (defeated Scott Smith)
-Nick Diaz: $10,000 (lost to Sean Sherk)
-Jeff Monson: $10,000 (defeated Marcio Cruz)
-Jason Lambert: $8,000 (defeated Terry Martin)
-Thiago Alves: $8,000 (defeated Derrick Noble)
-Justin Levens: $5,000 (lost to Evan Tanner)
-Nick Thompson: $5,000 (lost to Karo Parisyan)
-Marcio Cruz: $5,000 (lost to Jeff Monson)
-Derrick Noble: $3,000 (lost to Thiago Alves)
-Scott Smith: $3,000 (lost to David Terrell)
-Terry Martin: $2,000 (lost to Jason Lambert)
Gross Totals:
Disclosed Fighter Payroll: $539,000
Known Event Revenue: $18.77 million to $19.57 million (includes PPV revenue of $16.58 million to $17.38 million; plus live gate of $2,191,450)


UFC 60 Fighter Salaries
Event took place on May 27, 2006 and aired on PPV
-Royce Gracie: $400,000 (lost to Matt Hughes in main event)
-Matt Hughes: $110,000 (defeated Royce Gracie in main event)
-Jeremy Horn: $70,000 (defeated Chael Sonnen)
-Brandon Vera: $32,000 (defeated Assuerio Silva)
-Diego Sanchez: $24,000 (defeated John Alessio)
-Mike Swick: $14,000 (defeated Joe Riggs)
-Spencer Fisher: $14,000 (defeated Matt Wiman)
-Joe Riggs: $12,000 (lost to Mike Swick)
-Gabriel Gonzaga: $10,000 (defeated Fabiano Scherner)
-Melvin Guillard: $10,000 (defeated Rick Davis)
-Alessio Sakara: $10,000 (lost to Dean Lister)
-Dean Lister: $10,000 (defeated Alessio Sakara)
-Assuerio Silva: $8,000 (lost to Brandon Vera)
-Chael Sonnen: $5,000 (lost to Jeremy Horn)
-Fabiano Scherner: $3,000 (lost to Gabriel Gonzaga)
-Matt Wiman: $3,000 (lost to Spencer Fisher)
-John Alessio: $3,000 (lost to Diego Sanchez)
-Rick Davis: $2,000 (lost to Melvin Guillard)
Gross Totals:
Disclosed Fighter Payroll: $740,000
Known Event Revenue: $26.87 million (includes PPV revenue of $23.97 million; plus live gate of $2,900,090)

UFC 60 Note: The final PPV buyrate for UFC 60 is not yet available because smaller cable companies throughout the United States have not yet reported their PPV sales. Therefore, we are using the "absolute minimum" number for gross PPV revenue, based on the numbers that are known for UFC 60 (see the PPV article for more details). The final buyrate for the UFC 60 PPV will be higher once all of the late buys from smaller cable companies throughout the U.S. have been counted.


UFC Ultimate Finale 3
Event took place on June 24, 2006 and aired on Spike TV
-Kenny Florian: $12,000 (defeated Sam Stout in main event)
-Michael Bisping: $10,000 (defeated Josh Haynes)
-Kendall Grove: $10,000 (defeated Ed Herman)
-Rory Singer: $10,000 (defeated Ross Pointon)
-Mike Nickels: $10,000 (defeated Wes Combs)
-Matt Hamill: $10,000 (defeated Jesse Forbes)
-Kalib Starnes: $10,000 (defeated Danny Abaddi)
-Keith Jardine: $10,000 (defeated Wilson Gouveia)
-Solomon Hutcherson: $5,000 (lost to Rory Singer)
-Josh Haynes: $5,000 (lost to Michael Bisping)
-Ed Herman: $5,000 (lost to Kendall Grove)
-Ross Pointon: $5,000 (lost to Rory Singer)
-Jesse Forbes: $5,000 (lost to Matt Hamill)
-Danny Abaddi: $5,000 (lost to Kalib Starnes)
-Luigi Fioravanti: $4,000 (defeated Solomon Hutcherson)
-Sam Stout: $4,000 (lost to Kenny Florian in main event)
-Wes Combs: $2,000 (lost to Mike Nickels)
-Wilson Gouveia: $2,000 (lost to Keith Jardine)
Gross Totals:
Disclosed Fighter Payroll: $124,000
Known Event Revenue: $589,214 (includes live gate of $253,214 and TV ad revenue of $336,000)


UFC Ultimate Fight Night 5
Event took place on June 28, 2006 and aired on Spike TV
-Anderson Silva: $36,000 (defeated Chris Leben in main event)
-Rashad Evans: $24,000 (defeated Stephan Bonnar)
-Stephan Bonnar: $16,000 (lost to Rashad Evans)
-Jon Fitch: $16,000 (defeated Thiago Alves)
-Josh Koscheck: $14,000 (defeated Dave Menne)
-Jason Lambert: $14,000 (defeated Branden Lee Hinkle)
-Luke Cummo: $12,000 (lost to Jonathan Goulet)
-Rob MacDonald: $10,000 (defeated Kristian Rothaermel)
-Mark Hominick: $8,000 (defeated Jorge Gurgel)
-Chris Leben: $7,000 (lost to Anderson Silva in main event)
-Thiago Alves: $6,000 (lost to Jon Fitch)
-Jonathan Goulet: $6,000 (defeated Luke Cummo)
-Kristian Rothaermel: $5,000 (lost to Rob MacDonald)
-Jorge Gurgel: $5,000 (lost to Mark Hominick)
-Justin Levens: $5,000 (lost to Jorge Santiago)
-Dave Menne: $5,000 (lost to Josh Koscheck)
-Branden Lee Hinkle: $4,000 (lost to Jason Lambert)
-Jorge Santiago: $4,000 (defeated Justin Levens)
Gross Totals:
Disclosed Fighter Payroll: $197,000
Known Event Revenue: $358,368 (includes live gate of $134,368 and TV ad revenue of $224,000)


