The UFC is not immune from the current woes of the US economy. Dana White's speech about splitting pizza and UFC 91 didn't reek of desperation but the message was clear, fans aren't buying fights like they use to. While the most hardcore fan will order anything and everything the UFC broadcasts on pay-per-view, the moderate to casual fan, the largest market share, is becoming increasingly thrifty with their entertainment dollars.
Rightly so. If we count the yet to be broadcast UFC 92 there were 11 UFC PPVs in 2008 and some of them were snoozers that did terrible in terms of the buys they generated. The UFC wants to continue its expansion into new markets and has aggressive plans for this expansion but it all costs money. Money largely generated by its PPVs to the US market.
If the US market is getting wise to cards featuring Patrick Cote and Anderson Silva as headliners how can the UFC entice us to spend as much as we have in the past? The answer is simple, more cards featuring super fights.
Super fights are the answer to many of the UFC's problems. They provide the opportunity to cash in on a fading fighter's remaining value and provide the opportunity to increase a fighter's exposure and turn them into the next Chuck Liddell or Randy Couture.
The 2009 UFC PPV season will start out with a super fight when BJ Penn moves up a weight class to take on Georges St. Pierre for the welter weight title at UFC 94. While both Penn and GSP have decent stand alone PPV numbers neither is in the 600,000+ range yet. The fight between the two is already being marketed over both UFC 92 and 93 with the hopes of pushing it into the one million PPV buy range.
Regardless of the slipping buy numbers, the UFC generated more income than ever before and introduced its newest mega star, Brock Lesnar, to the world of MMA. As the old superstars like Couture and Liddell start to fade, the UFC will bolster its events with less cards capped by title defenses and more super fights.
Rumors are already flying about a fourth installment of Couture-Liddell which would bring in around 1M+ buys. Anderson Silva only wants to fight super fights but he currently doesn't have the PPV clout to deliver the necessary numbers. Perhaps if St. Pierre beats Penn the UFC can use some of his spotlight to draw more exposure to Silva while giving St. Pierre another super fight to brighten his star.
If the end of 2008 is any indication of how the UFC's PPV landscape will look in 2009, I think we'll be seeing more cards with multiple championship fights on them.
We'll also see more cards with super fights that don't necessarily have title implications and might even cross divisional lines.
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