Random MMA-Boxing news

[Guest Frank Botch]

No suprises or anything, and I'm sure it's been put up already, but here are the best buyrates from 2009:

 

Dave Meltzer of Yahoo! Sports has the top 10 PPV buy rates of 2009, and it looks like there is a changing of the guard in the PPV realm. The UFC takes six of the top ten spots including the number one spot beating out both boxing and WWE wrestling PPVs.

 

Top 10 PPV buy rates, 2009

 

1. UFC 100: Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir, July 11, 1.6 million

 

2. Boxing: Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto, Nov. 14, 1.25 million

 

3. Boxing: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Juan Manuel Marquez, Sept. 19, 1.05 millon

 

4. UFC 94: Georges St. Pierre vs. B.J. Penn, Jan. 31, 920,000 buys

 

5. UFC 101: Penn vs. Kenny Florian/Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin, Aug. 8, 850,000

 

6. Boxing: Pacquiao vs. Ricky Hatton, May 2, 825,000

 

7t. UFC 107: Penn vs. Diego Sanchez, Dec. 12, 650,000

 

7t. UFC 97: Silva vs. Thales Leites/Chuck Liddell vs. Mauricio Rua, April 18, 650,000

 

9. UFC 98: Lyoto Machida vs. Rashad Evans/Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra, May 23, 635,000

 

10. Wrestling: WWE WrestleMania 25, April 5, 582,000 buys

 

Also I'm sure everyone is interested in what Dana thinks of Herschel Walker's debut:

 

"The whole Herschel Walker thing, listen I give the guy the props, he is almost 50 years old. He is still in great shape and he went out trained in mixed martial arts and he beat a guy who had no athletic ability, no stand up and no ground. You know what makes me crazy is the media attention it got. ESPN will cover Herschel Walker fighting when you got guys like George St. Pierre, Anderson Silva, Brock Lesnar and BJ Penn. All these great athletes that have been training for years and are the best in the sport and you are talking about Herschel Walker? You know what would happen to Herschel Walker over here? It would be the first death in MMA."

[Guest The GS]

Bernard Dunne retired today. If only Ricky Hatton was as wise.

[Guest JC]

"The whole Herschel Walker thing' date=' listen I give the guy the props, he is almost 50 years old. He is still in great shape and he went out trained in mixed martial arts and he beat a guy who had no athletic ability, no stand up and no ground. You know what makes me crazy is the media attention it got. ESPN will cover Herschel Walker fighting when you got guys like George St. Pierre, Anderson Silva, Brock Lesnar and BJ Penn. All these great athletes that have been training for years and are the best in the sport and you are talking about Herschel Walker? You know what would happen to Herschel Walker over here? [b']It would be the first death in MMA.[/b]"

 

LMAO! As if that would stop Dana putting it on PPV!

[DC 536]

Wrestling: WWE WrestleMania 25, April 5, 582,000 buys

For WrestleMania, that's a really poor showing.

[Guest JC]

For WrestleMania, that's a really poor showing.

 

Well it was for me the worst Wrestlemania I've ever seen since I started watching wrestling..so it probably relates.

[ShaolinHandLock 73]

It would be the first death in MMA

 

Technically not true, as 3 people have died in MMA fights so far.

[DC 536]

Well it was for me the worst Wrestlemania I've ever seen since I started watching wrestling..so it probably relates.

You wouldn't have known it was going to suck until you'd bought and paid for it, so it being crap wouldn't really have affected the buyrate all that much.

[Joey Asbo 45]

You wouldn't have known it was going to suck until you'd bought and paid for it, so it being crap wouldn't really have affected the buyrate all that much.

 

To be fair i would say the card sucked pretty bad, enough to affect buyrates.. Especially in a financial climate where anything half a**ed would result in less than steller numbers.

[DC 536]

Oh, yeah, I get that, but the show itself sucking wouldn't affect buyrates because to know it sucked, you would (in legal land) needed to have bought it to see it anyway, thus, adding a buy.

 

The build and general apathy towards wrestling as a whole, would've caused the poor numbers.

[Joey Asbo 45]

Oh, yeah, I get that, but the show itself sucking wouldn't affect buyrates because to know it sucked, you would (in legal land) needed to have bought it to see it anyway, thus, adding a buy.

 

The build and general apathy towards wrestling as a whole, would've caused the poor numbers.

 

Yeah totally. The reason the number was down was probably a big collision of things happening all at the same time anyhow. As you say, the general downward turn in the wrestling industry at the minute, combined with the poor build for the specific event, the ufc hitting its stride and the "credit crunch" had a hugely detrimental effect.

[Guest JC]

You wouldn't have known it was going to suck until you'd bought and paid for it, so it being crap wouldn't really have affected the buyrate all that much.

 

I was under the impression the buys after the event counted aswell, obviously not.

 

Anyway as people have said it wasn't going to be brilliant anyway given the build to it and just simply looking at the card.

[Guest Frank Botch]

Next Strikeforce card is looking pretty great.

