The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) officially announced the main fight card for UFC 72: “Victory,” which will take place in Belfast (northern Ireland) on June 16.
Here are the four guaranteed fights for the 3 p.m. EST pay-per-view (PPV) telecast:
185 lbs.: Rich Franklin (21-2) vs. Yushin Okami (20-3)
205 lbs.: Forrest Griffin (13-4-0) vs. Hector Ramirez (6-2-1)
185 lbs.: Jason MacDonald (18-8) vs. Rory Singer (11-6)
155 lbs.: Tyson Griffin (8-1-0) vs. Clay Guida (21-7)
For the complete UFC 72 fight card click here.
Over the last few weeks and months, a majority of readers here and elsewhere have voiced their displeasure with this event. Perhaps that’s because it went from being FREE on Spike television to a $40 PPV event, or many are unimpressed with the line up.
Who knows … it could also be a combination of those two factors.
As a result, the abundance of negative feedback leading up to this event leads me to believe that it won’t break any PPV buy rates. And, according to a recent article in Sports Illustrated, this could signal a potential problem for the UFC down the road.
Here’s a snip on “oversaturation” in general:
“… there is one conceivable obstacle to UFC’s continued success, and it is one few people are talking about: oversaturation. Oversaturation will not necessarily resonate with fans of baseball, hockey or basketball. Major League Baseball runs more events in one year than UFC will in 10. However, there is a key difference. Much of UFC’s income comes from its pay-per-view buy rates. Hundreds of thousands of fans pay $40 to watch each event on pay-per-view television. There is a different dynamic involved in convincing someone to watch something for free than in convincing them to pay for it. There has to be a hook that gets fans excited. Thus, the basic formula for pay-per-view success is making each show feel special. The more shows that an entity runs, the more difficult that task becomes.”
And UFC 72 in particular:
“… UFC 72: Victory … has very little star power, and it is going to test how far the UFC name goes. Headlining the event is Rich Franklin vs. Yushin Okami. It is an interesting fight to insiders and hardcore fans, as it’s a battle between top middleweight contenders. But the fight lacks sizzle for the casual audience. Franklin is a well-known star, but Okami’s popularity and notoriety aren’t equal to his skills. There is also only one legitimate star on the undercard, Forrest Griffin, but he is coming off a devastating loss and is facing a largely unknown opponent in Hector Ramirez. It is going to be hard to sell large amounts of fans on this show, unless the recent media blitz has brought in a new batch who will buy it because of the brand name. Assuming the show does a significantly lower buy rate, the question becomes whether that is a significant problem. It might very well prove to be. UFC has a fan base that orders each and every pay-per-view. Given the Silva-Lutter buy rate, that number might be as high as 350,000. UFC doesn’t want that group to start picking and choosing between its shows. Once a percentage of that group doesn’t order one show, ordering the next becomes an open question rather than a foregone conclusion.”
As I’ve said before, I’ll be purchasing this event … I think this can be a sleeper event, especially with Griffin-Guida on the card — it’s a fantastic match up. I’m also not counting out Ramirez — both he and Griffin love to scrap and someone should get knocked out.
UFC 72 is also at 3 p.m. — that’s an interesting twist right there. Midday UFC action? C’mon, that’s never happened before.
Going forward, however, I think the Sports Illustrated article is right on. Casual fans aren’t going to find events like UFC 72 as interesting as “hardcore” fans (lord I hate that term), and it will affect PPV buy rates (if not on June 16, certainly in the future).
Unfortunately, far too often big names rather than good fights dictate the financial success of combat sports events.
Put simply, there’s a delicate balance between oversaturation and consistent UFC action. Hopefully, Zuffa execs can find it in the wake of UFC 72.
63 Comments »
As a UK fan, I’m left feeling flat. I will be paying my £15 striling to watch but compared to US events which air for free here….Seems out of order
UFC 70 was OK for starters (Gonzago was quality) , but if the UFC are serious about breaking here or the rest of Europe they have to give us quality DEEP cards.Sure there have been poor shows in the U.S but to put on repeat shows of a lower calibure in the UK,is not on.
Bisbing will probably fight on every future card here… Thats OK but we need some depth…..
Starting with Chucks comeback …. Liddell v Axe Murderer !
Sprinkle in for London UFC 75
Cro Cop V Arlovski
Bisbing V Punchbag
Sakara V ???????
If they want to sell out a 20,000 seater arean which the O2 is then they have to step it up from the Irish show!
I dont see title fights taking place outside the U.S yet, but real contender fights are a must if the sports going to move forward over here !!!!!!!
