Since it's Friday, I'll keep this short and sweet.
Spike TV and UFC have agreed to a three-year extension of their partnership that includes four additional seasons of “The Ultimate Fighter,” 12 live fight cards, two seasons of a new weekly series featuring live fights and 39 one-hour episodes of “UFC Unleashed,” a retrospective on the UFC greatest fights (Spike TV).
For those of you who still think mixed martial arts is a fringe sport or just a fad, consider this:
In 2007, seven live UFC fights on Spike TV have averaged more men in the coveted 18-34 demographic (869,000) on cable than the more established "major" American sports of basketball, baseball, football, hockey, and NASCAR including:
- 62% more than the NLCS on TBS
- 143% more than the NBA playoffs on ESPN
- 24% more than the NBA playoffs on TNT
- 123%more than MLB Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN
- 48% more than NASCAR on TNT
- 31% more than NASCAR on ESPN
- 81% more than the NFL on NFL Network
- 595% more than the NHL Stanley Cup Finals on Versus (source: PR Newswire)
Those above statistics are shocking, even to me. Here are a few more facts which reaffirm the rise of UFC and MMA:
- UFC earned $223 million in pay-per-view sales in 2006, compared to HBO Boxing ($177 million)
- ESPN has partnered with MMA site, Sherdog.com to promote MMA content on its website
- As in many venues across the country, UFC boasts the highest-grossing gate in Ohio history–higher than Elton John and Billy Joel combined.
I don't see how people can argue that MMA is just a phase; while you may not like it, it's here to stay.