The UFC 100 replay, which was intended to counter Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg, outdrew the Showtime event four to one. 

The UFC 100 replay averaged 2 million viewers while Carano vs. Cyborg drew an average of 576,000 viewers. The Strikeforce event did peak at 856,000 viewers during the main event. Strikeforce also nearly doubled their ratings from previous events and set a record for viewers on a Showtime MMA event. 

Showtime is only available in 21 million households (another website said 16.5 million households) where as Spike is available in approximately 98 million households. 

That means the UFC 100 replay was available to five or six times as many people and outdrew Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg by only four to one. While these ratings are impressive showing for a replay event they are not nearly as dominant as their base viewership should indicate. Simple linear regression tells us if something is available to X times more people than X times people should show up, in this case that didn't happen.  

The UFC also sent out a press release describing the UFC 100 replay as a success specifically citing its dominance within the male 18-34 demographic. 

The telecast bested heavy sports competition during the day in the advertiser-coveted demographic of Men 18-34:

UFC 100 (Spike TV) - 513,000

PGA Championship (CBS) - 479,000

MLB Baseball (FOX) - 242,000

Strikeforce (Showtime) - 181,000

Any time in dealing with media relations you want to put your best foot forward. Zuffa has done this continuously by trumpeting their dominance within the 18-34 male demographic. However this is not a good indicator of main stream or overall appeal. 

Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg coverage

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O'Brien's high water mark...

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The Exodous continues.

Jake O'Brien (11-3) is the latest casualty to the UFC's recent purge of their roster. 

O'Brien went 4-3 in the UFC with 

Jake's high water mark in the UFC was an unanimous decision victory over Heath Herring at TUFN 8. After that victory O'Brien went 1-2 in the heavyweight division, losing to Andrei Arlovski and Cain Velasquez. Jake also underwent knee surgery and was out of action for a year. O'Brien did drop to light heavyweight lost to Jon Jones at UFC 100. 

O'Biren now joins, Dan Crammer, Thales Leites, Tamdan McCroy and George Roop as fighters recently released by the UFC. 

"Forward for the U-F-C!"

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The declaration of hostilities between the UFC and Strikeforce has now moved on to the skirmish phase as the UFC will be broadcasting several UFC 100 bouts during Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg this Saturday, (Press Release and story via 5thRound.com, check them out its a great site!)

Spike TV will present a special cable telecast of some of the most exciting bouts from UFC 100, one of the biggest nights in the history of mixed martial arts, on Saturday, August 15 at 10:00pm-12:30am ET/PT. Featuring Brock Lesnar's coronation as heavyweight king and Dan Henderson's must-see knockout over Michael Bisping, the Spike TV telecast marks the first time that bouts from this landmark event will be televised off of Pay-Per-View.    

The fights will include, 

 Heavyweight Championship Bout
    Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir

    Middleweights
    Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping

    Middleweights
    Alan Belcher vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama

    Light Heavyweights
    Stephan Bonnar vs. Mark Coleman

    Lightweights
    Shannon Gurgerty vs. Matt Grice

    Light Heavyweights
    Jon Jones vs. Jake O'Brien

Yikes, that is a scary lineup for Strikeforce to compete against. 

Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg coverage

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MMA fans routinely pull their hair out when watching mainstream media report on MMA figures. Today is no exception. 

E:60, ESPN's investigative journalism news-magazine, recently did a report on UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar. Tonight they aired an update due to Lesnar's performance at UFC 100. The update featured interviews with Josh Gross of SI.com and the narrative that Brock Lesnar became the "face" and the first true "villain" of the UFC. 

What a crock of B.S.

When it comes to the face of the UFC that description changes depending on what day of the week it is. On Sunday it is former high school math teacher Rich Franklin. Monday it is Randy Couture. Tuesday it is Dana White and after White curses someone out then its Lorenzo Fertitta. Wednesday it is Kenny Florian, due to all the time he spends at the World Wide Leader. Thursday it is Georges St. Pierre because he is the only UFC athlete to have a major sponsor outside the UFC. For "Funny Friday's" it is Forrest Griffin. And on Saturday it is Chuck Liddell because we need someone to do shots with. 

