UFC 94 replay a ratings success for Spike TV on April 11

by MMAmania.com on Apr 14, 2009 2:48 PM EDT

UFC 94: "St. Pierre vs. Penn 2," which took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Jan. 31, "pummeled the competition on both broadcast and cable" when it re-aired for free this weekend on Spike TV.

According to a recent press release from the network, UFC 94 was the number one program among men aged 18 to 34 "in all of television (cable and broadcast) during its time period (9 p.m. to 12 a.m. ET) on Saturday, April 11, 2009, scoring an overall 1.4 household rating and drawing an average audience of 1.9 million viewers.

In fact, it was the highest-rated telecast among men (aged 18 to 49) on cable for the entire day, which means that it likely attracted way more viewers than Strikeforce did with its "Shamrock vs. Diaz" mixed martial arts special on Showtime.

Whether or not the UFC was able to steal a huge chunk of fans away from watching the Strikeforce show, which it apparently was trying to do with its latest counter programming effort, remains to be seen. Regardless, the rebroadcast of UFC 94 was a ratings success.

And that’s shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, considering all the brouhaha before, during and after the "fight of a lifetime" between the two champions in their primes.

UFC 94 sold 13,622 tickets for an official live gate $4,290,020, according to The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC). Complimentary tickets to the tune of 1,263 pushed attendance near the 15,000 mark, which would place it third all-time for the promotion behind UFC 83: "St. Pierre vs. Serra 2" back in April 2008 (21,390) and UFC 68: "The Uprising" in March 2007 (19,079).

In terms of revenue at the turn stiles, UFC 94 placed sixth -- UFC 66, UFC 83, UFC 79, UFC 91 and UFC 71 all fared better at their respective gates.

Georges St. Pierre defeated BJ Penn via fourth round technical knockout to retain his 170-pound crown in the UFC 94 main event. Machida took one giant step toward earning his 205-pound title shot next month at UFC 98, blasting the previously undefeated Thiago Silva with a thundering first round knockout punch.

UFC dished out $1.1 million in fighter salaries for the pay-per-view (PPV) event and another $325,000 in additional bonus money for five participants who delivered outstanding performances.

For complete results and coverage of "St. Pierre vs Penn 2" go here and here.

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Comments

I think it’s funny how we all put this behind us, it was kinda a black eye for GSp yet the UFC decided to advertise it a controversial!

by kevin on Apr 14, 2009 2:50 PM EDT reply actions

yeah i thought that was dumb, all in all this was a boring ufc, and didn’t come close to living up to the hype. 93, 95, and 96 were better and none of those were all that great of cards, but ended up being better than 94 wich was supposed to be epic. BOOOOO Lyoto!

by Blazy J on Apr 14, 2009 2:57 PM EDT up reply actions

If we all put this behind us then why did it get such high ratings???? Apparently UFC and Spike know what they are doing. Apparently it even beat out the Strikeforce event. And they advertised it as controversial because it is controversial, that is why people are still talking about it and you will continue to hear people talk about it. It changed the way people can corner in the UFC. Guarantee Penn will continue to persue the rematch as well after he fights Florian.

by RedDog on Apr 14, 2009 9:02 PM EDT up reply actions

i think thats the best poster the ufc has ever made! but this event is pretty lacklustre only fights i really enjoyed were the machida-silva and jones-bonnar

by Jared on Apr 14, 2009 3:45 PM EDT up reply actions

Correction: Spike TV decided to advertise it as controversial. Outside of the footage they provide for the broadcast, the UFC has absolutely no say over what Spike TV decides to run as an advertisement for it’s programming.

by MC on Apr 14, 2009 5:12 PM EDT up reply actions

really? So the biggest thing that spike has going (UFC) has no control over their own product? Once again, do some research! UFC has all the control, hence the reason that a tv deal or HBO deal has never been done! UFC wants total control. They don’t need spike as much as spike needs them!

by kevin on Apr 14, 2009 5:52 PM EDT up reply actions

Did you watch it again? I did and BJ was constantly trying to go for a high guard and kept slipping right off GSP’s shoulders. Rogan even commented on it

by ---Caesar--- on Apr 14, 2009 2:53 PM EDT reply actions

I know, but that was established a million times a few months ago! Also, as the biggest bj penn fan, I would like to say, he wasn’t going to win on that day regardless! You could see GSP was dominating him in the stand up and on the ground! Could BJ have pulled something out of his ass? maybe, but the vaseline made no difference. That being said, I think there should be rule changes as well as penalties imposed for “greasing!”