UFC 61 Fighter Salaries
Event took place on July 8, 2006 and aired on PPV
-Tito Ortiz: $210,000 (defeated Ken Shamrock in co-main event)
-Tim Sylvia: $120,000 (defeated Andrei Arlovski in co-main event)
-Ken Shamrock: $100,000 (lost to Tito Ortiz in co-main event)
-Andrei Arlovski: $90,000 (lost to Tim Sylvia in co-main event)
-Frank Mir: $56,000 (defeated Dan Christison)
-Joe Stevenson: $24,000 (defeated Yves Edwards)
-Jeff Monson: $20,000 (defeated Anthony Perosh)
-Drew Fickett: $12,000 (defeated Kurt Pellegrino)
-Josh Burkman: $10,000 (defeated Josh Neer)
-Hermes Franca: $8,000 (defeated Joe Jordan)
-Yves Edwards: $8,000 (lost to Joe Stevenson)
-Josh Neer: $6,000 (lost to Josh Burkman)
-Cheick Kongo: $6,000 (defeated Gilbert Aldana)
-Dan Christison: $5,000 (lost to Frank Mir)
-Joe Jordan: $4,000 (lost to Hermes Franca)
-Anthony Perosh: $3,000 (lost to Jeff Monson)
-Gilbert Aldana: $2,000 (lost to Cheick Kongo)
-Kurt Pellegrino: $2,000 (lost to Drew Fickett)
Gross Totals:
Disclosed Fighter Payroll: $676,000
Known Event Revenue: Unknown (live gate figures not yet available; PPV sales figures not yet available)

Labels: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 6:01 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- UFC Live Gate Figures for 2006
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

In addition to having a record-breaking year with its pay-per-view sales, Zuffa has also had a record-breaking year thus far when it comes to the UFC's live gate revenue.

However, Zuffa has not been able to consistently draw live crowds with its television (non-PPV) events, which is something that the company plans to change in the second half of 2006 by holding its TV events in different venues.

The UFC's live gate figures in the first half of 2006 tell a tale of two companies. On one hand, the PPV events drew seven-figure live gates as the norm rather than the exception, but on the other hand, the TV events failed to consistently fill a venue that does not exude a major-league look on television even when it is full (The Joint at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas). Before analyzing the impressive live gate figures for the UFC's big PPV events, we would be remiss if we didn't first take a look at the not-so-impressive live gate figures for the non-PPV events.

The first UFC event of 2006 was Ultimate Fight Night 3, which took place on January 16th at The Joint in Las Vegas and was headlined by Tim Sylvia vs. Assuerio Silva. The event drew a strong 1.7 overall rating on Spike TV, and the paid attendance was 823.

There were a total of 1,008 fans in attendance when you include the 185 "comp" tickets that were given away. Comp tickets is a term that refers to free tickets, which are often given away in an attempt to make an event come across better on television, minimizing the risk of empty seats being visible on camera. The live gate for UFN 4 was $144,600.

The next TV event that was put on by the UFC was Ultimate Fight Night 4, which took place back at The Joint on April 6th and was headlined by Stephan Bonnar vs. Keith Jardine. This event was held on a Thursday night, which is not the best night of the week for drawing live crowds, but it was necessary because the two-hour live TV broadcast was meant to provide a strong lead-in for the third season premiere of The Ultimate Fighter.

The broadcast of Ultimate Fight Night 4 drew a 1.6 overall rating on Spike TV and did provide a strong lead-in for TUF 3, but it was not particularly successful at the live box office. The paid attendance for the event was just 687, and even with comp tickets to make it look better on television, there were still empty seats visible on TV because the total attendance was just 843. Despite the lower paid attendance, UFN 4 actually had a higher live gate than UFN 3 due to higher ticket prices, as it raked in $199,150 at the live box office.

While there's no doubt that the show fulfilled its primary goal of boosting the premiere of TUF 3, there's also no doubt that Zuffa would have liked to have been able to fill the venue so that there weren't empty seats visible on television.

The live season finale of The Ultimate Fighter 3 took place on Saturday, June 24th at The Joint in Las Vegas once again, with the main event of Kenny Florian vs. Sam Stout (along with the TUF 3 finale fights).

Compared to the previous TV event, the ticket prices for this event were much higher, and the paid attendance was slightly higher. The paid attendance was 753, and with comps taken into account, the total attendance was 849. Again, the show fulfilled its primary goal, as it drew a huge TV rating of 2.0, but there were still empty seats visible on camera. With the higher ticket prices, the live gate for this event was up to $253,214.

Just four days later, the UFC was back at The Joint with Ultimate Fight Night 5, which was headlined by Anderson Silva vs. Chris Leben. Ultimate Fight Night 5 was able to provide a solid lead-in for Blade: The Series, which is the entire reason that the event was ordered for this particular date in the first place, but UFN 5 did not draw particularly strong ratings of its own (1.4 overall), and it did not perform well at the live gate.

Running a live fight event on a Wednesday night is great for helping Blade: The Series, but it's not an ideal formula at the live box office. The paid attendance for this event was just 454, and even with comp tickets, the total number of fans in attendance was just 606. The venue was just over half-full, and the live gate for UFN 5 was $134,368. The combined live gate for the UFC's TV events thus far in 2006 has been $731,332.

To help improve live attendance for its TV events in the future, the UFC plans to hold events in venues other than The Joint. This will start with the August 17th Spike TV broadcast in Las Vegas at the Red Rock Casino, which opened earlier this year and is a big new investment in the multi-billion-dollar Fertitta empire (Zuffa is a separate company that is also owned by the Fertittas).

While the live attendance for Zuffa's non-PPV events has been less than stellar in 2006, the live attendance has been extraordinary for the company's PPV events. The all-time live gate record for the UFC heading into 2006 was $2,575,450 for UFC 52, which took place in April 2005 and was headlined by the second fight between Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture. That record was broken twice in the first five months of 2006, and the other two PPV events in the first half of 2006 also performed very well at the box office.

The third match-up between Liddell and Couture took place on February 4, 2006 at UFC 57 in Las Vegas. UFC 57 shattered the previous record of $2,575,450 with a live gate of $3,382,400. The paid attendance was 10,301, and with 358 comp tickets, the total attendance was 10,659.

Just one month later on March 4th, UFC 58 took place in Las Vegas and was headlined by Rich Franklin vs. David Loiseau. This event would have been considered a success at the live box office if it had been able to draw more than 7,000 in paid attendance, given the fact that it was taking place just four weeks after the huge event that was UFC 57, in the same city, and with ticket prices that were still higher than usual.

UFC 58 ended up surpassing just about everyone's expectations at the live box office with 8,183 tickets sold. Combined with a large number of comp tickets (1,386), the total attendance in the building was 9,569.

