UFC 75 rating- Most watched MMA American show ever

Vince135792003

www.ufcjunkie.com :

UFC 75 Broadcast Breaks Spike TV and North American Ratings Records
Posted by MMA Junkie on September 11, 2007 at 1:28 pm ET

ufc 75Saturday’s tape-delayed broadcast of UFC 75 scored a 3.1 rating — or, approximately 4.7 million viewers — to set an all-time ratings record for Spike TV. Additionally, the event was the most-watched mixed-martial-arts event ever in North America.

Spike TV made the announcement early this afternoon.

UFC 75, which took place at the 02 Arena in London, England, was shown later that night. The broadcast included the first-ever title fight shown originally by Spike TV, which began airing “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series and other UFC-related programming in 2005.

The audience peaked with approximately 5.6 million viewers during the night’s main event, a title-unification bout between UFC 205-pound champ Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Pride champ Dan Henderson. Jackson scored a unanimous-decision victory in the five-round fight.

Saturday’s broadcast also featured a controversial split-decision victory for Michael Bisping over Matt Hamill, and Cheick Kongo’s upset of Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic. Houston Alexander and Marcus Davis also picked up victories on the televised portion of the event.

In the key “men ages 18-49” demographic, UFC 75’s 2.5 million viewers beat ABC’s broadcast of an Oregon vs. Michigan college football game (1.2 million) and subsequent NASCAR broadcast (717,000).

Prior to UFC 75, the highest-rated Spike TV/UFC broadcast was October 2006’s “Ortiz vs. Shamrock 3: The Final Chapter” event, which also drew a 3.1 rating.

Spike TV next airs a live event on Wednesday, Sept. 19, when Din Thomas meets Kenny Florian in the main event of UFC Fight Night 11. The event airs at 9 p.m. and precedes the debut episode of “The Ultimate Fighter: Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra.

Well there's big money on the table with a Hamill/Bisping re-match. Great exposure for Rampage and Henderson too.

ShawnRaven

Vince135792003 wrote:

www.ufcjunkie.com :



Well there's big money on the table with a Hamill/Bisping re-match. Great exposure for Rampage and Henderson too.

I'm pumped for a Hamill/Bisping rematch! But what the f*ck happened to Cro Cop? It's like he doesn't give a sh*t anymore! And am I the only one who found Rampage v Henderson disappointing and drawn out?

Lets get the discussion going now seeing as the cat is out of the bag!
VR!

Smellyirishman

Argh, forgot this one was coming so soon and was reading the piece and failing to make any sense of it.... now it all makes sense, and I'm sad.

Roar

validreasoning! wrote:

I'm pumped for a Hamill/Bisping rematch! But what the f*ck happened to Cro Cop? It's like he doesn't give a sh*t anymore! And am I the only one who found Rampage v Henderson disappointing and drawn out?

Lets get the discussion going now seeing as the cat is out of the bag!
VR!

i thought hamill bisping was a draw tbh. rampage v henderson was rubbish.. that submission in davis v taylor was top class..

Vince135792003

I think Cro Cop really tried going by all the preparation he did for the fight.

Mentally though, I think he's finished. He talked about retiring prior to the Pride Grand Priz last year. He talked about retiring after his current UFC contract. And when you keep talking about retirement, I think it says something about a guys mentality. I think he's caring as much as he possibly can but when its over, its over.

Or he could drop to Light heavy weight and knock 8 guys out over the next 2 years. You just never know in MMA.

I enjoyed Rampage and Henderson alot. It wasn't a classic but the two were so evenly matched, it entertained me for all 5 rounds. You could really see how elite the 2 of them are.

On Bisping and Hamill, there nowhere close to elite top guys. But UFC have a re-match that ALOT of people want to see, especially with basically 90% of everybody thinking Hamill got screwed.

Fozzy

Crocop actually broke a rib in the first round, plus there were those knees to his groin. Some are speculating that he was using steroids when he was in Japan, you wouldn't really know. Either way, I still think that he's got something to offer, although I doubt many will pay to see it at this stage

I loved Rampage vs Henderson. Two of the best going at it, I really enjoyed it

I was thinking that the amount of people who watched the main event must be more than Raw's audience, and PWTorch just confirmed that. Raw usually gets 5.3 million viewers. That's a really impressive number, especially considering that most fans don't know Henderson and would only know Rampage as the guy who knocked out Chuck (which is probably the most impressive thing you could do for a casual fan, in fairness)

The Sparrow

Thats some rating all right... As for the show, I thought Bisping beating Hamill was complete bull****. I don`t know why, but I`m still angry about it:mad: I`m going to watch it again tomorrow and maybe I will change my mind, but at the moment I can`t think of many worse decisions that I have seen. What is the story with Cecil Peoples... He seems to be always involved in bad decisions. And what the hell was Bisping on? Its one thing fluking a victory like that and being humble but he was a dick about it and seemingly in interviews afterwards he was acting like he destroyed Hamill. I`ve lost a fair bit of respect for him to be honest.