Problems have with the card:
1) I dont care about “star” power, but other than the main event, most of these matchups dont have immediate implications in any divisional title shots. Sure, the Griffin v Guida bout will be awesome, and Sick Dog and Stafo 2 will end in a glorious KO, but that’s not enough for me to plunk down $40.
2) The Shamrock v Baroni bout is the same month. That card is stacked top to bottom with great matchups. That’s where my $40s going.
3) 73 is right around the corner. How can the UFC put on 71, the lineup 73 the way they have, and put this piece of dung smack dab in the middle? Was it arrogance? Was it really a failure in the negotiations with Spike ( Spike says no ).
I aint buying.
Torrent anyone?
Mania, what problem do you have with the term “hardcore fan”? That’s news to me. I always feel warm and fuzzy inside when someone calls me that.
Dude, the Neandertal thread is jacked up. The comments stop on PW’s. Jesse just posted, I can see it on the right, but its not there when you click on it.
Baseball bat to the server time.
I don’t see oversaturation as a huge problem when looking at the “big picture”. Some crappy PPVs will have less sales, but I don’t see why that should affect the buy rates for PPVs like 73.
Save your money and get the Shamrock vs Baroni Strikeforce card on June 22 instead.
[quote comment=”73203″]Problems have with the card:
1) I dont care about “star” power, but other than the main event, most of these matchups dont have immediate implications in any divisional title shots. Sure, the Griffin v Guida bout will be awesome, and Sick Dog and Stafo 2 will end in a glorious KO, but that’s not enough for me to plunk down $40.
2) The Shamrock v Baroni bout is the same month. That card is stacked top to bottom with great matchups. That’s where my $40s going.
3) 73 is right around the corner. How can the UFC put on 71, the lineup 73 the way they have, and put this piece of dung smack dab in the middle? Was it arrogance? Was it really a failure in the negotiations with Spike ( Spike says no ).
I aint buying.
Torrent anyone?[/quote]
I actually agree with this comment.
I’m not really a hardcore fan, or a new tuf fan, but for these cards that aren’t great I’ll watch at a bar.
My whole beef with the UFC is not asking us to pay for the event, yet the issue of allowing us to view only a portion of the UFC 72 (four fights), it is becoming too much like old WWF in that you didnt get to see the Brooklyn Brawler fight Doink the Clown 30 minutes prior to Summer Slam airing lol.
But seriously its like the UFC has taken a page from boxing’s book and showing only 2 undercard fights and a main event for your hard earned dollars. I vividly recall renting UFC 66 (ortiz vs Liddell) and watching 8 count them EIGHT FIGHTAS for my $39.95.
Maybe Dana White should get off of his high horse with claims of being far superior to boxing (even though it is) and televise each and every fight which is on every UFC PPV. If we pay for a UFC event we should get to see more than 4-5 fights …. AIR THE ENTIRE CARD WHICH IS TYPICALLY 8-9 FIGHTS
This 4 fight nonsense has occured the past 2-3 UFC’s and I am positive I am not the only fan who has noticed.
[quote post=”2326″]I actually agree with this comment.[/quote]
Thanks for the support… ~\~
As an Irish MMA fan I’ll be buying the card but its not tempted me to part with around €150 to go and see it. Considering how long I’ve waited for the UFC to come back around Ireland/UK that says alot.
I went to UFC 70 and with Cro Cop, Bisping & probably Arlovski at UFC 75 I’ll go to that too.. Apart from Franklin this card just doesn’t do enough for me to spend a fortune to attend.
..I ain’t 40beans for this card..i’ll still watch on Saturday..@ da bar..reality is da card is crap..With the more and more exposure should be more and mor responsiablity to produce better packed, stacked cards show after show..
[quote comment=”73227″]I’m not really a hardcore fan, or a new tuf fan, but for these cards that aren’t great I’ll watch at a bar.[/quote]
Same here bro maybe you will see me and Chuckland there. which bar hooters or bufallo wild wings! hey come to buffallo wild wings they have free drink saturday n there food is off the chain.
I could care less about the cash, it’s the principle of the card. I’m not sure how the UFC put a card together that is so weak. Not to say that it won’t be entertaining, but no real implications, except for the main bout. UFC 73 has 2 title’s, Nogueira and Ortiz/Evans. WOW! 72 kinda pales in comparison. But I’d still buy it. Unfortunately, 3pm on Saturday means that I’ll be working. So Shamrock/Baroni will be on later in the month.