It might not sound like a lot to have 8,183 tickets sold, but with the ticket prices being what they were, UFC 58 generated gross ticket sales of $1,758,450, which was the fifth-biggest live gate in UFC history at the time. To put that figure into perspective, even with far fewer fans in attendance, UFC 58 drew a bigger live gate than UFC 40, which was headlined by the huge fight between Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock.

The next UFC PPV event was even more successful at the box office, though it continues to boggle the mind that Zuffa has not been entirely forthright about just how much of a success it was. The UFC made its debut in California with UFC 59 on April 15th at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim. The event was ostensibly headlined by Andrei Arlovski vs. Tim Sylvia in a fight for the UFC Heavyweight Title, but the vast majority of the pre-event hype went to Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin.

The building was completely full when all was said and done, and it was a huge success at the box office. What's puzzling is that Zuffa claimed from the first few days of ticket sales, and continues to claim to this day in the "History" section of its web site, that the event drew more than 17,000 fans. In fact, that is false. The legitimate figures, as released by the California State Athletic Commission, are 13,060 tickets sold, 754 comp tickets given away, and a total attendance of 13,814. That was the venue's maximum capacity, given the large space occupied up by the Octagon.

The live gate for the event was a hugely impressive $2,191,450, which was the fourth-biggest live gate in UFC history at the time.

As mentioned in yesterday's article about the UFC's 2006 pay-per-view sales, UFC 60 was hailed as the event that would break all of the UFC's records in PPV buyrates, paid attendance, and live gate revenue. The event took place on May 27th at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. While UFC 60 did absolutely decimate the UFC's previous record for PPV buys, it did not break the live gate or paid attendance records.

Due in part to higher prices, ticket sales were fairly slow for the event, which had a maximum capacity of 16,947 in the venue. This produced another puzzling scenario, as it was said over a half-dozen times on the UFC 60 PPV broadcast that the event was "sold out." In fact, it was nowhere close to sold out, but it still ended up drawing a huge live gate. Out of a possible 16,947, the number of tickets sold was actually 10,347.

Massive amounts of free tickets were given away for several weeks before the event so that it would look good for the cameras, and the number of people who showed up with comp tickets ended up being 4,418. In total, there were 14,765 fans in the building, although 30 percent of them had free tickets.

Ultimately, what matters most to the bottom line is that the people who did pay for their tickets paid a lot of money for them. Even though there were several thousand fewer tickets sold for UFC 60 than there were for UFC 59, UFC 60 had the bigger live gate by over $700,000.

The live gate for UFC 60 was $2,900,090, which made it the second-biggest live gate in UFC history, behind only Liddell vs. Couture III. In terms of total revenue, UFC 60 was the biggest show in UFC history by a wide margin, with at least $23.97 million in gross PPV revenue alone.

The gross live gate revenue from the first four UFC PPVs of the year was $10,232,390. When combined with the gross PPV revenue for these four events, which was between $66.67 million and $68.22 million (as fully detailed in yesterday's article), the gross PPV and live gate revenue for these four events was between $76.90 million and $78.45 million. Live gate figures for UFC 61, which took place last Saturday, are not yet available.

Labels: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 5:27 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- UFC's Pay-Per-View Buys Explode in 2006
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

While the television deal with Spike TV helped to dramatically increase the UFC's national exposure in 2005, it has been the huge increase in pay-per-view buys in 2006 that has had the biggest impact on the bottom line of Zuffa, the UFC's parent company.

The UFC's PPV sales growth has been far more drastic in 2006 than it was in 2005, which is all the more impressive given the fact that all-but-one of the UFC's PPV events in 2006 have carried the higher price tag of $39.95.

Before we get into the PPV buyrate explosion of 2006, taking a look at some of the UFC's previous PPV records will help to put the newer figures into perspective. The most successful PPV of the UFC's pre-Zuffa days was UFC 5, which took place in April 1995 and was headlined by Royce Gracie vs. Ken Shamrock. That event drew approximately 260,000 PPV buys, which is very impressive given the much smaller number of American homes that had PPV-buying capabilities in 1995.

The most successful PPV of the UFC's pre-Spike TV era, before The Ultimate Fighter started airing on national television in early 2005, was UFC 40, which took place in November 2002 and was headlined by Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock. That event drew approximately 150,000 PPV buys, and while there were a few other UFC events that cracked the 100,000 barrier, Zuffa's high mark of 150,000 was not broken until after The Ultimate Fighter debuted on Spike TV.

After the huge national television exposure of being on Spike TV every week, and an entire season's worth of television to hype the fact that coaches Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell would be fighting on PPV after the season aired, there was a huge jump in PPV sales for UFC 52, which took place in April 2005 and was headlined by Randy Couture vs. Chuck Liddell. UFC 52 was also the first PPV event to which Zuffa attached a suggested retail price of $34.95; previous events had been sold for $29.95 each.

Zuffa kept the PPV buyrate information for UFC 52 under wraps for a while, but the Wrestling Observer, which has been one of the most credible publications for many years when it comes to PPV buys, later reported that UFC 52 drew approximately 280,000 PPV buys, which beat the all-time UFC record that was set ten years earlier by UFC 5. UFC 52's new record of 280,000 buys was not approached by any of the UFC's other PPV events in 2005.

Starting at the beginning of 2006, the UFC's PPV sales have increased to levels that would have been unthinkable if they had been suggested just eight months ago. The Wrestling Observer reported on the PPV industry's initial buyrate estimates for each of the UFC's PPV events in 2006, and these initial buyrate estimates from the PPV industry are always lower than the final numbers due to the fact that the final numbers take into account "late buys."

Late buys is a term that refers to encore PPV buys of an event's replays throughout the month that it debuted, as well as PPV buys from smaller cable systems throughout the United States, and these late buys typically take several months to be fully reported in the inefficient cable industry.

The PPV industry's initial buyrate estimates, as published by the Wrestling Observer, combined with MMAWeekly's own sources in the PPV industry, who are more familiar with the updated numbers that have "late buys" taken into account, paint a picture of a company that has seen its PPV buyrates skyrocket in just over one year.

The numbers published in this article are fairly conservative figures, and the final PPV buyrates for any given event could very well be slightly higher than the figures published in this article. Also, these figures only take into account domestic PPV buys, which is where the vast majority of the UFC's PPV buys originate.

The explosion in the UFC's PPV sales began to hit full stride with the highly-anticipated third fight between Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture at UFC 57 in February of this year. UFC 57 was also the first PPV event to which Zuffa attached a suggested retail price of $39.95; the events of the previous ten months had been sold for $34.95 each.

