UFC 91: “Couture vs. Lesnar” replay, which aired for free on Jan. 24, 2009, to counter program the Affliction: “Day of Reckoning” pay-per-view (PPV), peaked at 3.3 million viewers, according to a statement today from the network.
In addition, the “biggest fight in UFC history” nabbed an overall household rating of 1.7 and a 1.8 among the coveted male demographic of males aged 18 to 49 (991,000). It scored and an average audience of 2.3 million viewers.
That’s impressive juice for a replay.
“Day of Reckoning” was the sophomore effort Affliction MMA, featuring one of the most anticipated fights in the history of the sport between WAMMA Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko and former UFC title holder Andrei Arlovski.
Not to be outdone, UFC President Dana White and Co. did their best to ensure that viewers at home who didn’t want — or couldn’t afford — to cough up upward of $40 to watch a PPV had other mixed martial arts options.
How much of an impact it had is perhaps something that we will never know because it would be near impossible to quantify a statistic like that. However, it’s safe to say that the rebroadcast of UFC 91 was a success.
Now we just have to wait and see if Affliction can make the same claim when its final numbers are in, which could take some time.
UFC 91 featured a main event between Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar. “The Next Big Thing” defeated “The Natural” via second round technical knockout to capture the heavyweight crown.
The PPV event originally took place on November 15, 2008.
79 Comments »
I know that a lot UFC fans will be happy that Dana is doing his best to shut
well hopefully it didnt work cause i’m a fan of affliction since watching day of reckoning and i’d love for them to put on a lot more shows cause the last card was very good
also i like it a lot better now that fedor is fighting better competition ppl are going to find it harder and harder to criticise him
People will always hate on Fedor, but who cares? THey are the ones that look foolish. I am very much looking forward to their 3rd show which I hear is being targeted for July/august. I look forward to seeing mOusasi!
At this rate Affliction is going to die out; January showing, then they skip up to July/August? At most that works out to be 3 shows a year assuming they can squeeze one in by December. I don’t see how Affliction is going to be competitive with only 3 shows a year when you’ve got almost 2 UFC’s per month and counter programming on Affliction shows.
It doesn’t matter how good the cards are at that rate, it’s not enough shows to put together a good stable of fighters and grow an organization; 3 average shows a year is just enough to recycle the same guys over and over; you can’t show case new talent and build up and coming fighters with minimal exposure like that.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t wish for their demise and I’m not hoping Affliction tanks, but I’m just seeing it as a matter of time at this point.
+1 on the Mousasi, but you knew that john.
Anyone heard about Wiman fighting Sam Stout?
Jeremy Stevens is replacing Hermes Franca in the main event against JOe Lauzon!
Does lil Heathen have any shot against J-Lau?
John, I replied to you in the Pulver thread. I’ll wait for it to come outta moderation. I dropped an F word… But yes, I think he has a shot, and I think its going to be a great fight.
do Stevens and Franca train together? I coulda sworn i saw them both hanging out at a club down here…
and I got screwed by affliction, shit product, prehemptive commentery and over all shit production. sorry if I sound blunt
It takes a really idiotic and pathetic Hater to wish for the demise of affliction. UFC will always be my favorite company but I enjoy a lot of the other mma organizations as well. it also takes a real hater to not acknowledge the entertaining show that Affliction provided for us in only their 2nd try. Its sophmore effort produced one of the better mma events of the year. How could anyone not appreciate this?
When I talk up affliction its not meant to belittle the UFC! Whats wrong with enjoying both organizations? I am very appreciative for Affliction fulfilling one of my all time DREAM Match ups that was Fedor vs. AA.
This company has an idea of what fights hardcore fans want to see, and they are doing there best to provide them to us, and I have to respect and appreciate that!
I will be looking forward to afflictions 3rd show come July or August!
great post john, i see affliction making it with the great show they put on and the word about fedor getting around what true mma fan would not go and watch or order affliction now?i was there and people who say fedor or barnett don’t have fans here are wrong the was a huge buzz when they came out.
Roy: I watched this event at a bar, and I was AMAZED! Fedor had the entire bar on lock! THere were like 300 people chanting his name throughout the entire ppv broadcast! I felt right at home lol!
Word about Fedor is definitely starting to spread! That will lead to other fighters getting recognition. Vitor is a very well known fighter in the states as well! Tito’s face on the broadcast helps as well although I hate to admit it!
LOL! Affliction PPV sucked ass. Get over it already UFC is the king and there’s nothing you can post that will change that. Fedor has a inflated record real MMA fan’s know this, that’s why there were more peaple watching a UFC replay. Affliction trying to put down Dana and the UFC backfired and I realize there’s guy’s that think there should be two elite leagues? In what sport is there two elite leagues that you could even say there should be. Sorry guy’s Affliction fights were good to watch but there is no way they should cost the same as a UFC card.
well said as usual John
Cheers John!