by kevin on Apr 14, 2009 3:02 PM EDT up reply actions

Exactly

by Punch You in the Ovaries on Apr 14, 2009 6:49 PM EDT up reply actions

I’m glad more people got to see what a cheat GSP is. Ponyboy St.Pierre!!

by xxBAxx816 on Apr 14, 2009 3:08 PM EDT reply actions

thats original

by McArthur on Apr 14, 2009 3:28 PM EDT up reply actions

I think that more people got to see what a little bitch bj is after the all the talk he comes out and does squat.

by Dragon on Apr 14, 2009 3:44 PM EDT up reply actions

I think this whole thing hurt both of them, but mostly BJ, even staunch supporters of BJ Penn got sick of his whining.

If he had given GSP a run for his money, and it seemed like this accident was the deciding factor then I think he’d have more support, as it was he got rolled in every aspect of the game and everyone knows it.

I don’t even think the biggest BJ nut hugger would wager money on him beating GSP in a rematch.

by ShaiZ on Apr 14, 2009 4:46 PM EDT up reply actions

Exactly I completely agree, I was disappointed in GSP for blatantly greasing but I’ve been equally upset by BJ’s conduct following this debacle as he was destroyed in the fight and his excuses have made him look bad as a person and a fighter. What should have been the biggest fight in MMA history just devalued the legacies of 2 top p4p fighters and that saddens me.

Now, I’m cheering for the underdogs in Alves and Florian as they deserve their title shots and hopefully they will prove themselves as I like both guys and they can’t damage the sport anymore than GSP and BJ did following UFC 94.

As a BJ fan and someone who became a fan of MMA after watching GSP destroy Hughes, this is a sad state of affairs.

by David on Apr 14, 2009 10:06 PM EDT up reply actions

So if he could grip gsp, and lets say there was no sweat there and it was 100% vas related so what? would he hold him in high guard all round? Watching the replay reinforced the fact that gsp destroyed penn and the vas has nothing to do with anything, the whole greasegate thing is making a mountain out of a molehill. I’ve seen a lot of penns fights and he’s not very offensive in the guard and only tries to stand up, watch ufc 58 if you don’t believe me, when gsp was a purple belt. Penn didn’t have a chance in this fight and it really sucks nurse did something so stupid to taint the fight. My opinion is gsp smashed penn period vas or no vas and I don’t believe that there was some big conspiracy to rub gsp down on nationally tv with millions of viewers watching. I can’t believe anyones that stupid, I think he just make a dumb mistake under pressure which had no impact what so ever on the fight.

by nathan on Apr 14, 2009 3:11 PM EDT reply actions

good post, while it will hopefully get some rules changed, it had no impact on this particular fight!

by kevin on Apr 14, 2009 3:42 PM EDT up reply actions

well he couldn’t hold him down the whole round because the ref would eventually stand it back up

by ja434650 on Apr 14, 2009 4:05 PM EDT up reply actions

LOL ya what a cheat he rubbed the vas on his own back, I know it hurts penn fans but gsp did nothing wrong nurse did something stupid which gives the biggest suck in mma a reason to whine an bitch and cry foul.

by nathan on Apr 14, 2009 3:14 PM EDT reply actions

I think gsp wins this fight 9 outta 10 times based mostly on the size advantage he has over bj. We will see how good he really is though if he can defeat alves.

by truestory on Apr 14, 2009 3:24 PM EDT reply actions

I don’t think GSP will lose to anyone at WW and Silva will lose to no one at MW. They should both move up to the next weight, vacate their titles and we could have 2 nice tournaments to crown new champions!

by kevin on Apr 14, 2009 3:26 PM EDT up reply actions

I agree. I don’t see either of them losing for a long time, and it might get kind of boring if nobody can even test them. Fitch was supposed to be a tough test for GSP and he got annihilated. Same w/ Penn. Silva will make an example out of Leites on Saturday, and then what?

by LJ on Apr 14, 2009 3:45 PM EDT up reply actions

GSP vs Silva…Who would win?

