The Ultimate Fighter 17: 'Team Jones vs Team Sonnen'

[lambyUK]

On a side note, today's the day when Jones/Sonnen tickets are released. Going via ticketmaster for box office collection. Fingers crossed albeit I'm prepared for a major sting on my credit card!

 

Edit:- Actually it's fight club pre sale today. General sale ain't till Wed.

[Bus Surfer]

Friggin 1am though. Is it really any wonder why UFC hates ESPN's coverage? There's absolutely no reason why UFC tonight is not shown. ESPN show literally 90% dog shit, and there's easily a 9pm slot available during the week.

 

Isn't it on at 1am because its airing live, alongside the US broadcast?

[lambyUK]

Friggin 1am though. Is it really any wonder why UFC hates ESPN's coverage? There's absolutely no reason why UFC tonight is not shown. ESPN show literally 90% dog shit, and there's easily a 9pm slot available during the week.

 

Isn't it on at 1am because its airing live, alongside the US broadcast?

 

You may be right SK. If that is the case, then I slightly forgive them, but still stand by my statement.

[David]

Friggin 1am though. Is it really any wonder why UFC hates ESPN's coverage? There's absolutely no reason why UFC tonight is not shown. ESPN show literally 90% dog shit, and there's easily a 9pm slot available during the week.

Isn't that 1am timeslot because it's being shown at 8pm US time though? We're getting it at the exact same time as the US are, which is brilliant in my opinion.

 

I'm sure there'll be repeats through the week at more reasonable times?

[lambyUK]

Friggin 1am though. Is it really any wonder why UFC hates ESPN's coverage? There's absolutely no reason why UFC tonight is not shown. ESPN show literally 90% dog shit, and there's easily a 9pm slot available during the week.

Isn't that 1am timeslot because it's being shown at 8pm US time though? We're getting it at the exact same time as the US are, which is brilliant in my opinion.

 

I'm sure there'll be repeats through the week at more reasonable times?

 

As mentioned above, it does sound like it yes. I agree it is good. However, I still stand by my statement ESPN not doing enough to promote MMA.

[David]

As mentioned above, it does sound like it yes. I agree it is good. However, I still stand by my statement ESPN not doing enough to promote MMA.

You think so? They cover every UFC event (both PPV & TV), have shown recent TUF shows, including the Smashes, and run regular UFC adverts during other programming.

 

What else can they do?

[lambyUK]

As mentioned above, it does sound like it yes. I agree it is good. However, I still stand by my statement ESPN not doing enough to promote MMA.

You think so? They cover every UFC event (both PPV & TV), have shown recent TUF shows, including the Smashes, and run regular UFC adverts during other programming.

 

What else can they do?

 

They do bugger all promotion wise. They broadcast the events live, that's great. However, that's not enough. They advertise live UFC events on their channel during an actual UFC show. That will do nothing. That particular viewer will be already aware of the events. I'm talking about their responsibility to raise awareness of MMA in the UK. There's a reason Dana and the UFC want off ESPN. It's stagnant on there.

 

When do you ever see any UFC content during peak times at 8pm to 10pm? Hell, even the PPV repeats go beyond 1am.

 

If they were serious about MMA we would have talk shows, phone in's etc as there is fuck all on there during the week. Additionally episodic UFC shows like UFC Tonight is the perfect show to air during a peak hour on ESPN too.

[jimufctna24]

UFC will grow in this country when they get onto SKY or Challenge. ESPN is too under the radar to achieve much growth. As I hear that ESPN UK may be in trouble, we may get UFC on a better channel soon.

 

I do not see why they cannot pull some strings and have UFC on FOX UK personally. SKY would be the best option, but with them cutting back on Boxing it does not seem like they have the budget.

[neil's bitch]

Prior to ESPN the last series of TUF was on FX UK, and with that being a channel i have, It was awesome. Then it moved straight it ESPN and as since I've been gutted, as I cant afford that hah.

 

Hoping it moves to another channel soon!

[lambyUK]

UFC will grow in this country when they get onto SKY or Challenge. ESPN is too under the radar to achieve much growth. As I hear that ESPN UK may be in trouble, we may get UFC on a better channel soon.

 

I do not see why they cannot pull some strings and have UFC on FOX UK personally. SKY would be the best option, but with them cutting back on Boxing it does not seem like they have the budget.

 

Sorry Jim, but no way (the highlighted part). When you say Sky I assume you mean Sky Sports in which I agree. However Challenge? Challenge is viewed as a throw away channel that produces and/or airs pure shite. Regardless of your opinions on TNA, the channel itself is full utter B grade garbage.

 

If the UFC ended up on there it would be a truly sad day. The UFC needs a dedicated sports station that will get behind them.

[jimufctna24]

I do not watch TNA, but I hear they do big numbers on Challenge. It may be garbage but it would expose UFC to a wider audience as it is available on Freeview and other outlets. If you are worried that it may create a bad image for UFC being on such a cheap channel, then fair enough that is a decent enough point.

