UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson

[Clydefrog]

i was disgusted by that fight, bader isn't the most exciting fighter and quinten was knackered! it made me sad watching it and i couldnt wait until it was finished , luckily the fight after was the fight of the year so far imo

 

[No More Sorrow]

Here's some early numbers for this show, the prelims atleast. PPV buys and what not wont be out for another few days.

FX drew a solid 1.5 million viewers for this past weekend's UFC 144 "UFC Prelims" broadcast, MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com) today confirmed with industry sources.

The two-hour Feb. 25 broadcast preceded the UFC 144 pay-per-view main card and featured four bouts live from Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

The broadcast outdrew the first two "UFC Prelims" specials on FX, which drew 888,000 viewers (UFC 142) and 1.3 million viewers (UFC 143).

This past weekend's FX broadcast featured UFC 144 winners Takanori Gomi, Vaughan Lee, Riki Fukuda and Chris Cariaso. They produced a knockout, a submission and two decision finishes. Lee, in fact, earned a $65,000 "Submission of the Night" bonus for his armbar win over Norifumi "Kid" Yamamota.

While FX broadcasts Friday's UFC on FX 2 main card, its next "UFC Prelims" special doesn't take place for another two months, when UFC 145 heads to Atlanta on April 21.

The UFC moved its "UFC Prelims" specials to the FOX-owned FX in January. Previously, Spike TV aired 27 "UFC Prelims" specials that averaged 1.5 million viewers.

The full list of "UFC Prelims" specials on FX include:

• UFC 144 ratings: 1.5 million viewers
• UFC 143 ratings: 1.3 million
• UFC 142 ratings: 880,000

Numbers keep going up everytime they do the prelim shows on FX, good news obviously.

 

[Clydefrog]

would love to see the ratings of the Jones vs Evans fight! that will be insane!

 

[Ben]

Anthony Pettis works out at the same gym with me and was chatting with him a today, and he said he was told he's getting the next title shot against Bendo in a few months, and then the winner of Miller/Diaz is next in line. Hopefully the guy doesn't get screwed over again but he's a good fighter and a pretty nice guy.

 

[No More Sorrow]

Oh shit, that's pretty cool Ben. Seems like the most logical way to go about it, think Bendo/Pettis for the title at 149, or even on a Fox show would be pretty crazy.

 

[Ben]

Just makes the most sense, with Miller/Diaz still being a few months away, Bendo would have to sit 6 months at the min to defend the belt unless god forbid they do a rematch with Frankie.

 

[No More Sorrow]

: Frankie's pulling the "It's not fair" card because he had to do immediate rematches with Gray Maynard and BJ Penn.

 

[Troy]

Ben that is so cool that you train at the same gym as Pettis. I to hope that he gets the next title shot rather than waiting for Miller/Diaz. Pettis didn't get touched at 144 so he can fight soon and Henderson didn't take any damage so fighting in three months time shouldn't be an issue at all.

Really good rating for the prelims, they have already caught the SpikeTV numbers after three shows and that number should only grow from here.

 

[No More Sorrow]

PPV Buys are in.

There was a lot of hand-wringing going into UFC 144 that it would not perform well on pay-per-view (PPV) and that the main event should have been saved for UFC on Fox 3. It appears that those concerns were unfounded. Dave Meltzer at the Wrestling Observer (subscription required) is reporting that early PPV estimates are "about 375,000 buys."

Those numbers, on top of the UFC's best yet numbers for preliminaries on FX, are a very strong performance for the UFC and ex-champion Frankie Edgar. Edgar's most recent title defenses at UFC 125 and UFC 136 (both against Gray Maynard) did 270K and 225K respectively.


Edgar did headline UFC 118 which did 570K PPVs, but that was against B.J. Penn and also featured a heavily promoted Randy Couture vs. boxer James Toney bout.


Meltzer commented:


It's a good sign because the usual rule is that an overseas show doesn't do as well as a North American show, and may be a very positive sign for the upcoming Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen fight. The surprising numbers have started ever since the move back an hour which seems to have resulted in stronger West Coast numbers. That also coincides with the FOX deal going into effect.


As far as reasons, I did see a lot more advertising for this than usual with a lot of televised stuff. The pre-show being two hours and doing a good rating may have helped. The TV commercial was also good. And it could be that Edgar was finally getting over (in looking at trending patterns before the show and who had the most interest, it was Edgar slightly ahead of Jackson, with Henderson about half that of Edgar and Ryan Bader next, and well below Henderson). This also came with a Countdown show airing on Fuel (it probably aired on Fox Sports Net as well but wasn't advertised and probably didn't do much in the way of viewers). But across the board, everything was positive here.

Really good news for the UFC as they move on to doing more oversea shows.

 

[The Cork]

Yeah, Pettis/Bendo II makes perfect sense.

Fox would be all over that fight like a rash, pretty easy to promote when half the world saw the Showtime kick that went viral.

 

[No More Sorrow]

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson used testosterone replacement therapy to help repair his knee prior to facing Ryan Bader at UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson. Jackson lost to Bader via decision in the co-main event of the Japan card.

"I hurt my knee like a month ago and I only did three shots of testosterone but it put a lot of weight on me, a lot of muscle on me but it healed my knee up good enough to where I could fight," said Jackson

Jackson added that the TRT has helped make him a new fighter, saying, "I am not gonna retire no time soon, it's just unfortunate that I got this injury. I feel like a 25 year old again." The former UFC light heavyweight champion had previously mentioned retiring at 35 years old.

TRT has been used previously by other fights, and Jackson said, "I keep it real, I am not doing anything wrong. It's legal and I am not abusing it."

:Kane:

 

[Troy]

PPV Buys are in.



Really good news for the UFC as they move on to doing more oversea shows.

Good numbers. I disagree with Meltzer's reasoning for the numbers, it wasn't Edgar that drew his last two PPV mainevents drew around 100k less buys, he doesn't suddenly become that popular. I think it was the fact that people believed that Henderson could beat him. Plus it was a pretty stacked card with seven matches on the main card which makes it better value.

 

[Slim]

The card was immensely stacked... plus it was in Japan. Rampage is a much bigger name than Frankie and MMA fans will remember Rampage from Pride so it was almost a nostalgia trip to see Rampage fighting over there. Frankie helped some but.. I'd say Rampage did the most.

 

[No More Sorrow]

Medical suspensions released.

Tiequan Zhang; 45 days no contest; 30 days no contact

Elji Mitsuoka; 45 days no contest; 30 days no contact
Elji Mitsuoka; 180 days or negative nasal x-ray for possible fracture

Joe Lauzon; 45 days no contest; 30 days no contact

Tim Boetsch; 30 days no contest; 21 days no contact

Yushin Okami; 45 days no contest; 30 days no contact

Cheick Kongo; 45 days no contest; 30 days no contact

Quinton Jackson; 45 days no contest; 30 days no contact
Quinton Jackson; 180 days or right knee cleared by orthopedic doctor

Benson Henderson; 45 days no contest; 30 days no contact
Benson Henderson; 180 days or x-ray of both hands and left foot for fracture

Frankie Edgar; 45 days no contest; 30 days no contact

Crazy list of injuries.