Now if E:60 means that Lesnar is the "face" of the UFC as in he is their biggest PPV draw then I can understand this statement. But by no means is Zuffa putting Lesnar forward as the prototypical MMA fighter. 

I basically wrote this all before so I will simply quote myself, 

The WWE fans who buy his pay-per views don't hate him nor does the mainstream audience that bought or watched UFC 100 out of curiosity. Lesnar to them represents an anchor, something that is familiar and already quantifiable, as they dive into an unfamiliar and foreign sport. Put it this way, Lesnar is the easy thing for newcomers to understand and that's alright with such a complex sport as MMA.     

Now that we dispensed with E:60's first haphazard story line let's address the second that Lesnar is the UFC's first real "villain." 

For anyone to believe this narrative then they expose themselves as a bandwagon UFC fan who didn't know the sport existed before 2007. 

E:60 editors, you want the first "villains" of the UFC? I'll go easy on you, why don't you try Frank Shamrock, Tito Ortiz or Tim Sylvia. All of which were the objects of scorn in their UFC careers. It is impossible and disingenuous to claim that Brock is the "first villain" of the UFC.

Then again I don't even agree with the premise that Lesnar is a universal villain.  

Where are the masses of people who hate Brock Lesnar? True, there is a small vocal minority of MMA fans who despise Lesnar but this is not universal trend. In fact there are more MMA fans that hate Kimbo Slice than Lesnar, which would make Kimbo the "ultimate villain". Compare that to the universal scorn the public feels towards t Brett Farve, Alex Rodriguez, Terrell Owens, Chad Johnson, Barry Bonds, Ron Artest and Roger Clemens.

I call bull shit on you E:60. 

P.S. Please stop calling MMA "Ultimate Fighting". It makes you sound like you are from 1993. 

While ESPN's investigative unit may have been banned from receiving credentials (not like they do journalism anymore) that doesn't mean that a major ESPN executive couldn't attend UFC 100, as Dana White's personal guest. 

BloodyElbow is reporting that John Skipper, the Executive Vice President in charge of content, attended UFC 100 as Dana White's personal guest. 

The presence of an ESPN suit will inevitably lead to speculation that the UFC is attempting to reach a television deal with ESPN or ABC. Of course such rumors have been popping up for almost two years and the UFC has failed to ink a deal. 

UFC 100 coverage

I am not impressed...

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Last night the UFC announced that Dan Henderson and Rich Franklin will meet for the second time this year as the main event of UFC 103. 

The UFC was searching for a main event for their Dallas card and Rich Franklin was the logical choice but since Dan Henderson and Franklin were suppose to be in separate weight classes no one assumed that we would see a rematch especially so soon after their first bout, which took place in January this year. 

Thomas Gerbasi offered the UFC's justification saying, "Their first bout split the mixed martial arts community, making it obvious that they needed more than 15 minutes to settle their score."

Pardon me but I think there was a larger outcry of wrong doing in the Michael Bisping Matt Hamill fight than the first chapter of Franklin Henderson and we have yet to see the Hamill-Bisping rematch. 

There are two ways to look at this announcement. The first is that the UFC felt they needed a big main event at UFC 103 to push ticket sales and pay-per view buys and the only two fighters that were available were Dan Henderson and Rich Franklin. With the way the card was shaping up WKR feels that  a Rich Frank Luiz Cane bout would of been an excellent main event as it would further move either Franklin or Cane up the light heavyweight ladder. Besides UFC 103 is beginning to look like one of the best cards of the fall.  

The second way to look at it is that the UFC has no idea what to do with either Franklin or Henderson. Franklin should be fighting light heavyweights as he has professed his desire to be a permanent addition to the 205lbs. division. While Henderson's recent victory over Michael Bisping should have garnered a title shot against Anderson Silva later this year. But now both are stuck fighting each other again. For all intents and purposes both fighters are right back where they were in January and the past year has meant nothing. Seriously, where are these fighters going? Are they going to be stuck fighting in divisional limbo forever?

WKR would be remiss if we didn't mention certain personality traits that could have affected the rematch. Franklin was not pleased about the split decision loss to Henderson and it is possible that he requested the fight. Henderson also likes to fight at light heavyweight so it is more than possible he jumped at the chance to move up in weight again. Still both fighters are essentially stuck in neutral.  

