The UFC has found a new home, FOX.
Usually, that type of announcement wouldn’t call for a headline on MyBoxingFans.com, however, it’s not the announcement that surprised me, but was said after the announcement.
UFC and FOX are hosting their first major cable fight Nov 12th. If you’re asking, what’s Nov 12th, then you are not paying attention to the boxing schedule. That is the night Manny Pacquiao faces Juan Manuel Marquez for the third time. I am a firm believer that both sports are different enough that there is a vast difference in boxing fans versus MMA fans. However there is also a good amount of fans that enjoy both boxing and MMA, so I can’t help but think that Dana White scheduled the card deliberately on that day. White and the UFC have created quite a following in a short amount of time-they went from a struggling company to one of the finest organizations in the last 6 or 7 years. White himself is a very savvy promoter/owner/business man and getting a major cable network deal and then going up against quite possibly the most popular boxer, Manny Pacquiao, right now is a strong move. Is White trying to take away a boxing fan base? Perhaps, but it seems that he is trying to take away the PPV fans base even more-set up a good major cable fight card and get the viewers that may have thought about getting the Pacquiao card and realize that “hey there is a UFC card on FOX that is free, why pay 54 dollars for a PPV?”
This may be the “worst case” idea or an overreaction but there is also no denying the fact that UFC is a business and they are aiming at becoming a major force, not only to Boxing but to any other sport out there. However, with Boxing and MMA having similarities and that their first cable fight will go up against the Pacquiao fight, boxing fans should be on the lookout for what UFC is doing.
One of the biggest issues in boxing today is the cat fighting and the horrible business practices between promoters and networks. Boxing fans now have to choose between fights on HBO and Showtime, on the same night, promoters are keeping certain fighters from fighting anyone that is under a different promotional banner and very rarely is the boxing fan getting dream match ups that they want or deserve. Instead, boxing fans are given Bernard Hopkins vs. Roy Jones JR or Manny Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey on PPV. These are not horrible fights, but they did not deserve to be on PPV. Then, there is fights such as Brandon Rios vs. Urbano Antillon on Showtime the same night HBO is airing Paul Williams vs. Erislandy Lara; 2 equally solid fight cards that went against one another in the same sport on different networks. Why? What good does that do for boxing?
With all the money those fight cost to make plus sanctioning fees, could you imagine if promoters and networks started working together; what they could bring to the boxing fans? This is nothing new and it is wishful thinking but boxers, promoters and the networks need to work together to see that boxing sustains their place in the sports world. Otherwise, boxing fans may wake up one day and realize there is no more boxing on HBO just as they have lost fights on cable over the last couple decades.
In the end the UFC announcement is an interesting one, UFC has went up against boxing before- Mayweather faced off against Rich Franklin in the UFC and UFC did not fare too well in that match up. Dana White is a smart man and I expect him to put a very strong card on NOV 12th-Will it compete with the Pacquiao card? Only time will tell, but HBO and the 24/7 series along with getting the 24/7 series on CNN or whichever outlet they can should provide to give boxing a good push no matter what. If the fight does over 1 million PPV buys Top Rank and Bob Arum should call that a win. If the fight doesn’t get at least 800K buys or beat out whatever PPV numbers Mayweather vs Ortiz put up then one would be hard to argue against the UFC cutting into those PPVs. The next few months should be interesting.
I don’t think Dana is going up against boxing at all.I think he gives a damn about it as competition and is focused on far bigger quests.
The reception they have garnered in Brazil has been amazing and their focus is on mma becoming the 2nd largest sport on earth.
There ate plans afoot to do a 100000 soccer stadium event there.so,no,they don’t see boxing as competition in the broader scheme Or the immediate one.
I think the weak undercards hurt the PPV more than any other event.
I watch all Boxing PPVs and even all MMA PPVs on the internet for free, forget paying.
Besides the best boxing fights come on Showtime, HBO or even Friday Night Fights anyways.
I don’t think this will hurt the PPV. The UFC and MMA in general put shows up against Pacquiao and Mayweather PPV all the time. They usually have mediocre fighters on the free tv events but this one is interesting in that ppl may tune in to see how the FOX broadcast looks.
This is so true, do you guys thing this will hurt the PPV buys for Pacquiao vs Marquez?
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