BTW, wasn’t there an article around here where Dana White was saying that boxing has failed because it promoted it’s fighters too heavily and didn’t promote the name of the organizations well enough. I guess that this will be a challenge for the UFC name.
You couldnt be anymore correct Phil, Dana is seriously becoming content with where the UFC is now, doesnt seem to have that fire that he probably had in 2003 when pushing for a mainstream audience.
I don’t know. We thought the same thing at UFC 69. But that proved to be a strong showing for the UFC.
If you build it they will come….
i really dont think the card is crap…when is the last time they only showed 4 fights, its usually 6 at the least..which is ok….this card isnt as bad as cards in the past, although one thing that does make it look worse is the fact that we hear about all of these top talent guys from pride and everywhere else signing to fight with the UFC, and we have yet to see them..and this seems like a good time for a lot of them to start, and theyre obvioussly not gonna on this card, and its dissapointing….but like some of you guys have said, i will be going to BWW for this one..apparently wings and beer at 3 pm….sounds like a decent time
I think we need to remember that this card is a bit of a fluke. It was supposed to be in HBO or Spike. In the future I believe it’s been said that all Europe cards will be on HBO (or other premium channel). Lets just give the UFC a mulligan on 72 and go on with our lives. If it happens again, then we have something to talk about.
I just started following MMA for a il while now. I agree that this PPV can be a sleeper. However, I feel that PPVS should have at least one title fight. I think that if you had one title fight on 72 no one would complain as much. Just the fact that there are no title fights turned me off for this PPV. The fact that there are 2 title fights for 73 will make it very successful.
I dont think the card is bad. The major issue here is - Fans THOUGHT it was gonna be free… now its not. So there is bitching. As far as the SI article, its dead balls on. Keeping up with their own success is gonna be tough for the UFC, with the number of developing names, growth should continue, aslong as big names like Chuck and CC dont continue to get knocked out.
The other obsticle is, are US fans gonna buy in @ 3pm? Thats what? Noon for PST fans? Thats kinda crazy…. but I guess we will see.
Title fights are good, yes, but pop up CC vs Nog, Chuck vs Wandy, Shogun vs Ortiz, or Franklin v Filho and ppl will buy. I really dont have a problem with Franklin v Okami as a top slot fight, but we need to see more 1-10 ranked fighters if there isnt going to be a title shot on the card. If you follow MMAWeekly’s rankings ( they’re ok ), only Franklin is even ranked in the top ten in MMA on the whole frigging card.
yeah i was gonna say theres usually at least 5 guaranteed fights, i don’t know how they think there gonna get away with 4, especially on a weak card, thats crap, but maybe they just don’t know which fight to guarantee as their fifth, i think it should be the ed herman/scott smith fight, those guys are usually both pretty exciting, also, who wants to watch rory singer? that guy is a bum, i hope mcdonald breaks his arm or something…other than that though, i think the main event is a good match up, forrest/ramirez has to be a good fight, and tyson griffin is one of my favorite fighters so i’ll be getting this for sure…
Last time I said a card was ‘weak’ it was a damn good event so I’ll have to get it. The UFC will feel the shortage of buys from this event though. I think their hoping on name recog of Rich but that won’t be enough to really sell this event. Not that it really matters. They pay the fighters and arena from the gate and the pay per view is basically all profit. So they only profit 20 million from this event, so what there is another in two weeks.
[quote comment=”73257″]I don’t know. We thought the same thing at UFC 69. But that proved to be a strong showing for the UFC.
If you build it they will come….[/quote]
Yeh at least a title was on the line
[quote comment=”73285″]Last time I said a card was ‘weak’ it was a damn good event so I’ll have to get it. The UFC will feel the shortage of buys from this event though. I think their hoping on name recog of Rich but that won’t be enough to really sell this event. Not that it really matters. They pay the fighters and arena from the gate and the pay per view is basically all profit. So they only profit 20 million from this event, so what there is another in two weeks.[/quote]
agree completely
I remember the last “weak” card people were bitching about UFC 69 I believe, and Garcia and Huerta had a war, Serra knocked out GSP, Okami and Swick went the distance and Kendall Grove pulled off a Brabo Choke (When the hell else did that ever happen?)
I am a fan of MMA and I will watch anything under MMA rules, or even stand up rules, K1, Superleague ,etc.
At the end of the day, everyone that is a star now, was a nobody to us at one point, let’s give all these guys a chance to entertain us and enjoy MMA for what it is, instead of groveling over the fact that we don’t get to see the current flavor of the month.