Thank you Sir!
How can anyone not want more Affliction, the fans are the winners more MMA for us, I even liked watching the crappy elite-xc, production may not have been great but its not only the UFC who can put on good fights
Ya Damn Right!
i dont HATE affliction i hate the people repping it (attencio,gary miller,and how fedors managers are also half owner of the org) and how they do everything stupid.. why pay 1.5m for 1 fight? they dont have any sense of business they just wanna go down as the guys who made the greatest fights ever and resell the dvd’s.. i liked the card but they are doing what elite xc did and throwing all there eggs in one basket, sure they have other talent but they sell 90% as just fedor and when he loses its all over
why would one lose make it all over?it would be his first real lose and aa and barnett have a huge following as well.
not to mention all the other fighter they have been picking up.
RandyMurders: Maybe you should try watching affliction simply for the match ups, instead of worrying about who is repping the company?
seriously… why are u reading too much into it randy? enjoy the fights
I for one want to see another affliction show! There was more jits on that last show than all of last year in the UFC! The fights were great, no megadeath, no 70’s porn look, overall great night of fights!
more competition, more mma treats for us fans.
Not bad considering you can find the UFC 91 fights online also.
That didn’t quite work, I’ll try again.
I know that a lot UFC fans will be happy that Dana is doing his best to ruin Affliction, but I am sure a lot more MMA fans are happy that Affliction is around so that we have a choice or at least a chance of seeing some of the excellent fights they have and are trying to put on. And for those who talk about wanting to see the best under one organisation. Nearly all of the top guys from Affliction at the moment would not be in the UFC, and some of them are the best in the world, so how is that having the best under one roof. In theory that idea is fine but the reality is that there is no way it can happen.
Well Done UFC.
Just sign Fedor so he can get destroyed like Cro COp and Nogueira. Give him Dos Santos or Kongo for his first fight.
Then Gonzaga before a title shot.
i’d like to try some of your drugs
actually i think gonzaga would give fedor some serious problems, idk much about dos santos,and kongo we all know isnt going to beat fedor at all
I would pick Tim Silvia over any 3 of those guys. I would pick AA over any 3 of those guys. Need I even bother saying what Fedor would do?
AA is a boxer now so who cares and Tim would get smashed, he should stick to calling out Ken Shamrock.
u guys forget that Tim Sylvia was a two time champ, so he was beating the best in the division at least every once in a while… dont underestimate just because hes a fat, slow, boring fighter… he still wins fights
Tim Silva is a fat, slow idiot. Either Kongo or Gonzaga would demolish him.
No no no no.. is there anothre Fedor your referring to..Cuz the one I know of is basically undefeated..best HW fighter in hte world.. the only person I would be more pet to see in front of me than Wandy and Anderson. Fedor would own the current UFC HW division.. Fedor would be the Anderson Silva of that division.. Fedor is on a whole other level above these fighters.. he is the worlds most baddest mofo.. point blank.
jj did you change your name
You don’t think Fedor deserves an immediate title shot? New level of hating, Dos Santos for his first fight, LMAO!
Guys dont feed the Fedor hating trolls.
He has to actually work for it. At least 2 fights before the belt. Are you guys afraid of the other fighter or what? :\
Hendo was the last to hold PRIDE belts and went straight to title shots in both weight classes, so why not Fedor?
BNF: I dont underdstand how you could even involve yourself in such an idiotic discuission. YOu are better then that! Ignore the Troll! Fedor is GOD!!!!!
Do you not know that Nogueira got Destroyed by Fedor twice? Come on man, do a little research. Fedor has beat a who’s who of the worlds best Heavyweights.
I think you should look up the definition of “Destroyed.”
BTW, Cro Cop had 0 ground game and Fedor couldn’t even finish him. Stop pretending that he will beat everyone.
Every current HW fighter in the UFC can beat Fedor. Just bring him over.
Sure Dana lol
Dana is not willing to open is heart to Fedor (or is the correct term purse – as Fedor will cost like 2M per fight while max Dana has spent on a fighter per fight is around 500K)
Destroyed??? Nog brought him to a decision twice. He couldn’t finish Cro Crop either….you too far up Fedor’s butt. He would have trouble against multiple UFC heavies. I agree he would probably beat all of them and reign for a long time but it would be far from easy.
AA and Sylvia couldn’t compete in the UFC anymore at the highest level. I don’t think either of them could beat UFC top heavyweights anymore. AA-kongo would be fun to watch though.
I have to agree with you. Thank god not everyone has swallowed some of Fedors juice.
When I say that all UFC HW fighters can beat Fedor, I mean that they have a really good chance. It doesn’t mean that they will beat him. He also has to go through Randy.