 

I would rather they put it on Sky Sports as well where you will get the best of both worlds, a decent channel and more exposure.

[lambyUK]

I do not watch TNA, but I hear they do big numbers on Challenge. It may be garbage but it would expose UFC to a wider audience as it is available on Freeview and other outlets. If you are worried that it may create a bad image for UFC being on such a cheap channel, then fair enough that is a decent enough point.

 

I would rather they put it on Sky Sports as well where you will get the best of both worlds, a decent channel and more exposure.

 

That's exactly the point. The UFC need mainstream attention, similar to that of Boxing. If it ended up on Challenge it would almost be perceived like an episode of Gladiators or something.

 

I know what you're saying about numbers, but for the UFC to be taken seriously by a non fan, it needs to be on a sports network.

 

On a side note, any of you kind folks have the presale code for Newsletters subscribers for UFC 159? I've only just subscribed today.

[Snake Plissken]

Sky simply aren't interested enough in MMA. It would languish out on Sky Sports 3, plus Sky wouldn't want to pay for the content. The UFC wouldn't want to do that. They would only be interested unless it got high exposure on Sky Sports 1. Cage Warriors and the like don't get any revenue from the Sky Deal, they are just able to put the logo on their advertising.

 

MMA is still a fringe sport in the US despite what they tell you. Over here it's even less so. MMA needs to get some decent exposure on many channels, not just certain 'high value' channels. Then when it's getting viewership, here there and everywhere, will SKY sit up and take notice. Also, most places consider it barbaric still, so don't want to touch it with a barge pole for fear of the reprecussions of the Daily Mail brigade.

 

What MMA actually needs is the BBC to take up some form of coverage, even if it's on Radio 5 Live or something, plus 90% of the newspapers don't cover it, so it's a very hard sell. The Beeb also wouldn't take the UFC as they wouldn't sell the brand, it would have to be MMA. If you understand what I mean there.

 

I as much as you would like to see more broad coverage of MMA on TV, but until attitudes and general coverage on all forms of media improve, we are going to have to stick with what we have. ESPN isn't that bad (apart from cutting off the end of main events.) it has more brand appeal in the US, which is probably why the UFC went with them in the first place.

[lambyUK]

Here's a simple clip of what exactly ESPN should do..ironically by their US ESPN counterparts.

 

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=8865294

 

Edit: Belfort/Bisping spoilers.

[David]

They do bugger all promotion wise. They broadcast the events live, that's great. However, that's not enough. They advertise live UFC events on their channel during an actual UFC show. That will do nothing. That particular viewer will be already aware of the events.

I've seen it advertised during basketball and football games before.

 

I'm talking about their responsibility to raise awareness of MMA in the UK.

ESPN have a responsibility to its paying customers and its shareholders. It has zero responsibility as far as awareness of the sport of MMA goes in this country.

 

There's a reason Dana and the UFC want off ESPN. It's stagnant on there.

No, Dana & the UFC want off ESPN because they believe a deal with Sky would bring them more money. They want access to Sky Box Office eventually, and they know that Sky have a far slicker marketing machine to throw behind its television content.

 

The problem is, as Plissken has pointed out in great detail, that Sky aren't really interested in MMA at present. They wouldn't be prepared to offer anything like the coverage that the promotion gets on ESPN at present, never mind taking it another level.

 

When do you ever see any UFC content during peak times at 8pm to 10pm? Hell, even the PPV repeats go beyond 1am.

Why would they show a repeat of an MMA PPV during primetime hours? That makes no sense at all. Just for example, let's look at ESPN's schedule for this week between 8-10pm;

 

Monday - Live NBA basketball

Tuesday - Live Italian football

Wednesday - Live Italian football

Thursday - Live European basketball

Friday - Live Bundesliga football

That's five week nights, and five live sporting events being shown. Where would you want them to stick a repeat of the Bisping/Belfort event?

 

If they were serious about MMA we would have talk shows, phone in's etc as there is fuck all on there during the week. Additionally episodic UFC shows like UFC Tonight is the perfect show to air during a peak hour on ESPN too.

If you don't think bringing us every UFC PPV & television event live, and also bringing us TUF live as well this week is them taking the sport seriously then I don't know what to tell you. I honestly think we get terrific coverage in the UK for what is basically a niche sport to be honest. We also get it all for less than half the price of one PPV in the US every month, and in glorious HD.

 

It wasn't that long ago I can remember scrambling around looking for half-arsed TV coverage of UFC PPV's. If I was lucky we would get that, and if not it was a shitty stream I'd to put up with.

 

I think either you haven't been following the sport long enough to remember the lean TV times in the UK, or you have a very short memory.

 

Here's a simple clip of what exactly ESPN should do..ironically by their US ESPN counterparts.

 

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=8865294

 

Edit: Belfort/Bisping spoilers.

We used to get a weekly MMA show just like that (in fact, I think it was called MMA live) every Friday night at either 10pm or 11pm. I think they dumped it because no one watched it.