Rory Singers fights are always good to watch and if he beats Macdonald then he’s gona up there in the middleweight contension list, so this is like a must win for J-Mac if he wants to stay among the elite middleweighters so there’s an ‘implication’…Also if Franklin beats Okami whose looked good in his last 3 fights, he gets a shot but with all the upsets who knows?? then it’ll be Okami as the #1 contender…finally forrest griffin always puts on a show so never bash him…i’m sure they’ll add more fights cuz 4 aint enough but whatever they’re sickk and i’m lookin forward to it and the busy month of Juneeeeee
This line up does seem a little bit “watered down”, especially compared to the UFC 73 Card.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m looking forward to seeing Franklin Okami, but 73 is looking MUCH juicer.
worth watching but knowing that it could have been free..really sucks..I’m not buying ..not to mention fights at noon gimme a break..what the hell is ufc thinkin…
I think hardcore fans should make a stand and watch this on daily motion or u tube, UFC has got more money and fighters than ever before and the management, marketing and promotionson on this event are sub par. and if their goal is to make coin on the ufc name than they are going putting a high end price on a wal-mart product! this ppv should have been $19.99 …..and that’s Canadien Dollar EH! LOL
correction - going to be putting a high en price on a wal-mart product
LOL I messed up my correction but you get it
but again this is supposed was supposed to be free to begin with..and theyre “introducing” the ufc to ireland…this is better than 70 as far as excitment goes, there wont be AA vs Werdum, where it had name power, but no excitement….look at the card honestly
Franklin fun to watch
Okami, strong and methodical, in an important fight with someone exciting
Forrest exciting
Sick Dog, bang fest
Guida…exciting
T, Griffin exciting…great fight
Jmac vs Singer, nice technical ground war for newcomers to learn to love the ground
Herman vs Smith will be intensity, if we see it…Ireland will
Im just saying as far as fights go, this will be better than 70, when 70 had BIG NAMES
As I have said before this card is not great but not as shabby as it first started. The Franklin/Okami fight will be better than most believe. The winner of that is truly the #1 contender for 185. My hopes are that we see Franklin/Silva again, but Okami is a true threat. Looking forward to 155 bout between Griffen and Guida. Forrest should easily put away Ramirez. This will be first fight that I won’t purchase in a long long time
I’d love to chill and watch UFC 72 during the day, if it was free on Spike. Only two fights worth watching, Ace and Forrest. $40 for a during the day event, plus a week card….I ain’t buying this.
Seems like Spike and the UFC having problem negotiating. UFC pro. thinking, they’ll make more even if the sell only top off about 200,000 buys. Whatever the case is….I’ll still be the UFC fan, just not on this Card.
I don’t think they’ll dumn enough to repeat this kind of thing too often. I think this Card just happened to pan out that way.
If Shamrock vs. Baroni is the headliner for the event, geez, the rest of the card must be pretty bad.
THEM CHARGE LESS CAUSE WE ALL KNOW ITS NOT WORTH WHAT WE PAID 40 FOR LAST TIME
then*
It will be good to see the 205 lbs fight, maybe at that time its happy hour =P
This looks like a good one to watch at Hooters. It’s probably end up costing $40 anyway, but at least I’ll get to see some boobies with my fights and beer. Now that I think about it, that’s a pretty damn good day.
people are underestimating this card, I think that this card will actually be really good. We have Jason McDonald on the card who is one of the rising UFC stars, and Rich Franklin and Forrest Griffin every time they enter the octagon you know its going to be an entertaining fight and people will love it. Okami vs. Franklin might be Fight of the Year in my book the match-up between the two is phenominal.
I am really looking foward to Griffin vs. Guida. That is a lightweight showdown.
[quote comment=”73380″] This will be first fight that I won’t purchase in a long long time[/quote]
Ditto.
Jason McDonald a rising star???? I’m watching the event through a streaming live feed, baby…For free.
Is anybody else only watching to see Clay Guida fight? The franklin/okami fight should be ok, but the only reason I am thinking of buying is to she Guida whoop some ass. This fight is going to be awesome just like all his other ones.
not worth buying….some good fights but really they should be on a undercard of bigger fights
the only thing i hat is that the ufc only shows you 4 to 5 live fights and maybe 1 or 2 recorded fights. I dont know why they cant show all 9 or 10 fights like Pride did until the buy out thats why i loved pride paperviews. I have watched MMA for a long time, and this is really a terriable card. i will spend my 40 bucks on the strikeforce card way better match-ups.
