Keller's Take
KELLER: UFC just got a lot bigger, so they need to help the average viewer keep up
Oct 28, 2010 - 6:51:44 PM KELLER: UFC just got a lot bigger, so they need to help the average viewer keep up

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By Wade Keller, MMATorch supervising editor

Thumbs up to UFC for absorbing WEC and its fighters. There haven't been enough UFC title fights to fill their PPV, Spike TV, and Versus live event schedule, so this helps in that regard. It also gives the proper respect and audience to talented fighters who just happen to fit into the 135 and 145 weight classes. Those fighters deserve bigger paydays, more exposure, and the prestige of fighting for titles named "UFC" and not "WEC."

On the down side, keeping track of everything going on in UFC has become more difficult for the more casual UFC fan. Sure, the fans who check MMATorch's website and app six times a day (or more) are going to have a pretty good handle on who holds what title at any given time and who the key contenders are for each title. But there is a larger potential audience for UFC out there who need a little hand-holding in this regard. They shouldn't assume every potential UFC fan is going to seek out information on a website or necessarily feel invested enough in "next month's card" to order it without a little on-air primer.

UFC has evolved, production-wise, the way they have over the last 17 years due to various circumstances that don't necessarily apply today. There was a time when listing top contenders to a title was giving publicity to a fighter who might not be under contract next month or who might skip out for a bigger payday with Pride, so UFC tended to talk only about fighters who were signed to an upcoming fight.

UFC once was built around a smaller hardcore audience that knew every champion and contender. UFC was once a smaller company with fewer titles and fewer contenders to keep track of.

In 2011, UFC needs to step up its promoting techniques. It's been a long-time coming, but the addition of WEC's titles and fighters makes it more needed than ever.

UFC is thrilled when they receive 1 million PPV buys. That sounds like a lot, but between our website, apps, and podcasts, MMATorch will be visited by more people this year than the average number of PPV buyers for a UFC event in 2010. In other words, the hardcore fans are buying every event, but they're coming up short of reaching their full potential. It's not like their Spike TV specials are killing in the ratings. The UFC 121 prelims in Spike drew just 1.5 million viewers. Over a million people bought the PPV. The total audience watching live fights free should be more.

UFC should be going after a larger audience, but to get them, they need to be a little more novice-friendly. With a better promoting strategy, they can turn those three-times-a-year buyers who make up the difference between a 400K PPV buy and a 1 million PPV buy level into twelve-times-a-year buyers.

To do that, they need to start doing a better job giving a big picture perspective on all weight divisions during every PPV. They should have a Roll Call of Champions that is featured on every PPV and Fight Night special, and ideally also inserted into UFC Unleashed and UFC Ultimate Fighter episodes. Remind and reenforce with more casual fans who the champions are and list some of the top contenders. They don't need to necessarily do a strict Top Five ranking, but they should acknowledge who the active top contenders are and put in perspective their latest record, their future fights, and discuss which fight outcomes will lead to which contenders being seriously considered for future title fights.

Some people buy every UFC PPV event, but obviously most people don't. UFC should aim to increase the number of every-monthly buyers, but frankly their approach to doing that is lazy and antiquated. Their promotion of next month's PPV on this month's PPV is half-assed. Mike Goldberg pushing the date and listing the top fights isn't enough to get that next layer of fans interested in the fight. A ringside interview is nice, but they don't do that enough. They should have a production team putting together video packages on upcoming fights that get people excited about upcoming fights, and part of that is putting in perspective the various champions and the list of the contenders vying for an upcoming shot.

There's no reason within the structure of the three-hour PPVs that in addition to squeezing in prelim fights they can't insert brief "get to know" video packages on up-and-coming fighters or have a discussion among analysts and inactive fighters talking about the key fights on the next two or three PPVs. They can afford to take 30 seconds or so to drill into viewers' memories who every current title holder is even if it's as simple and straight-forward as how NFL games quickly introduce us to the offensive or defensive line at the start of a football game.

A casual UFC fan can go several months watching UFC PPVs and never hear the name Anderson Silva or George St. Pierre. They can lose track of whether B.J. Penn is still a champion. Add Jose Aldo, Urijah Faber, and WEC's line-up of fighters and it's just going to get tougher for the average fan to keep track of it all. Yes, some will buy any event because it's UFC and they like MMA fights. But UFC can and should do a better job month to month giving everyone a view of the big picture and a reminder of who their top stars are and what's next for them.

UFC has been complacent in this regard, and there's a big upside to improving in this area. It's not as if they don't have the budget.

(And while they're at it, stop interrupting the calling of live fights with those incessant annoying plugs by Goldberg. It's insulting to a paying audience that they have to sit through UFC shoving sponsor plugs at them during live action when at any second a fight can end or a fight-deciding point can be scored.)