I got Silva

by ja434650 on Apr 14, 2009 4:06 PM EDT up reply actions

I’d love to say GSP, because he is my fave. Since the fight would be at a more natural weight for the Spider, I would have to say him. I would not be at all surprised if GSP won that fight though. He has the perfect skill set to take Silva out. Throw him on his @$$ and GnP him all night long. Problem would be getting through the danger zone to do so. GSP is no slouch on the feet either though. Tough fight to call :). I would love to see it!!!

by LJ on Apr 14, 2009 5:23 PM EDT up reply actions

finaly someone who knows what they are talking about.

by truestory on Apr 14, 2009 5:35 PM EDT up reply actions

SILVA no question. I’m not sure that GSP could even take Nate Marquardt. Silva has fought good wrestlers (Dan Henderson) before. GSP couldn’t touch him.

by RedDog on Apr 14, 2009 9:44 PM EDT up reply actions

man I dont know Im pretty sure gsp has to be thinking alves is his biggest strongest toughest opponent yet. I dont see gsp being able to hold alves down like he did bj fitch kos and serra. but anything can happen we will see. I agree I dont see anybody beating silva at mw a rematch with marquardt would be interesting imo

by truestory on Apr 14, 2009 4:09 PM EDT up reply actions

Every opponent is the biggest, toughest opponent yet.

Remember how everyone thought Fitch was gonna be able to beat him at his own game and out wrestle him, outstrike him etc.

by ShaiZ on Apr 14, 2009 4:48 PM EDT up reply actions

No dummy alves cuts more weight and is physically bigger and stronger than any of gsps opponents yet! except hughes (but hughes was outclassed in every other aspect) Its all opinions and speculations until the fight actualy happens but if you are gonna argue a point atleast make sense!

by truestory on Apr 14, 2009 5:14 PM EDT up reply actions

I just wish this would end… Did gsp have some extra grease on him? yea.. Did it really matter? I dont think so.
The fight wont get changed to a no contest… The only reason this is dragged on so long is because bj is such an egomaniac he cant accept the fact that he got dominated by a better fighter… What i really wish would happen is there to be a 3rd fight.. just end the debate.

by mike22 on Apr 14, 2009 3:31 PM EDT reply actions

yes and no, I think BJ is an egomaniac, but also think this should go on until the rules and consequences change! Should the fight results be changed? No way!

by kevin on Apr 14, 2009 3:34 PM EDT up reply actions

agreed….I’m having a deja vu here

by McArthur on Apr 14, 2009 3:39 PM EDT up reply actions

Love it!! I could watch bj lose a hundred times and smile while doing it!!

by Dragon on Apr 14, 2009 3:46 PM EDT reply actions

Ufc 94 sucked.

by Lester the Pimp on Apr 14, 2009 4:12 PM EDT reply actions

Yeah the highest-rated telecast among men (aged 18 to 49) on cable for the entire day. Scoring an overall 1.4 household rating and drawing an average audience of 1.9 million viewers. I guess everyone has an opinion lol.

by Puck Head on Apr 14, 2009 7:42 PM EDT reply actions

bj will always have the first to beat matt hughes which thrilled me to pieces!!….and he’s got skills and rubber legs…that said..he made me not like him much himself..the second show to matt was so weak cuz he gained burger weight or sumthin..no cardio at all..
this fight he did not show up at all if you know what i mean..he looked syked out from the start..gsp looked sweaty or what have you..but to me when bj was pulling rubber guard it just looked half attempted and bailed on..like georges beefy back was too strong and prolly slippery from sweat (maybe a c-hair of grease!!)anyways…dead horse beaten worse than bj was..verdict is gsp dominated!!

by sarah on Apr 14, 2009 7:48 PM EDT reply actions

UFC aint a charity, its a sport….i dont think the title should be left for an interim belt..unless that is wat Anderson and GSP want. there is still tougher challenges ahed such as Thiago for GSP, and Vitor belfort if he signs with ufc andsilva beats thales…

if u want the title you have to beat the champion in my opinion tough luck if the guys cant beat anderson or gsp.

maybe anderson could vacate it if he won the light heavy belt but that just means GSP could move up and maybe take the middleweight belt and thus eventually if both guys excelled at their new weight classes …a few years down the line (if silva lasts that long) – ppl will be calling for them to move up another division.