The PPV industry's initial buyrate estimate for UFC 57 was 350,000 buys, and MMAWeekly has learned that the final buyrate will be in the range of 400,000 to 410,000 buys. With a price of $39.95, this means that the gross PPV revenue was between $15.98 million and $16.38 million. Taken on its own, this shattered the previous record that was set by the second fight between Liddell and Couture, but this was just the beginning of the UFC's 2006 buyrate explosion.

The expectation within the PPV industry after UFC 57 was that the UFC's PPV buyrates would go back to their previous (2005) levels. After all, UFC 52 in 2005 (headlined by Liddell vs. Couture II) was also a record-breaking mega-fight with Spike TV's national exposure behind it, but the UFC record that was set by UFC 52 was not broken later in 2005, and UFC 52 did not lead to a trend of UFC PPVs consistently breaking the 200,000 barrier in 2005.

With UFC 58 scheduled to take place a mere four weeks after UFC 57, and with a non-marquee main event of Rich Franklin vs. David Loiseau, the belief was that UFC 58 might draw in the range of 200,000 buys at the absolute most, at a price of $34.95. This would have still been considered a success, as most WWE pay-per-views on a month-to-month basis draw less than 200,000 buys in the United States (a large percentage of WWE's PPV buys come from international sales).

However, that is not what happened. In a strong testament to the PPV drawing power of Rich Franklin as the UFC's "next big star," and to the fact that PPV viewers generally liked what they got with UFC 57, the initial buyrate estimate for UFC 58 came in at 275,000 buys, blowing away all expectations. MMAWeekly has subsequently learned that with the late buys included, the final buyrate will be in the range of 290,000 to 300,000 buys, which actually surpasses the mark that was set by Liddell vs. Couture II. With a price of $34.95, the gross PPV revenue was between $10.14 million and $10.49 million.

Of course, it didn't approach Liddell vs. Couture III's PPV buyrate, but it did hold up very well and it was, at that point, the #2 most-purchased PPV in UFC history.

At that point, all bets were off, and nobody in the PPV industry knew quite what was going to happen next (the same could probably be said for those within Zuffa). Starting with UFC 59 on April 15th, the suggested retail price of all UFC PPV events was $39.95. The de facto main event of UFC 59, the fight that was given the vast majority of the pre-event hype, and the fight that was likely responsible for much of the PPV buyrate was Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin.

The UFC Heavyweight Title match-up between Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia, though it ended up taking place as the last fight on the broadcast, was initially treated as such an afterthought that Arlovski's opponent wasn't even named in the very first ads for UFC 59 that Zuffa ran on Spike TV, even though Sylvia had already signed to fight Arlovski. Though Sylvia's name was added to the commercials shortly thereafter, and Sylvia ended up surprising just about everyone by knocking out Arlovski, it was clear going into the event that UFC 59 was going to sink or swim at the PPV box office based on the strength of Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin.

It was expected within the PPV industry that UFC 59 would surpass the mark set by UFC 58, but would be very unlikely to match the all-time UFC record that was set by Liddell vs. Couture III at UFC 57.

What ended up happening is that UFC 59 not only matched UFC 57's record-breaking numbers, but it actually surpassed those numbers. The PPV industry's initial buyrate estimate was 400,000 buys, and MMAWeekly has learned that the final buyrate will be in the range of 415,000 to 435,000 buys (the range is slightly wider for UFC 59 because it just took place less than three months ago). UFC 59 had become the most-purchased PPV in UFC history, and with a price of $39.95, its gross PPV revenue was between $16.58 million and $17.38 million.

In a way, UFC 59's phenomenal PPV buyrate did more to change how the PPV industry thought of the UFC than the buyrate of UFC 57 two months earlier. In addition to drawing a slightly higher buyrate than the incredibly successful UFC 57, UFC 59 also showed that the UFC could produce mega-hit PPVs on a regular basis. The UFC had proven itself as a huge PPV draw beyond a shadow of a doubt and was no longer a "one mega-hit event per year" proposition. The UFC had just drawn a huge PPV buyrate in February, a very good PPV buyrate in March, and another huge PPV buyrate in April.

Just over a month later, the headline match of Matt Hughes vs. Royce Gracie at UFC 60 was hailed by Zuffa as the event that would break all of the UFC's records in PPV buyrates, total attendance, and live gate revenue. While it fell short of breaking the latter two records, the PPV business that was generated by UFC 60 is truly astounding. The PPV industry's initial buyrate estimate for UFC 60 is a whopping 600,000 buys, and with a price of $39.95, that leads to gross PPV revenue of $23.97 million.

Given that the previous UFC record, set by UFC 59, was less than 450,000 buys (which is, again, an extraordinary buyrate in and of itself), the jump up to 600,000 buys is all the more astonishing. That figure is just the initial buyrate estimate, and the final buyrate figure is always higher than the initial estimate. It's far too early for final buyrate figures, given the fact that the event just took place six weeks ago. In addition, it's too early for any initial buyrate estimates for UFC 61, given the fact that the event just took place last weekend.

Adding up all of the aforementioned figures, the gross PPV revenue generated by the first four UFC PPVs of 2006 was between $66.67 million and $68.22 million, not counting the late buys for UFC 60.

Though they promote two different products, the single company with which the UFC most directly competes is WWE, and you can easily verify that by watching The Ultimate Fighter 3. In less than six months, the UFC has gone from not being able to touch any of WWE's big-event numbers to actually beating WrestleMania in domestic PPV sales for the first time in the UFC's history.

WrestleMania, which has been the biggest American pro wrestling event in every single year since 1985, drew approximately 560,000 domestic PPV buys this year. (WWE, as a publicly traded company, is forced to publicly release its PPV numbers.) If somebody told Vince McMahon six months ago that a UFC event was going to out-draw WrestleMania at the domestic PPV box office this year, it's likely that he would have laughed at such a ridiculous notion, and the same can be said for most people within the PPV industry.

The Royal Rumble, which is WWE's second- or third-biggest PPV event every year (behind only WrestleMania and occasionally SummerSlam), drew approximately 340,000 domestic PPV buys this past January. A year ago, even the UFC's biggest PPV events (including UFC 52 with Liddell vs. Couture II) couldn't come close to the domestic PPV sales of the Royal Rumble. Now, in 2006, three of the UFC's first four PPV events of the year easily surpassed the domestic PPV buys of the Royal Rumble, and the only event that didn't (UFC 58 on March 4th) came fairly close.

