UFC on Versus draws 1.24 million viewers for March 21 event
by Jesse Holland on Mar 23, 2010 1:07 PM EDT
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The UFC's debut on the Versus network can officially be considered a success thanks to the 1.24 million viewers who tuned in to see "Vera vs. Jones" among others from the 1STBANK Center in Broomfield, Colorado, last Sunday night (March 21).
John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal tweeted the numbers earlier today.
The event was responsible for a 1.66 rating in the coveted demographic of males 18-34. Those numbers are likely the reason the cable television network and DirecTV recently settled their longstanding feud.
The UFC is contracted to hold a second "UFC on Versus" event later this year, tentatively scheduled for August 1 in Oakland. That event joins Zuffa's remaining WEC televised cards already in place.
By comparison, January's broadcast of UFC Fight Night 20 on Spike TV earned an audience of 1.7 million viewers -- but Spike TV is available in roughly 25 million more homes than Versus.
UFC on Versus saw the continued rise of Jon Jones, as he obliterated venerable striker Brandon Vera in the main event. Joining his ascension was heavyweight super-slugger Junior dos Santos after "Cigano" stopped Gabriel Gonzaga in the first round.
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First two fights were really bad though
by Lester The Pimp on Mar 23, 2010 1:18 PM EDT reply actions
it was their first try and it was free
cut em a little slack.
lmao @ evilgumbo
been winding some guy up on a mma forum i’ve feeling trollish today i should stop now maybe the guy was right hahha funny to get him going
this is what he put on his twitter yesterday. I got douche bags from england tweeting about me, funny shit!
Good thing the Direct TV deal got fixed.
Not a big fan of UFC events on Sunday night though. It just doesn’t feel the same…
especially when you dont realize its on sunday night till you're sitting around at 9 on sat night like..
“wtf, why the hell am i watching bullriding, ufc should be on now”
then you realize its on sunday…i hate that shit
"you have received a warning...watch the homophobic remarks, seriously. you must hit 'ok' to acknowledge this warning and continue"
- MMAMANIA
as long as i can still say i hate the french and canadians from quebec its all good
I was right there w/ you HH
I drove 30 miles to my parents house to watch the fights on saturday night, because I don’t have Versus w/ my Dish package. I was like WTF? Where is the fight??? Then hopped on Mania, and saw that I was a dumbass!!
I say Put Jones on the 2nd UFC On Versus
by AintNoSunshine on Mar 23, 2010 1:55 PM EDT up reply actions
How many people like watching fights but aren’t necessarily willing to buy a PPV or plan a night at a sports bar to watch?
The weather is here, I wish you were beautiful
it doesnt take planning to get in the car and drive down the road and meet your buddies
it goes like this:
me: "hey man what time you want to meet up?
them: “i guess bout 845 to beat the crowd”
me: “iight sounds good, see you then”
bout 7 seconds
"you have received a warning...watch the homophobic remarks, seriously. you must hit 'ok' to acknowledge this warning and continue"
- MMAMANIA
as long as i can still say i hate the french and canadians from quebec its all good
i dont get something about you jones fans
for the past several months everyone on this site has been saying “vera is terrible, vera is horrible, vera should have been cut a long time ago…vera is like 3-4 his last 7 fights…vera is boring, vera has never put on an exciting fight”
and ive made the argument that vera is a top 10 guy and every one of you told me i was an idiot…but then jones beats vera and suddenly you guys are like “holy crap jones proved hes ready for a title fight”
so for months youve said that vera isnt a formiddable opponent, but since jones beats him suddenly vera is a formiddable opponent? make up your minds….
basically since you guys have kept saying vera isnt a top 10 guy then according to you guys jones still hasnt beaten a top 10 guy so saying he deserves a title shot is ridiculous….you must at least beat 1 top 10 guy before you get a title shot…and according to you guys vera is terrible and sucks so jones really didnt accomplish anything….right? im just going by your own words…
u guys said vera sucks…so jones beat a guy that sucks…so beating a guy that sucks makes you a contender? GTFO
"you have received a warning...watch the homophobic remarks, seriously. you must hit 'ok' to acknowledge this warning and continue"
- MMAMANIA
as long as i can still say i hate the french and canadians from quebec its all good
I Have Never Trashed Vera
he has the skills and potential to have been great. I just knew Jones would walk right through him. Vera has been an underachiever for some time now. He just had high expectations and was molded into mediocracy.
by AintNoSunshine on Mar 23, 2010 1:59 PM EDT up reply actions
+1
I don’t think Vera was put in this to beat Jones. He was put in there to bring the best out in him. The only person who should have really thought Vera could beat Jones was Vera. Vera has a lot of talent and I believe still has potential, he’s just missing the killer instinct/heart to want to win his way to the top.
It is really too bad about Vera.
I was a huge fan, but somewhere along to way he lost the killer instinct. His wife is hungrier than he is now.
Vera was put in a fight he shouldn’t have been in. The fact that the UFC doesn’t care for Vera’s best interest anymore hurts his career. Vera should be fighting the Franklin’s, Tito’s, Chuck’s, even Thiago Silva’s of the division or atleast get more suitable opponents if they cared about his career.
