Dana White concerned that fans think UFC 141 is Saturday (it is FRIDAY)
“I just met with the MetroPCS people and I said, ‘I’ll see you Saturday,’” White told reporters following Wednesday’s UFC…
“I just met with the MetroPCS people and I said, ‘I’ll see you Saturday,'” White told reporters following Wednesday’s UFC 141 press conference. “I’m promoting this thing and I said, ‘I’ll see you Saturday.'”
The UFC has gotten its fight week routine down to such a consistent rhythm, fans and media alike are conditioned to expect things in a certain order. Press conference on Thursday, weigh-ins on Friday, fights on Saturday. Only the names and locations change — until this time. But in order to avoid the colossal headache of trying to promote a fight on New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas, the UFC had to move everything up a day this week. Now even White isn’t sure how fans will react.
“To be honest, we’re a little concerned about Friday night,” White said. “Everybody’s programmed for Saturday, Saturday, Saturday.”
“The problem is, you can’t put on fights in Las Vegas on [New Year’s Eve],” he said. “They shut the strip down. You can’t even get around here. It would be a nightmare.”
In addition to being on a Friday instead of the usual Saturday, UFC 141 is returning to the traditional 10 PM ET start time, after experimenting with a 9 PM start time since late April. Lastly, the customary “Countdown” show has moved from former TV partner Spike, to the FOX owned FUEL TV which is available in some 60,000,000 fewer homes.
The UFC 141 Countdown on FUEL pulled an irrelevant 15,000 viewers. “It wasn’t alarming at all,” White said. “Those are the type of ratings that that network pulls. …Those numbers will build. We’re going to build that network.”
But what that means for Saturday Friday night, only time will tell.