I don’t know about you guys but the HW Division in Affliction sucks balls. It’s actually worst than the UFC’s division. The only good fighter is Fedor. Barnett is ok but his cardio sucks.
his cardio sucks? after one fight you think that.sounds like your swallowing to much dana juice.
His attitude sucks and he is currnetly one of the top 3 douches in any MMA org!
are you talking about natas? yes he is a douche maybe even #1 but he will have to battle jj for the title of lvp.
Gonzaga is better than Fedor.
no he’s not
he has the potential to be (great stand up good BJJ) but he needs to work on his conditioning and basically his will power to survive and fight the fight were he wants it
WHAT?????????????Now this guy has some good sh#t!I would bet a year salary that Fedor would destroy Gonzaga,and I am not a big Fedor fan ,but that was a very idiotic statement
Gonzaga does not have a prayer with Fedor.
Fedor haters are so pathetic they make me laugh.
Haha. I’m no Fedor hater. I just said it to stir things up a bit. But really, it would be fun to see. I truly believe that Gabriel Gonzaga has taken things to a new level lately.
He needs to take it up about ten more levels
Maybe 5 more levels…. But 10? I don’t think he’s 10 levels ahead.
As they say in football, “that’s why they play the game”
Fedor would probably win easily, but who knows. He hasn’t fought much, his opponents have been of questionable quality with the exception of Arlovski, who was landing some shots before he got stupid.
I want to see all these matchups. I don’t want Affliction to go because competition is good, but I’d love to have a way to cross promote. Unfortunately, the UFC isn’t inclined to do that.
dana needs to grow up.
if he really cared about MMA he wouldn’t be trying to destroy affliction so hard.
Dana is a business man,he wants to have the best product on the market,there is nothing wrong with that.It is Affliction’s job to not let it happen.Do you really think that he is happy that Affliction has Fedor ,AA,and Barnett.He wants them he is willing to drive a company out of business for them.That is called capitalizm
dana is the president of a company, remember? trying to destroy the competition? yep –
so unless people make up a case that he’s anticompetitive, ala Microsoft back in the 90s, dana/ufc wont be changing anything anytime soon
but it does at least seem like a douchebag move.
If there was a business opportunity that opened up for you, I’m sure you’d gladly pass it along to someone else, right? Stop being a hypocrite.
I was in Vegas during this event. Just curious, did they add any extra undercard fights to the replay or the same as the PPV?
“peaks”
and I’m with those UFC fans who want to see Affliction succeed as well. That was a great show, especially for a 2nd time out.
This is obv not a good sign for affliction. Though i hope they stay around i think they are doomed.
BJ BJ BJ BJ BJ BJ BJ BJ !!!!!!!
BJ PENN WOULD DESTROY FEDOR!!!!
up early today JD???
If Affliction could stay afloat just wait until these Pride guys contract start expiring wont be surprise if Affliction becomes their new home. It resembles their old stomping grounds which was fighting in a ring, and they will be getting paid more give it 1-2 years if they could withstand the pressure of the UFC and keep paying their fighters well, UFC good luck. Anderson Silva vs Vitor Belfort 1.5 years to 2 years from now not in the UFC but under Affliction “if you build it they will come” the fighters will come and their fans will follow them.
I was one of the 3.3 mil dat watched the fight on spike cuz I rather pay for gsp vs bj but I still watched the affliction fights and they wer good. I hope affliction sticks around cuz they got good mma fighters. mma is great in any organization. fedor should just come 2 d ufc and challenge brock so he could put an end to all d haters talk
I am no Fedor and have been rooting aganist him his last few fights but you would have to be a fool to not think he is great, almost looks un-stopable, but heres to hoping he loses next time out!
I would like to know how many more fights Fedor,AA,Barnett,Belfort have left on their contracts with Affliction.
no one can beat fedor now, witch is funny because he is the size of most the lhw’s, but give brock 4 or 5 more years in this sport and he will be unstopable.
4 or 5 years he is no spring chicken he has alot of athletic ability but he got a start at an older age his learning curve has to be 2 or 3 times faster than a guy like Cain Velasquez who is stil young.
its all about work ethic, and all he needs is boxing and sub defense.
Dana is mean how can he do that to affliction, lol
Barnet has title shot I’m sure so once fedor beats him, if I were fedor id say eff it and go to ufc, y not
If he conquers title no more doubt and what ifs he’s the best!
Some guys that lost in ufc I think might do good against fedor perhaps
Gonzaga and fedor would be good imo to start fedor in octagon
Then the unifying of ufc and wamma I guess
Fedor is the best in a ring not in a cage. He´ll never fight for the UFC in an octagon..
3.3 million viewers is pretty darn good if you ask me considering it was up against a fairly strong Affliction card. The 2009 MMA rankings may have Fedor #1 on many sites, but the UFC heavyweight crown’s importance is shown by this fan reaction with so many viewers.