 

Middleweight Championship bout: Jake Shields vs. Dan Henderson

Light Heavyweight Championship bout Gegard Mousasi vs.Muhammed Lawal

Lightweight Championship bout: Gilbert Melendez vs. Shinya Aoki

 

 

CBS AND STRIKEFORCE BRING MIXED MARTIAL ARTS BACK TO PRIMETIME ON APRIL 17 WITH AN EVENT FEATURING 3 TITLE FIGHTS

 

Two of the Top 5 Middleweights in the World Collide in the Main Event When Former UFC and PRIDE Champion Dan Henderson, Who Departed the UFC in December, Makes His STRIKEFORCE Debut against Champion Jake Shields for the Middleweight Title

 

Gegard Mousasi Defends His Light Heavyweight Title Against Undefeated " King Mo " Lawal

 

STRIKEFORCE Champion Gilbert Melendez to Square Off Against DREAM Champion Shinya Aoki For Lightweight Title

 

CBS SATURDAY NIGHT FIGHTS and STRIKEFORCE mixed martial arts (MMA) return to network primetime television with a world-class lineup featuring three title fights and five of the top MMA fighters in the world from their respective weight classes, on Saturday, April 17 (9:00 PM, ET/delayed PT) on the CBS Television Network. The event will be broadcast live from the Sommet Center in Nashville , Tenn.

 

Dan Henderson (25-7-0), one of the most decorated fighters in MMA history, makes his STRIKEFORCE debut in the evening's main event against champion Jake Shields (24-4-1) as the two battle for the STRIKEFORCE Middleweight Title. Both Shields and Henderson are ranked as two of the top five middleweights in the world.

 

This event also marks the first time Henderson, who left the UFC and signed a four-fight deal with STRIKEFORCE in December 2009, will fight in front of a network primetime audience. A two-time United States Olympic wrestling team member (1992, 1996), Henderson is also the only fighter in the sport's history to simultaneously hold two different titles in two different weight classes (welterweight and heavyweight) for a major fight promotion (PRIDE Fighting Championships).

 

"We are excited about returning to CBS Primetime with a card featuring some of the top mixed martial arts fighters in the world, including three title fights and the STRIKEFORCE debut of MMA legend, Dan Henderson," said Scott Coker, Founder and CEO of STRIKEFORCE. "CBS has shown a tremendous commitment to furthering the sport of MMA on network television and we appreciate the home they have given STRIKEFORCE to deliver world class cards for MMA fans everywhere."

 

In addition to the main event championship bout, the night will also include two additional championship title fights. Gegard Mousasi (27-2-1), arguably the sport's top light heavyweight, will face undefeated King Mo (6-0) for the STRIKEFORCE Light Heavyweight title. STRIKEFORCE champion Gilbert Melendez (17-2-0) puts his lightweight title on the line against DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki (23-4-0) in the evening's third title bout.

 

"When you have one event with three championship fights and this many top-ranked athletes, it's more than just a great card, it's a big night for MMA," said Kelly Kahl, Senior Executive Vice President, Primetime, CBS Television. "Audiences are going to see a great range of mixed martial arts skills, styles and talent on one broadcast."

 

Last November's CBS SATURDAY NIGHT FIGHTS, headlined by Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers, averaged 4.04m viewers, winning its time period among adults 18-34 and men 18-34, and delivering ratings significantly higher than the Network's season-to-date averages in the time period among young adult and male demos. The ratings include a 1.8/06 in adults 18-49, 1.8/07 in adults 18-34, 2.6/07 in men 25-54, 2.5/08 in men 18-49 and 2.3/09 in men 18-34. The broadcast's main event attracted 5.46 million viewers.

 

SHOWTIME Sports will produce the broadcast with host Gus Johnson calling the action and MMA legend Frank Shamrock and Mauro Ranallo serving as color analysts

 

 

 

Overeem/Rogers and Arlovski/Silva will probably happen at the May card, and Fedor/Werdum should be the main event, though apparently there's more problems with Fedors camp.

[Guest Frank Botch]

Pictures of Miguel Torres after his fight with Benavidez. Don't click the links if you're squeamish..

 

http:///i48.tinypic.com/333g9eb.jpg

 

http:///cdn.cagepotato.com/www/sites/default/files/migueltorresstitches.jpg

 

Yeah, that's his skull. He lost by the way..

[Guest John Hancock]

Aww hellz! That boy got messed up!

 

Random news;

 

- UFC is about to agree a deal which will broadcast it's PPVs and TV shows in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Macau (a semi-autonomous region in Southern China), Indonisia, Brunei, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand.

 

- Stephan Bonner has lost an appeal to get his defeat to Sosznyski over turned after Sosznyski accidently head butted him. A rematch will take place at the Ultimate Fighter 11 finale.

 

- New screen shots have been released for EA Sports MMA. It's ugly as a sack of dicks.

 

- Try outs have begun for Ultimate Fighter series 12, which will concentrate on Light Heavyweights, and Lightweights.

[Paul 584]

Neither of those links work for me. probably for the best, I havent had tea yet.

[Guest John Hancock]

There's literally a hole in his head. A legit, full on hole. It's like he's been hit with a ax or something, you can genuinely see the white of his skull.

[DC 536]

Yeah, they're not working for me either. They both come up with an "address not valid" message.

 

EDIT - You can see the picture here.

 

Damn, that is a nasty laceration, no doubt about it.

Edited March 10, 2010 by DC

[Guest Frank Botch]

The links still work for me, I was just going to post the pictures but I wasn't sure what the rules were about graphic images.

[DC 536]

I edited a new link into my earlier post for those who can't access the originals.

[Paul 584]

Man, probably a good idea not to post that. I mean woah, blood is one thing but that is nasty!