For the PPV events on a month-to-month basis, it's not even remotely close anymore. WWE's No Way Out PPV in February drew approximately 140,000 domestic PPV buys, while WWE's Backlash PPV in April drew approximately 130,000 PPV buys. Those PPV buyrates would have been considered excellent for the UFC just a year or two ago, but the UFC's PPV business would now have to completely collapse in order for WWE to come close to the UFC on a month-to-month basis.

While there are numerous reasons for the drastic increase in the UFC's PPV sales, one factor that should not be underestimated is the promotion from the pre-PPV countdown specials on Spike TV. It was only at the beginning of this year that these specials started to air in the week before every single UFC PPV event. The pre-UFC countdown specials aired on Spike TV for some, but not all, of the UFC's PPV events in the second half of 2005.

In the case of the UFC 60 Countdown Special in particular, it was a 60-minute special that aired multiple times and drew overall ratings of 0.9, 1.1, and 0.7. The total viewership for all of the airings was 3.23 million viewers, and you'll find very few things that do a better job of enticing viewers to buy pay-per-views than the pre-UFC countdown specials. The high number of viewers who are watching the countdown shows on Spike TV, coupled with the level of PPV hype that is put into those shows, has likely been one of the important factors in helping to boost the UFC's PPV buyrates.

Ultimately, when it comes to the business side of the UFC, 2005 will be remembered as the year in which the UFC got on national television and saw its PPV buyrates begin to climb. However, it is 2006 that has been the year in which the UFC's PPV sales have truly exploded.

Labels: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 4:33 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- Ultimate Fight Night 5 Ratings, Behind the Scenes on UFN's Live TV Production
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

The fifth edition of the UFC's Ultimate Fight Night, which aired on Spike TV on June 28th, drew the lowest overall rating of any UFN special to date, but the show still accomplished its goal of providing a strong lead-in for the premiere of Blade: The Series.

Taken on its own, without taking Blade into account, UFN 5 would be viewed as a big disappointment. The show drew an overall rating of 1.4, which is lower than the previous series low of 1.5 that was drawn by UFN 1 in August 2005. The rating of 2.3 among 18-to-34-year-old males is tied for the second-lowest in UFN history, ahead of only UFN 1. The rating of 1.9 among 18-to-49-year-old males is also tied for the second-lowest in UFN history, once again ahead of only UFN 1.

Ultimate Fight Night 5 was hyped heavily during the live season finale of The Ultimate Fighter 3 four days earlier, but it didn't come close to the TUF 3 finale's numbers. There's no way that it could have matched the ratings of the TUF 3 finale, but it could have come a lot closer than it did.

The TUF 3 finale drew a 2.0 overall rating, compared to 1.4 for UFN. Also, the TUF 3 finale drew a 3.8 rating among 18-to-34-year-old males, compared to 2.3 for UFN. Finally, the TUF 3 finale drew a 2.9 rating among 18-to-49-year-old males, compared to 1.9 for UFN.

UFN Still Boosts the Premiere of Blade: The Series
In the bigger picture, UFN 5 was still a ratings success because it helped to successfully launch Blade: The Series. The whole reason that a live fight special was ordered for June 28th in the first place was to help launch Blade: The Series. There is nothing other than ad money and paid product placement to justify having a UFC live fight special just four days after another UFC live fight special on Spike TV, and on a Wednesday night, and in a timeslot that didn't directly benefit the UFC (ie, it wasn't the lead-in show for a new season of TUF).

The two-hour series premiere of Blade: The Series drew an excellent overall rating of 2.0, with a 2.1 rating for the first hour and a 1.9 rating for the second hour. Since Blade drew a higher rating than its Ultimate Fight Night lead-in, it's clear that a lot of Blade's viewers came to the table on their own, but a significant percentage of Blade's rating can also be attributed to the UFN lead-in.

The fact that Blade: The Series was coming up next was mentioned literally several dozen times during the two-hour UFN broadcast, which was not a surprise because, again, this particular edition of UFN was ordered specifically to boost Blade.

The Saturday, June 24th airing of TUF 3's live season finale and the Wednesday, June 28th airing of Blade's series premiere were both heavily hyped events on Spike TV, with Spike putting lots of marketing dollars into hyping up both events. While both shows drew 2.0 overall ratings, it was the TUF 3 finale that performed better in the most advertiser-coveted demographics.

In the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic, Blade: The Series drew an excellent 2.6 rating, but that's still nowhere near the TUF 3 finale's monster 3.8 rating in that demographic. In the 18-to-49-year-old male demographic, Blade: The Series drew a strong 2.2 rating, which also doesn't come close to the TUF 3 finale's 2.9 rating in that demo.

Behind the Scenes on the Live TV Production of Ultimate Fight Night
It would be an understatement to say that it's a nerve-wracking experience to produce a live two-hour special as the lead-in to a major new series premiere when the live two-hour special consists of fights that aren't worked.

In the same situation with pro wrestling as a lead-in, while the wrestlers could always go long or planned spots could take longer than expected, you can generally control the length because it's a worked product. With the UFC, there's nothing worked about it other than the Ortiz-Shamrock pull-aparts, so it's a much harder product to control in terms of time management on live television. When all was said and done on June 28th, the producers failed to have Ultimate Fight Night go off the air at exactly 10:00 PM, but the off-air time of 10:03 PM wasn't too far off.

After five hours of UFC Unleashed repeats starting at 3:00 PM, UFN went on the air at 8:00 PM (all times are Eastern). The first fight of the evening, intended largely as a showcase fight for Jorge Gurgel of TUF 2 fame, began promptly at 8:06 PM and ended at 8:24 PM.

Due to the desire to fit four live fights into a two-hour TV broadcast (which consists of 32 minutes of commercials right off the bat), the decision was made ahead of time to not have post-fight interviews with any of the evening's losers, so there was no interview with Gurgel when he lost his fight. The Hominick-Gurgel fight drew a 1.2 overall rating.

There was a 15-minute gap between the end of the Hominick-Gurgel fight and the beginning of the Rashad Evans vs. Stephan Bonnar fight at 8:39 PM. Like the previous fight, Evans vs. Bonnar also went to the judges' decision after three rounds, so it didn't end until 8:56 PM. Evans vs. Bonnar drew an overall rating of 1.5, and as with the previous fight, there was no post-fight interview with Bonnar after he lost the fight.

