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By: Jason Amadi, MMATorch Columnist
Heading into the UFC's debut on Fox Saturday night, both the UFC and Fox stressed that the Cain Velasquez-Junior dos Santos matchup was simply a teaser; a prelude to the UFC invading the Fox family of networks in 2012. The way that the one hour broadcast unfolded really demonstrated what the partnership is capable of, but also proved that both the UFC and Fox have a lot of work to do when it comes to presenting the sport of mixed martial arts to a national audience.
For the most part, Fox did an outstanding job of making the UFC's debut on their network feel like a major event. However, Fox's decision to only air one fight really backfired in the worst way possible. First time viewers of the sport ultimately sat through approximately 58:56 of commercials, advertisements and analysis, with just 64 seconds of actual fighting. According to Fox, the event was still able to bring in an average of 5.7 million viewers, which is particularly impressive considering how little action there was to be seen.
Mixed martial arts fights aren't meant to be consumed a la carte, and presenting the sport that way on a platform like Fox is not only a huge gamble, but potentially deleterious to the sport. This time there was enough interest to garner strong numbers, but MMA neophytes aren't equipped with the tools to properly contextualize what Junior dos Santos was able to do to Velasquez in just over a minute. Had one or two preliminary fights aired prior to the main event (Clay Guida vs. Benson Henderson), perhaps a 64 second knockout would have really highlighted the unpredictable nature of MMA. However, 58:56 of fluff with a 64 second payoff wasn't ideal for first time viewers and could have potentially soured them on them on the sport.
Speaking of soured viewers, perhaps UFC President Dana White has the most to learn from the UFC's test run on Fox. Following Junior dos Santos capturing the UFC Heavyweight Championship, in front of millions of people, Dana White saw fit to criticize the conditioning of his new Champion and berate Cain Velasquez for employing the wrong strategy. That's right, rather than heap praise onto Junior dos Santos, White made it seem as if this was Velasquez's fight to lose and that dos Santos lucked into a 64 second knockout as a result of his opponent's poor strategy.
This is the first time one of Dana White's emotional outbursts have been shown on a UFC broadcast, and unfortunately, it was in front of the most viewers the UFC has ever had. There's no way to spin something like that into a positive. Even when Brock Lesnar of all people attempted to do just that, Dana White reiterated his point and attacked Velasquez yet again. For a promoter, having a live microphone in front of your largest audience ever is a golden opportunity, and Dana White was too upset over a quick finish to capitalize.
As difficult as that was to watch, the event as a whole was a solid debut for the UFC. Sure, the event may have been light on action, but the production was first class, the fight was memorable (albeit for unexpected reasons) and it delivered solid ratings. The biggest takeaway coming off the UFC on Fox card is how well it was able to do from a ratings standpoint with virtually no action. Typically ratings for live sporting events increase as the event goes on. So as far as the numbers go, it stands to reason that the rating could have been a bit higher had the fight lasted a bit longer.
Ultimately, the true measure of success for this particular UFC on Fox show is whether or not Junior dos Santos is able to move the needle on pay-per-view in his first title defense. The buyrate would be be especially telling if Alistair Overeem defeats Brock Lesnar at UFC 141 and Zuffa isn't able to rely on Lesnar's usual muscular numbers. With the UFC's business still heavily dependent on pay-per-view, UFC on Fox events are nothing more than commercials. If this particular event fails to increase the visibility of a new Champion, one has to wonder how the UFC will progress on Fox in the future.
Feel free to follow me on Twitter @JasonAmadi. What were your thoughts on the UFC's debut on Fox?
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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