Problem is they had very few talents back when he broke through and he became a too “big name” to fight the fighters of his quality.
there's still something so unifying about sport in it's purest form, when athletes rise above themselves and touch greatness and in doing so remind us all that we also have greatness inside of us.
nothing happened he has won every fight that’s been standup.
there's still something so unifying about sport in it's purest form, when athletes rise above themselves and touch greatness and in doing so remind us all that we also have greatness inside of us.
really
because Randy couldn’t take him down and he lost rob. Something has happened, he’s become too timid!
I know.
He obviously has a problem of letting his opponents clinch up with him, he could have easily won over Randy if he had avoided all the clinching because he dominated the striking from the bell.
Anyway he obviously still competes well against the Randy’s of the division, i just think Jones is further up in the rankings than all of those guys and it was an unfair matchup to Vera that made him look bad.
there's still something so unifying about sport in it's purest form, when athletes rise above themselves and touch greatness and in doing so remind us all that we also have greatness inside of us.
Agreed. At this point in his career, Randy is mediocre.
Friends and lovers lie endlessly, caught in the web of duty. Only enemies speak the truth.
-Stephen King
He's not top five anymore and barely a top ten
regardless though at 46 for the calibure of fighters he’s facing is amazing
"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson
Randy doesn’t impress me either. But that’s where Vera’s at and Randy could still give guys like Rich, Tito, Forrest and that class of fighters a competitive fight.
there's still something so unifying about sport in it's purest form, when athletes rise above themselves and touch greatness and in doing so remind us all that we also have greatness inside of us.
Hella, you make an airtight case. Good job.
Friends and lovers lie endlessly, caught in the web of duty. Only enemies speak the truth.
-Stephen King
There were many on this site saying how good Vera was and how Randy was given the fight and Vera should of won
I didn’t see to many calling vera sh^tty by any means until after the fight. I think your making sh^t up Hella just go back and read the before statements and you will also see about 30-40% of the fans picks were for Vera. I only seen Vera really get trashed after the loss.
"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson
i didnt make anything up, just read through any thread on here thats about vera over the past 2 weeks
very few people on this site gave vera any props whatsoever…most of it consisted of this:
“vera is overrated”
“vera hasnt beaten anyone”
“vera is boring and never puts on an exciting fight”
“no way vera is a top 10 lhw”
“vera chokes anytime he has to face any top competition”
that basically sums up what most people said on this site bout vera….
so basically jones accomplished this over the weekend:
he beat a guy “who is overrated”
he beat a guy “who hasnt beaten anyone”
he beat a guy “who is boring and has never put on an exciting fight”
he beat a guy “who is not a top 10 lhw”
he beat a guy "who chokes any time he faces top competition
dont dare try to tell me that people on this site werent saying this shit about vera before the jones fight…
"you have received a warning...watch the homophobic remarks, seriously. you must hit 'ok' to acknowledge this warning and continue"
- MMAMANIA
as long as i can still say i hate the french and canadians from quebec its all good
Vera losing to Jones proves Jones is top competition. If he weren't Vera would have won.
canadians cheat and lie…whereas americans are fair and respectul in sports…--HellaHectic the funniest MF'er on Mania
most of the idiots in here annoy me
it was a great show and everyone knows that anything can happen in a fight. go watch wrasslin’ if you want to have THE GREATEST MATCH EVER every time. i personally love real fights. the first person to post is already whining about this fight sucked or whatever.
brock lesnar owns fedor's soul
people are always gonna complain
GSP will most likely dominate Hardy, instead of being happy to see a stacked card, people will complain bro, it’s human nature!
im not sure these ratings are as high as they would have liked.
yes more people watched then the wec events on versus, but compare it to the free cards and spike and its not even close…
I get my ass kicked for money, all you gotta do is talk motherfucker.... Rampage Pride GP03
I thought it was a decent event
I can see why some of you hated all those commercials and not getting to hear the cornermen etc. I also missed those things but it was free so we can´t really complain.
I personally prefer the PPVs cause to me the entrances, hearing the cornermen between rounds etc. are part of the whole experience of watching a UFC event. With that said, I always enjoy watching Dos Santos and Jones fight whether it´s on a PPV or free TV.
Junior is one of my favorite fighters and I was so happy when he took out GG. JDS vs. Cain has to happen! Make it happen, Dana!!
Jon Jones looked great beating Vera. That elbow was brutal! Just the sound it made when it landed was vicious. I would like to see Jones take on T. Silva next.
Kongo did not impress me. I don´t understand how a kickboxer like him, that´s supposed to have the best striking in the HW division, didn´t wanna stand and strike!! JDS would knock his ass out in a second.
Like I said, a decent event although I would´ve liked to see the Jones fight go on a bit longer. Well, the same can be said of JDS´ fight. I just wanna see those guys get tested.
Too bad they´re just that good. Maybe Cain will give Junior problems.
Good post IceCold.
Flawless.
canadians cheat and lie…whereas americans are fair and respectul in sports…--HellaHectic the funniest MF'er on Mania
JDS is a freaking animal
of course i was a fan of him ever since he caved in werdum’s freaking face…i hate werdum…as werdum was walking out to the octagon in that fight that were basically saying “werdum is the 2nd coming of christ, look how much size he has put on to deal with the big guys in the division….hes a monster…he could tap out jesus”
the only thing that was tapping was his jaw on a jds uppercut
"you have received a warning...watch the homophobic remarks, seriously. you must hit 'ok' to acknowledge this warning and continue"
- MMAMANIA
as long as i can still say i hate the french and canadians from quebec its all good
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