At that point, the next scheduled fight was the "swing bout" between Luke Cummo and Jonathan Goulet, and the producers had a very tough decision to make. They already had commercial breaks, video packages, and Blade promo spots planned out for the next 15 minutes or so, and that would leave them with only 45 minutes left until Blade: The Series was scheduled to go on the air at 10:00 PM.

If they aired Cummo vs. Goulet next as scheduled and then the main event of Anderson Silva vs. Chris Leben, they could end up running very late if both fights went to the judges' scorecards.

A decision had to be made, and it had to be made quickly. Should they send Cummo and Goulet out as scheduled to fight live, or should they air pre-taped footage of one of the shorter prelim fights instead?

The decision was made to go with a short prelim fight because at least they knew the length of the prelim fight (given that it had already happened), whereas they had no idea how long Cummo vs. Goulet would last. Pre-taped footage of Rob MacDonald vs. Kristian Rothaermel was shown on the Spike TV broadcast (the MacDonald vs. Rothaermel fight drew a 1.3 rating). Silva vs. Leben would be up next after some more commercials, video packages, and Blade promos; and then Cummo vs. Goulet would have to take place in the building after the show went off the air at 10:00 PM.

After the MacDonald vs. Rothaermel fight ended at 9:17 PM, a bunch of promos and packages aired for 19 minutes until the Silva-Leben fight started at 9:36 PM. Silva vs. Leben would fill all of the remaining time on the broadcast if the fight went to a judges' decision, which is something that one always has to assume is going to happen when producing a live TV presentation of a non-worked product.

Everyone was thrown a curveball when Silva dismantled Leben in less than one minute, and a fight that started a few seconds after the clock hit 9:36 PM also ended at 9:36 PM. The fight was literally too short to have a rating, although if you take into account the pre- and post-fight minutes, it drew a 1.5 rating. The producers had given themselves all the time they would need if the fight went 15 minutes, and instead it didn't even last one minute.

At that point, there was under a half-hour remaining until Blade: The Series' heavily hyped premiere was scheduled to go on the air, and another tough decision had to be made very quickly. They could kill as much time as possible and not have any additional live fights on the broadcast, which would mean that they would air one of the shorter prelim fights (and there were two remaining unaired prelim fights that had lasted five minutes or less). Alternatively, they could change the start time of Cummo vs. Goulet yet again and try to squeeze one more live fight into the broadcast.

Ultimately, the decision was made to go with Option #2. All post-fight interviews in the Silva-Leben fight were cancelled, and unlike the previous decision regarding Cummo-Goulet, everyone could see how much of a last-minute decision this was by the fact that Joe Rogan was literally standing in the cage with a microphone next to Anderson Silva, ready to interview him and just about to be pitched to by Mike Goldberg, when the decision came down to cancel the post-fight interview and get the next fight's participants in the cage as soon as possible.

There was no time to create a normal transition in between segments, so Mike Goldberg simply said, "What a finish!" instead of saying, "Here's Joe with Anderson Silva," as the show cut to one last replay of the Silva-Leben finish before going to commercial. After that break, a second block of commercials was broadcast because it was the last remaining block of commercials that had been sold. This way, there could be zero commercial breaks in the final quarter-hour of the broadcast, which would help to provide a stronger direct lead-in to Blade: The Series.

By the time all of that was finished, along with faster-than-usual ring introductions for Cummo vs. Goulet, it was 9:44 PM. The timing was such that the UFN broadcast would run past 10:00 PM if the fight went to a judges' decision, and it would not run past 10:00 PM if the fight ended in the first two-and-a-half rounds.

This is where a live pro wrestling broadcast is so much easier for everyone involved than something that is not worked. In the same exact circumstances on a live pro wrestling broadcast, the powers-that-be would make the decision to cut the match short, they would communicate that decision to the referee via his earpiece, the referee would tell the wrestlers, "Go home" (which means, "Go straight to the finish"), the wrestlers would go right to the planned finishing sequence, and everyone would be happy.

However, despite the shenanigans between Tito Ortiz, Ken Shamrock, and Dana White on The Ultimate Fighter 3, the UFC is not pro wrestling. There was nothing else that anyone could do at this point in the UFN 5 broadcast other than to just hope that the Cummo-Goulet fight ended sooner rather than later.

As it turned out, the Cummo-Goulet fight ended "later" rather than "sooner." The fight lasted the full 15 minutes, with no commercial breaks. Fortunately, a lot of Blade fans showed up a few minutes early and helped the Cummo-Goulet fight draw a 1.8 overall rating, which was the highest of any fight the UFN broadcast.

The fight ended at 10:01 PM, and the only thing that was left was for the judges to add up their previously entered round totals (fortunately, among these judges was not Dalby Shirley, who must have had both contact lenses in the same eye when determining that Evans vs. Bonnar was a 29-29 draw).

The judges' scores were read quickly, the show went off the air quickly without any post-fight interviews, and Blade: The Series went on the air at 10:03 PM. While the producers failed to format Ultimate Fight Night so that it would end at exactly 10:00 PM, they came close enough.

Given that the first quarter-hour of Blade drew a 2.2 rating, the delay was short enough that it did not seem to deter many of the people who tuned in specifically to see Blade.

Network TV Competition
Airing head-to-head with Ultimate Fight Night on Wednesday, June 28th from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM was a line-up of summer network programming, which performed better than most summer fare on network TV.

In the 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM hour, Fox aired the first half of a new two-hour episode of So You Think You Can Dance, which came in first place with a 5.2 overall rating in this hour. NBC aired a repeat of America's Got Talent, which drew a 4.7 overall rating. CBS aired a new one-hour special entitled "Shark: Mind of a Demon with Fabien Cousteau," which drew a 3.3 overall rating. ABC aired repeats of The George Lopez Show (3.3 overall rating) and Freddie (2.7 overall rating).

In the 9:00 PM to 10:00 PM hour, NBC came in first place with a new episode of America's Got Talent, which drew a strong 7.1 overall rating. Fox was not far behind with the second hour of So You Think You Can Dance, which drew a 6.3 overall rating. A repeat of Criminal Minds drew a 5.4 overall rating on CBS, and a repeat of Lost on ABC drew a 2.0 overall rating. The low rating for a Lost repeat is not unusual, as most serialized dramas such as Lost and 24 do not perform well when they air in repeat form.

Labels: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 11:48 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva Announced
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

The UFC has announced that Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva will finally be fighting each other at a UFC event in November, provided that Liddell is able to successfully defend his UFC Light Heavyweight Title against Renato "Babalu" Sobral on August 26th at UFC 62.

