I thought UFC's debut on national television was a success. The production aspects of the show were spectacular. The set looked great and I thought Curt Menefee, Dana White, and Brock Lesnar did a great job with their pre-fight and post-fight commentary. The show had a pretty good flow for only broadcasting one fight. As far as the fight goes, it went almost exactly as the experts predicted. Unfortunately, I thought it was a little disappointing though. With Velasquez being out for over a year and Dos Santos claiming to be less than 100%, neither guy seemed to be at the top of their game. It wasn't terrible, but it was far from what I think they would deliver if they were both 100%. On a normal night, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. But I think the fighters being less than 100% was exacerbated by the fact that it was the only fight on the broadcast. If the show had been a half-hour longer, allowing the Guida-Henderson fight to be air on television, I think the show would've felt much stronger. It's one thing for the fight to not deliver the quality expected. It's another for it to happen as the only fight airing on TV.
But that's what happens in unscripted sports. Not every fight delivers every time out. The important thing for the UFC is that they delivered on the things they could control. The production was great, they crowned a new heavyweight champion, and they promoted their next two big heavyweight fights (Lesnar-Overeem and the winner taking on JDS). Which is why I consider the show a success, in spite of the fight not being as good as it would be under different circumstances. I look forward to the day Velasquez and Dos Santos cross paths again and I look forward to many more UFC broadcasts on Fox.
I think if they took out the back stories and added a few prelim fights it would have been a bigger success. As a fan of UFC I was expecting a PPV style show with several fights. Not just a bunch of fighter story and then a short fight. UFC is big enough to have bought a 2 hour time slot and had a full on show. Hopefully they will learn from this and add more on the next one.
ReplyDeleteThe back stories were fine with me because I could see why they were necessary for casual fans. It's smart to introduce fans to fighters they're expected to be invested in, especially two fighters that are relatively unknown. A GSP, Silva, Lesnar, or even Jon Jones fight would pretty much sell itself. But neither Velasquez or Dos Santos are proven commodities. They had to build up both of them before one beating the other would mean anything.
ReplyDeleteBut I agree that they should have had extra time. The Guida-Henderson fight was really good and would've been a great introduction to MMA for first time viewers. That way there would have been quality action to balance out the back stories. Not to mention that it would've been smart from a marketing standpoint, since it was a number one contender fight. Not sure why you wouldn't want the next Lightweight title challenger to be showcased in front of a national audience.
It definitely could've been better, but I still think it was a success because not having enough fights was the only problem. And that won't be the case from here on out.