This card is one big gimmick designed to appeal to Irish people (Franklin, Mcdonald, 2 Griffin’s, Obrien, Murphy etc..). The card is the lamest UFC to date and should have been free. I won’t pay for it. I think Franklin will redeem himself and will win with the same devastating kicks that he used to throw and possibly in the first round. I think he may even have picked up a thing or two about clinches and knee lift from the Spider Silva. A rude introduction to a recent UFC champion for Okami.
I’m a huge Rich Franklin fan. And I generally get every pay per view. But I won’t be getting this one. There just isn’t enough quality to spend the $.
The only fight I want to see is the main event and im not paying $40 for it. Ill read the fight play by play. I dont like this card because there is only one fight I wanna see and Maybe Macdonald even though he should win in the 1st.
[quote comment=”73589″]Is anybody else only watching to see Clay Guida fight? The franklin/okami fight should be ok, but the only reason I am thinking of buying is to she Guida whoop some ass. This fight is going to be awesome just like all his other ones.[/quote]
i don’t think your boy guida is gonna be the one whooping some ass, i think he’ll be the one receiving that ass whooping, tyson griffin is an animal too, its going to be a badass fight for sure, but griffin is too much to handle for guida, i think griffin in a unanimous decision…
I like Clay but I must say I really am impressed with Tyson. Gotta pull for Tyson in this one myself. At least until I see the rest of his game.
im just gonna go to the bar and have a long lunch and enjoy the show because we all know no one will be there
I’d be curious to see what Irish (I mean in Ireland, not USA) fans think of their first card. Newbies to MMA won’t know the difference.
All I am saying is that all 8-9 fights of a UFC PPV NEED to be aired to the paying audience. Its is kind of ridiculous when a total of 9 fights could actually only total 7 minutes of actual combat. To only show us 4-5 fights which is what is planned for UFC 72 in Ireland is nonsense.
MoreThanUFC . MoreThanUFC MoreThanUFC .MoreThanUFC.
i need to know what your talking about? the The Shamrock v Baroni?….i wanna watch that …and also what is the fight card?…what date does is sho…..
[quote comment=”73981″]I’d be curious to see what Irish (I mean in Ireland, not USA) fans think of their first card. Newbies to MMA won’t know the difference.[/quote]
It will probably be similar to the way the NFL is received overseas in preseason games. They sell out huge stadiums like Wembley in London and Aztec in Mexico City and have a great time with the event even though the game is a lower quality than a regular season game that matters. But since there are no “preseason” fights and the results do matter, especially for those looking for title shots in the near future, the ticket-buying public in Ireland will definitely get their money’s worth from the event.
[quote comment=”74083″]MoreThanUFC . MoreThanUFC MoreThanUFC .MoreThanUFC.
i need to know what your talking about? the The Shamrock v Baroni?….i wanna watch that …and also what is the fight card?…what date does is sho…..[/quote]
Elite StrikeForce on June 22 on Pay Per View
[quote comment=”73755″][quote comment=”73589″]Is anybody else only watching to see Clay Guida fight? The franklin/okami fight should be ok, but the only reason I am thinking of buying is to she Guida whoop some ass. This fight is going to be awesome just like all his other ones.[/quote]
i don’t think your boy guida is gonna be the one whooping some ass, i think he’ll be the one receiving that ass whooping, tyson griffin is an animal too, its going to be a badass fight for sure, but griffin is too much to handle for guida, i think griffin in a unanimous decision…[/quote]
Guida is literally going to get his skull crushed, Tyson Griffin is excactly like a Pitbull in Michael Vick’s Dogfighting Operation, he is mean and he won’t stop till he wins.
Griffin is a beast.
Mr. NC-17,
I’m sure you thought Griffin would destroy that Edgar guy too. Shut-up and wait for the fight to happen. Griffin lost a decision to some no-namer fighting in his first UFC fight.
Guida is tough and so is Griffin, it will be close.
I won’t get it but I am stoked about JMac. Glad to see him back in the Octagon so soon. (Makes me nervous about Tim Sylvia…)
The UFC won’t die as a result of this card. Inasmuch as they won’t do a lot of PPV buys, the fighters on the card most likely won’t be receiving “Chuck-sized” paydays anyways so it will balance out.
I’m surprised with name recognition that they aren’t gauranteeing Herman/Smith for those who buy…
I think this card may be a sleeper and might deliver alot of entertainment.
if the pay per view price was like 24.99 i wouldn’t really have a problem but 40 bucks is too much
[quote comment=”73428″]This looks like a good one to watch at Hooters. It’s probably end up costing $40 anyway, but at least I’ll get to see some boobies with my fights and beer. Now that I think about it, that’s a pretty damn good day.[/quote]
hahahahahahaha You hit the nail on the head!