UFC 122 Fails to Match UFC 99's Gate and Attendance

The last time the UFC put on their lederhosen things didn't go so well.

Jack Encarnacio gave an excellent recap of how the UFC's first show was received in Germany on the Sherdog preview show: 

Headlines included, "Blood and Circuses", "Cologne Cagefight Pleases International Mob" and "Bloodstain on the Canvass". Weekly magazine Stern called the UFC "a big show for men with too much testosterone" and described fans as "people looking for the blood of the fighters, the breast of the ring girls and a new beer for themselves". Minors were banned from attending and the company [Zuffa] was kicked off the television network it aired on in the German state of Bavaira. All the more reason to return apparently.

Zuffa does have a lawsuit challenging the legality of their removal from television but no other German carrier will/would touch the UFC product due to said litigation.

So why go back in the first place?

Germany has a strong boxing and grappling tradition (Check out Tobais Englmaier in the Judo World Cup. He's a 130 pounds... Woo! WEC merger!) in addition to being the world's fourth largest economy with a vibrant middle class. It's easy to see why Zuffa is interested in building their brand in market that has a high potential to be lucrative. By going back within eighteen months of their first show I am sure Zuffa hoped to build some momentum. 

However, UFC 122 is a decided step back from UFC 99 (numbers courtesy of Josh Gross):

Gate figures on Saturday fell by half from $1.3 million for UFC 99 at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne in June 2009 to $600,000 at the Konig Pilsener Arena. Attendance also dipped from 12,854 to 8,421.

We will have to wait and see how German media reacts to 122 (the fact that it is in a smaller market with no television broadcast will cauterize some of the criticism).

Now, it is easy to say that Zuffa is in the German market for the long haul but let's wait and see if they commit to return a second time with no television deal.