Elsewhere, Cro Cop is done. On the F4Wonline recap show they had a discussion about his past record and whether he has ever been an elite heavyweight or if he has made a career out of beating light heavyweights. And I think that apart from Josh Barnett he really hasn`t that great of a heavyweight record. Its a real shame to see him look so badly and whilst I think the broken rib for sure must have affected him a lot, he nonetheless looks finished.

Henderson v Rampage wass great as others have mentioned, real good back and forth and the right decision in the end. I really enjoyed it.

Oh and Houston Alexander is a bad, bad man!

Vince135792003

woooo232 wrote:

Elsewhere, Cro Cop is done. On the F4Wonline recap show they had a discussion about his past record and whether he has ever been an elite heavyweight or if he has made a career out of beating light heavyweights.

Essentially though, he probably should be fighting at lightheavy weight. A lot of guys drop 10-15 pounds to get to 205 and then come in alot heavier for the fight like Tito Ortiz for example. Or Matt Hamill who you could noticeable size difference to Bisping who will most likely fight as a middle weight in the future.

I don't think his record should be dismissed though. If you win the open weight Pride Grandpriz, beaten Josh Barnett multiple times, Wanderlai Silva and to a lesser extent Alexander Emilenko, Herring, Vovchanchyn and Coleman you deserve alot of credit.

oneofakind32

Vince135792003 wrote:

www.ufcjunkie.com :UFC 75 scored a 3.1 rating — or, approximately 4.7 million viewers — to set an all-time ratings record for Spike TV

Didn't Raw sore 4 and above on spike?

Vince135792003

oneofakind32 wrote:

Didn't Raw sore 4 and above on spike?

Yep. This is an MMA record and not pro-wrestling. Wade Keller on www.pwtorch.com explained it in a line:

While a typical edition of Raw draws around 5.3 million viewers, UFC set an all-time viewing record for their main event of Saturday's free-in-the-U.S. UFC 75 event on Spike TV, drawing 5.6 million viewers for the Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Dan Henderson title unification fight and 4.7 million viewers on average over the course of the three hour event.

gimmick

Certainly felt the Bisping result was a home decision. I felt at worst it was adraw had Hammill not shaded it.

Didn't enjoy the main event at all. I really think both men went out to not lose rather than to try and win. Shame.

Not a bad show, agree with Roar - the Davis Taylor match was great. Just like snooker eh?

Fozzy

gimmick wrote:

Didn't enjoy the main event at all. I really think both men went out to not lose rather than to try and win. Shame.

I can't remember exactly how it went now, but I didn't get that impression when I was watching it at all. Henderson is a world-class wrestler and Rampage did so well to keep him at bay. I think Rampage actually managed to stand up almost every time he was taken down, which is very impressive. Henderson was going for submissions from the bottom when he got taken down as well, and even though Rampage reversed one, Henderson still went for another in the next round, which suggests to me that he was trying to win and not just not lose

Vince135792003

Just on the big rating they got, if I was the UFC, I wouldn't do Lidell/Silva in December (assuming Lidell beats Jardine). With the exposure Rampage got, I'd do a re-match with Lidell. It's easy, easy big money.

I'd give Wanderlai his debut against Jardine in December and have the loser of Rua/Forrest fight Houston Alexander. The winner of Rua/Forrest could then be in line for the winner of Lidell/Jackson in March or so.

Meanwhile Silva could fight in February the winner of Tito and Evans. Assuming and its a big assumption that Silva gets through those 2 fights, he'd be ready for a title shot in June of next year.

Fozzy

The only problem there is that I don't think Dana wants to take any risk at all that might prevent Liddell vs Silva from happening!

Vince135792003

Fozzy wrote:

The only problem there is that I don't think Dana wants to take any risk at all that might prevent Liddell vs Silva from happening!

I know and I want to see that match alot too. Maybe not as much as Dana though!

But in the eyes of a casual fan, I just see them more likely buying a Lidell/Jackson ppv over Lidell/Silva one. It's all good though. You can juggle the division any way you want and your guaranteed good fights.