Though the rankings vary, Liddell and Silva are widely regarded as two of the top three 205-pound fighters in any MMA organization in the world, along with Silva's teammate and fellow Pride star Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, who won a 16-man Grand Prix tournament of 205-pound fighters in Pride last year.

When asked during the post-UFC 61 press conference whether the Liddell-Silva fight will be a title fight, UFC president Dana White reportedly said, "It will be for the title." When asked by another reporter whether Silva is signed for a certain number of fights in the UFC, White reportedly said, "Yeah, three [fights]. We're probably going to have him for three." When asked by another reporter whether there will be more Pride stars fighting on future UFC cards, White reportedly said, "Possibly. Every year, we try to take it to another level."

Though it wasn't specifically mentioned by the UFC, a few other things will also have to happen (or not happen) in order for Silva vs. Liddell to take place in November. Liddell will need to not only beat Sobral on August 26th, but he will also have to beat Sobral without sustaining any injuries in the process if he is going to fight Silva in November. Liddell has been out of action since February due to foot surgery.

In addition, Wanderlei Silva will have to escape unscathed from his fight (or fights) on the "Pride Final Conflict Absolute" card on September 10th in Japan, which is just two months before his scheduled fight against Liddell in November. Silva will be fighting on the Pride card in the final four of Pride's 16-man Open Weight Grand Prix, in which the other three semi-finalists are highly ranked heavyweights Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mirko Cro Cop, and Josh Barnett.

The semi-finals and finals of Pride's Open Weight Grand Prix will both take place on September 10th, so Silva will be fighting twice in one night if he wins in the semi-finals. While Silva's fight against Liddell in the UFC would not be dependent on whether Silva wins or loses in the Pride Grand Prix, Silva would certainly have to emerge from the event injury-free, win or lose, in order to be able to fight Liddell in the UFC two months later.

It has not been announced whether Liddell will also be fighting Silva in a Pride ring (under Pride rules) in Japan at any time in the future.

Another factor that has not been addressed by the UFC or Pride is how the Silva-Liddell match-up will affect each fighter's potential title defenses against fighters from their own companies. Prior to the Silva-Liddell announcement, Tito Ortiz was believed to be #1 contender for the UFC Light Heavyweight Title (after the Liddell vs. Sobral fight in August), while the top contenders for Silva's 205-pound title in Pride are believed to be Ricardo Arona and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.

One also has to wonder what exactly is going to happen if Silva manages to beat Liddell for the UFC Light Heavyweight Title. One would certainly think that the UFC would not sign a Silva-Liddell fight without having a contractual guarantee that Liddell gets a rematch if he loses to Silva, but that is pure conjecture and is just one of the many questions that MMA fans are pondering right now.

In the big picture, though, it all boils down to the fact that it looks like Chuck Liddell is going to be fighting Wanderlei Silva in the near future, and that's something that hardcore MMA fans have been waiting to hear for years.

Labels: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Pride Fighting Championships News, UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 6:51 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- UFC Expansion Includes Likely HBO Deal
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

The UFC plans to run a very large amount of shows in 2007 and is very close to a television deal with HBO, the Wrestling Observer reports.

The Observer reports that the negotiations between Zuffa and HBO are serious enough that a deal between the two sides is "likely" to be reached in the near future. The UFC shows on HBO would be in addition to all of the UFC shows on pay-per-view and Spike TV, and would not replace the PPV or Spike deals. The deal with HBO might also place limits on the speech of UFC president Dana White in terms of how negative he is allowed to be when talking about boxing in the future, according to the Observer.

Additionally, the Observer reports that regardless of whether or not a deal is finalized between Zuffa and HBO, Zuffa is planning to run a staggering number of UFC shows in 2007.

Zuffa's current plan for 2007 is to run "about eleven" UFC pay-per-view events (priced at $39.95 per event), plus 6-8 Spike TV events (which includes 4-6 Ultimate Fight Night events and the live finales of TUF 5 and TUF 6), plus an unspecified number of HBO events if a deal can be finalized.

As it is, 2006 is scheduled to have nine UFC pay-per-view events by the time the year is over. After running four PPVs in the first half of 2006, Zuffa has PPVs planned for July, August, September, October, and November of 2006, which means that nine UFC PPVs will have taken place in 2006. The plan in 2007 is to expand that number to ten or eleven PPV events during the year.

There will also be six or seven UFC events on Spike TV in 2006 by the time this year is over, and that number is poised to grow to as much as eight in 2007. In addition to the live finales of TUF 3 (in June) and TUF 4 (in November), 2006 will have also featured Ultimate Fight Night 3 in January, UFN 4 in April, UFN 5 in June, UFN 6 on August 17th, and possibly UFN 7 later in 2006. The plan for 2007, in addition to the TUF 5 and TUF 6 live finales, is to run somewhere between four and six Ultimate Fight Night events.

As previously reported by MMAWeekly, the announcements about the TV deal between Spike TV and Zuffa touted Spike as being the "exclusive cable home of the UFC," but that technically means basic cable, which allows Zuffa to also strike a deal with a pay TV channel such as HBO. The UFC events on HBO would not replace those on Spike, but HBO would be very likely to get the biggest shows that Zuffa produces other than its own PPV shows.

Labels: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 5:28 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- Ultimate Fighter 3 Live Finale Ties UFC Ratings Record
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

The live season finale of The Ultimate Fighter 3 tied the UFC's all-time ratings record with a 2.0 overall rating on Saturday, June 24th.

Previously, the ratings barrier of 2.0 had only been broken by one live fight special in UFC history, and that was the TUF 2 live finale on November 5th, 2005.

Three individual episodes of The Ultimate Fighter also drew overall ratings of 2.0 (two episodes from the first season, and one episode from the third season). This puts the TUF 3 finale in a five-way tie for the highest-rated UFC broadcast of any kind in the history of the company.

Records Broken in the Two Most Coveted Age Groups
Even more impressive than the overall rating is the fact that the three-hour TUF 3 live finale broke the UFC's all-time ratings records in the two most coveted demographics to advertisers: 18-to-34-year-old males, and 18-to-49-year-old males.

