How Fox can help the UFC develop fighters
It’s a perfect vehicle for the UFC to use to give its fighters exposure and get them used to headlining…
It’s a perfect vehicle for the UFC to use to give its fighters exposure and get them used to headlining a show.
There has been a lot of debate about the UFC’s TV ratings on Fox, FX and Fuel. UFC president Dana White is extraordinarily defensive about it, and went on a lengthy tirade about a Toronto newspaper columnist for saying the ratings were tepid.
Put aside for a moment, though, the issue of ratings, because as Mark Twain once said, there are lies, damned lies and statistics. White will look at the same set of ratings as a UFC critic and each will massage them differently. White inevitably comes to the conclusion that the ratings are outstanding and delivering as expected. The critics look at them and see them as abject failures. The truth is somewhere in the middle.
The ratings debate is an argument for another day. What is not a debate, though, is the kind of impact that fighting on FX and Fuel can have on the fighters.
On Saturday, Fuel will broadcast a UFC show from Nottingham, England, in which Stipe Miocic takes on Stefan Struve in a heavyweight fight.
It doesn’t have the buzz that, say, UFC 154 has with St-Pierre returning from injury to defend his title on Nov. 17 against interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit.
But it’s a main event and provides kind of a dry run as a headliner for two guys the UFC believes might one day become stars.
“Being the main event of a small card is great,” UFC light heavyweight Stephan Bonnar said. “I’ve done both, the big ones and the small ones. Whatever it is, when you’re the main event, your face is on the billboards, you’re doing the interviews, and you’re just the guy. Whether it’s 5,000 at the Palms or 20,000 at the MGM, it’s not that much of a difference; you’re still headlining.