But if I owned the UFC and that many people saw Rampage fight, there's no way I wouldn't have him on the December card. Maybe they'll go with Jackson versus Rua/Forrest, Lidell versus Silva and Hughes versus Serra for the December show.

fatal

I enjoyed the henderson and rampage match immensely.
Also I dunno what the **** happened to Cro Crop.It certainly wasnt the Cro Crop that we are so used to seeing.How many fights is he contracted to the UFC for?
Well done to Davis for making such a good comeback and setting up the armbar the way he did.
Im looking forward to seeing houston alexander back in the octagon soon.He is an animal.
I think that Hamill won the fight against Hamill but whats done is done,lets have these guys go at it again and have Hamill KO Bisping.
It was an exciting show and I certainly am not surprised that it was the most watched MMA show ever.The card had well known names like Cro Crop,Rampage,Henderson,Bisping and Hamill.And because it was free on Spike tv and Americans not having to fork out $50 to watch it,certainly did help

Vince135792003

Crocop has 2 fights left I think.

Fozzy

fatal wrote:

The card had well known names like Cro Crop,Rampage,Henderson,Bisping and Hamill.

The thing that I think makes that rating even more impressive is that I don't believe those guys are well known. Bisping and Hamill are from TUF on Spike. But the majority of the UFC audience wouldn't have had a clue who Henderson was. Henderson headlined a PRIDE ppv this year in America and it got about 30,000 buys. UFC regularly gets over 20 times that many buys. Cro Cop wouldn't be seen as anything special by the average UFC fan either, not after the way he got knocked out by Gonzaga, who wasn't seen as anything special himself. I'm sure Rampage pulled in a lot of viewers though, he knocked out the people's hero! And as Vince is saying, he's going to be an even bigger draw now I think. They should let him commentate on some matches, it'd make for great tv!

weemcd

I suppose its worth noting that this was freely viewable on spike tv in America, it would be interesting to see how many buys it would have got in the US if the event was ppv, id imagine a lidell/couture ppv would have easily secured more buys had this been the case.

Think about it Rampage is still new to US audiences, Henderson would have little exposure to UFC fans, same goes for cro crop who had a disappointing second bout & bisping who would be well known in the UK but less so in America.

I still think its fantastic more people are watching UFC, however did casual viewers get the best insight into the sport? A controversial win for Besping (a Brit) against Hamil (a Yank) and the Rampage/Henderson fight has had its fair share of criticism.

Vince135792003

I don't get your point on noting it was free to watch on tv. Everyone know this, hence the tv ratings detail given as opposed to a ppv buy rate.

No one is saying that Jackson and Henderson would have done beaten UFC's ppv record. The point is that the show broke UFC's tv record. Maybe I'm reading what your saying wrong but I just don't get your point there.

I didn't see much criticism towards the Henderson/Rampage fight. It was a close fight but I wouldn't say the decision was controversial. If the argument is that people were not entertained by it, well the numbers watching increased as opposed to decreasing throughout the fight.

On whether Bisping/hamill saga is good or bad for the sport is debatable. I think it doesn't hurt the UFC's perception as long as it doesn't happen on a regular basis. If it happened on every second show, I think it would hurt them big time. But in a situation like this, it could almost be good for business.

When they put Hamill and Bisping on ppv in November, many many people will buy it to see in their eyes Hamill get his revenge.

In many ways, the fight made both fighters in that the general audience probably cares about both guys (Hamill in a good way, Bisping in a bad way) a hell of alot more now than they did going in.

fatal

Vince135792003 wrote:

In many ways, the fight made both fighters in that the general audience probably cares about both guys (Hamill in a good way, Bisping in a bad way) a hell of alot more now than they did going in.

Watch how much more they make for their rematch

Vince135792003

Just a few notes coming out of the show:

-ufcmania.com

Quoteworthy (Cro Cop to McCarthy via Joe Rogan):

“I’m to old for this sh*t. I should just quit right now. No, no, I don’t want to quit.”- Crop Cop during his fight

UFC ringside announcer Joe Rogan reveals something that “nobody knows” during a recent radio interview — the conversation between Mirko “Cro Cop” and referee, “Big” John McCarthy, during the Croatian’s UFC 75 heavyweight bout with Cheick Kongo. Cro Cop sustained a broken in rib in round one, as well as endured several illegal knees to the groin that caused McCarthy to momentarily stop the action. Kongo won the bout via unanimous decision.

- Cro Cop has 3 fights left on his contract according to the observer

-Matt Hamill apparently came into his fight with Bisping with a torn ACL http://www.fistfirstfighting.com/