In the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic, breaking the 3.0 barrier is a feat that is not achieved by many shows on network television, much less cable television. In this demographic, the TUF 3 finale drew a rating of 3.8. The previous UFC record of 3.7 was set by the TUF 2 finale. The TUF 1 finale drew a 3.3 rating in the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic, and the first four "Ultimate Fight Night" live specials on Spike TV averaged a 2.4 rating in this demographic

In the 18-to-49-year-old demographic, which of course consists of the 18-to-34-year-old age group, but also includes an age group that doesn't watch MMA anywhere near as much (35-to-49-year-olds), the TUF 3 finale came the closest that any UFC programming has ever come to hitting the 3.0 barrier. The TUF 3 finale drew a 2.9 rating in this demographic, beating the previous UFC record of 2.7, which was set by both the TUF 1 finale and the TUF 2 finale. The first four Ultimate Fight Night live specials on Spike TV averaged a 2.0 in this demographic.

In both of these key demographics, the TUF 3 finale was the most-watched show on television during the three-hour period between 9:00 PM and 12:00 AM on June 24th, and that includes network television in addition to cable television. Needless to say, this is the kind of achievement that gets advertisers' attention and will undoubtedly lead to increases in the ad rates for future seasons of The Ultimate Fighter (the cost of a 30-second commercial on TUF 3 was $3,500).

Pacing of Live Broadcasts is Still Leaving Money on the Table
If there were any problems with the TUF 3 finale broadcast, the actual fighting wasn't one of them. Kenny Florian, Michael Bisping, and Matt Hamill each looked absolutely dominant in their respective fights, while Kendall Grove vs. Ed Herman turned out to be a Fight of the Year candidate.

The production values and announcers were also not the problem, as the UFC's production crew and commentators are now a well-oiled machine when it comes to live fight specials.

The problem with the UFC's live fight specials continues to be the pacing. Make no mistake about it: This is not about commercials. A 180-minute television broadcast is going to have approximately 132 minutes of broadcast time and approximately 48 minutes of commercials, and that's just how television works. The issue is what happens in those 132 minutes of broadcast time, and in the UFC's case, there is far too much time in between fights.

As high as the ratings were for the TUF 3 finale, there should be no doubt that the ratings would have been even higher if not for the overly long gaps in between fights. This has to be a conscious decision, because it would have been very simple to correct by now if Zuffa and Spike TV wanted to do so. More undercard fights could easily be shown in the 132 minutes of broadcast time on a three-hour special, but instead viewers get more interviews with various people at ringside, or three video packages instead of two, and so on.

In the case of this particular broadcast, there was a 27-minute gap between the end of the Jardine-Gouveia fight (9:33 PM) and the beginning of the Grove-Herman fight (10:00 PM). Then there was a 40-minute gap between the end of the Grove-Herman fight (10:18 PM) and the beginning of the Bisping-Haynes fight (10:58 PM), a gap that would have still been over 30 minutes even if you don't take into account Randy Couture's well-deserved induction into the UFC's Hall of Fame. There was then a 28-minute gap between the end of the Bisping-Haynes fight (11:10 PM) and the beginning of the Florian-Stout fight (11:38 PM). The Florian-Stout fight ended quickly at 11:40 PM, and even though there were no more live fights left to air (meaning that they could choose any prelim fights they wanted), the Hamill-Forbes fight didn't start airing until 11:50 PM.

To you and I, this isn't a big deal. If you're a hardcore MMA fan, you're going to keep watching anyway.

The issue from a ratings standpoint is that for the many people who are flipping channels and stumble upon the broadcast, and for the many people who are casual MMA fans, and for the many people who are just curious because they've heard about MMA but still haven't seen it, 40-minute gaps in between fights are just not going to cut it. Neither will 25-minute gaps in between fights, for that matter.

A certain percentage of those viewers are simply not going to stick around, or are going to be much more likely to only catch bits and pieces of the broadcast.

The lackluster job of pacing is flat-out leaving money on the table. An excellent overall rating of 2.0 would have undoubtedly been even higher if not for the aforementioned viewers who stopped watching the show or watched much less of it. Again, this has to be a conscious decision, because improving the pacing by showing more undercard fights would not be a particularly complicated or difficult thing to do.

At the same time, the strong ratings that are drawn by the UFC's live fight specials are all the more impressive when you consider the fact that they're drawing these strong numbers despite the pacing issues.

If you're turning off a certain percentage of your potential viewership with unnecessarily long gaps in between fights, and you're still drawing a 2.0 overall rating even without these potential viewers, you're in pretty good shape.

Labels: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 6:56 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- Follow-Up on Controlling the Flow of Information
As a follow-up to my previous post about the UFC's attempts to control the flow of information in the independent MMA media, someone mentioned on the MMAWeekly Forum that it's no big deal and that it also wouldn't be a big deal if Major League Baseball decided to pull Sports Illustrated's media credentials.

If Major League Baseball pulled Sports Illustrated's credentials, to use that specific example, they would be ripped for it in every newspaper and sports media outlet in the country.

The UFC is fortunate that it doesn't have the attention of the mainstream media on it in the way that MLB does, for example, because there is not a legitimate sports organization in the United States that could get away with pulling the press credentials of the top three independent publications that cover the sport (or even one of the top three, for that matter) without being ripped to shreds for doing so.

Even on a much smaller-scale basis, when the Kansas City Royals, one of the smallest teams in Major League Baseball, pulled the credentials of just two radio reporters (again, not the top three publications, but two individual radio reporters), they were ripped for it both locally and nationally and were called things like "gutless" and "cowardly" on national radio and television shows that had no affiliation with those two radio reporters.

Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star, who has been a guest host on ESPN's Pardon the Interruption many times, also wrote an excellent column about the Royals scandal at this URL: http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/baseball/mlb/kansas_city_royals/14839591.htm.

Also, in response to people saying that the independent MMA media will (or should) be more negative towards Zuffa in general as a result of this situation, we're not going to be any more positive or negative in the general tone of our UFC coverage at MMAWeekly than we otherwise would be if Zuffa wasn't trying to control the flow of information in the way that it is. Will there be commentary in some articles about the situation when appropriate? Sure. But will it change the way we cover the day-to-day UFC-related news? No, it won't, and it hasn't since last September.

Also, the media credentials issue is not 100% about web site traffic from Zuffa's perspective, although that is certainly a big part of it. It's also about stamping out anything that they perceive to not be positive towards the UFC, and wanting to have everything viewed through rose-colored glasses. An independent media is inconvenient, and it also doesn't mesh with a company writing its own history. The proverbial carrot and stick routine is also in full effect in this situation.

Labels: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 8:57 PM

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