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Whose ready for another split decision!? (via photos.mmaweekly.com)

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The UFC announced that Dan Henderson and Rich Franklin will face off for the second time this year as the main event for UFC 103 in September. 

Once again it appears that the UFC does not know what to do with either Franklin or Henderson as several questions remain to be answered.

Will this fight be at middleweight or light heavyweight? Will Henderson ever get a shot at the middleweight title, the way that Michael Bisping would of had he beaten Henderson. Will Rich Franklin ever start fighting current light heavyweights or will he be forced to keep battling against fighters with names but who are stuck in limbo like Franklin?

Ultimately we will have to wait for these questions to be answered, something that WKR thought had occured after UFC 93.

Franklin and Henderson fought at UFC 93 and Henderson pulled away with a narrow split decision victory (29-28, 29-28, 27-30). Franklin was hit hard by the decision later describing it as the equivalent to robbery.

Since that fight in January both fighters won their respective bouts. Rich Franklin defeated Wanderlei Silva at UFC 99 (they fought at 195lbs catch-weight). At UFC 100 Dan Henderson knocked out Michael Bisping for what many thought would be a middleweight title shot. 

Now it appears that both fighters are back to square one. 

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How may PPV buys did UFC 100 garner? Pre-fight estimates were between 1 to 1.5 million buys. If UFC 100  ends up on higher end of the spectrum then the UFC and MMA will enter the top-five all time PPV buys a class currently held by boxing. That will certaily turn a few heads. (via MMA Opinion)

1. 2,400,000 - 5/5/07 - Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr.
2. 1,990,000 - 6/28/97 - Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield
3. 1,600,000 - 11/9/96 - Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield
4. 1,580,000 - 8/19/95 - Mike Tyson vs. Peter McNeely
5. 1,400,000 - 4/19/91 - Evander Holyfield vs. George Foreman
6. 1,400,000 - 3/16/96 - Mike Tyson vs. Frank Bruno
7. 1,400,000 - 9/18/99 Oscar De La Hoya vs. Felix Trinidad

UFC 100 coverage

The UFC can grab an excellent media-niche in early July. But they got to feature the big boys.

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The growth of the UFC has been a wondrous phenomenon. Even more interesting is the organization's burgeoning establishment of a normalized schedule.

For the first time certain dates and locations are being associated with UFC events. 

For instance, there is the the UFC's typical end of the year mega-fight card as well as their Super Bowl event. Both of which occur in Las Vegas. Columbus, Ohio has turned into a great destination for early March as the UFC has essentially become unofficial partners with the Arnold Classic. Montreal has also become a destination of choice for April, though Montreal's athletic commission may spoil a regular event in the city. 

WKR believes that the UFC should begin to permanently schedule mega-events for the weekend immediately prior to the MLB All-Star game.

As WKR has detailed before, the middle of July is the dog days of the sporting world, while there is always potential of competing storylines for the most part the sporting landscape is a barren desert and the UFC could be an oasis to fill the bi-lines of columnists and pundits. 

A concerted effort by Zuffa to put their most marketable stars on a July fight card could be a shrewd media strategy to further developing mainstream credibility. 

UFC 100 coverage

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Rachelle Leah, you make UFC fans everywhere happy.

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I was thinking of the best way to thank the readers, commenters, and emailers at Watch Kalib Run and I thought some quotes from Marcus Aurelius' Meditations would be a good way to start off. I then decided that a little dose of Rachelle Leah might be the more popular choice. 

Anyway on to the good news!

WKR had our best weekend, best week, and are on track (hopefully by tomorrow) to have our best month ever! Of course WKR couldn't of done it without our new writers, Zach and Spencer (we are always looking for more contributors and the fanpost section is the best place to start). Their contributions and hard work is helping make WKR a great source for MMA coverage. 

WKR has also launched our consistent weekly (sometime bi-weekly) podcast.

As always we appreciate every comment, positive and negative, every tip, every correction and all the time everyone spends on Watch Kalib Run. We also want to strongly encourage all the newcomers to create an SBN profile so we can hear from you!

It has been fantastic to watch the site grow and it really is a pride and joy of mine to be involved in such a wonderful sport with such a wonderful community. 

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