Mailbag: Fox fuels up on UFC coverage

In June, UFC president Dana White scoffed at a report in the Wall Street Journal that indicated the company was in talks with NBCUniversal to buy the G4 gaming network and convert it to a UFC-branded network.

But six months later, the report is coming true, sort of.

Fuel TV, a member of the Fox family of television networks, announced Tuesday it will air a 24-hour UFC marathon on Jan. 1 that starts a relationship between the channel and the UFC that will include more than 2,000 hours of programming a year, including more than 100 hours of live events.

It's not exactly the UFC Network, but it's the closest thing there is to such an entity these days.

Fuel will broadcast live fight cards, "UFC Tonight" – a weekly news and information show, live weigh-ins, pre- and post-fight shows and various other content. It will air more UFC-related programming than any network ever has done.

George Greenberg, Fuel TV's executive vice president and general manager, is a long-time UFC fan who said he fully expected the big ratings that the first UFC on Fox show delivered to the main network on Nov. 12. He said UFC content meshes perfectly with Fuel's plans.

"I always knew this property was a hot property and that it was just a matter of timing and positioning to get the UFC to come to Fox," Greenberg said. "When I saw those numbers [from UFC on Fox 1], I was really happy, but I wasn't surprised.

"Fuel TV over-delivered on our pre-game show – a two-hour pre-game show. We over-delivered on our post-game show, as well. What it showed me in the end is that the UFC and the mixed martial arts fan-base is huge, loyal and incredibly smart when it comes to finding their product."

The fans have had to jump around to follow all of the preliminary fights. Many of them were shown on Facebook with some shown on Spike TV and a few cards on Ion. But now, all of those shows will move to Fox properties and many of them will be on Fuel, so it will be one-stop shopping for the fans in many ways. According to a Fuel spokesman, FX will carry pay-per-view prelims and Fuel will run the prelims for events which air on FX, FOX, and Fuel. Occasional prelims will still be carried on Facebook.

And while Greenberg knows that the UFC will deliver large numbers of the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic that advertisers covet, it's also going to have a side effect. He said the split between male and female viewers of UFC programming is now roughly 85 percent male, 15 percent female. He believes that women's demographic will increase by 10 to 15 percent as UFC programming on Fuel gains a foothold.

"This sport is, as far as a growth curve goes, still in its infancy," Greenberg said. "And when you get the power of the Fox Sports Media Group, between Fox, FX, Fuel TV, FoxSports.com and Fox Deportes, you're going to reach a hell of a lot of males. Along with males, believe it or not, they're going to bring their spouses, their girlfriends.

"We fully expect the female component of the demographic to grow 10 to 15 percent, easily. … We believe, and Dana [White] has said this, and research people have said it as well, that they expect a growth spurt in females. As it gets broader and we're reaching males 18 to 49, you'll find that their partners will watch with them."

Beginning at midnight on New Year's Day, Fuel will carry a 24-hour UFC marathon. Among the programming to air that day will be a documentary on the feud between stars Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz, a UFC champions' roundtable with Jay Glazer, and "UFC Ultimate Knockouts."

It also will carry the entire fight card from Nashville, Tenn., on Jan. 20 that features lightweights Melvin Guillard and Jim Miller in the main event. Fuel also will air the preliminary bouts for the UFC on Fox 2 card in Chicago on Jan. 28.

• If it were up to me, I wouldn't have cut Miguel Torres from the UFC for his ill-advised rape joke, particularly given that Rashad Evans and Forrest Griffin didn't get cut from theirs. That said, rape is a violent, horrific crime against women and is nothing to joke about. When one chooses to tell such jokes in public, you do so at your own peril.

• The 2012 Fight of the Year will be a flyweight bout. Remember you heard it here first.

• Without a shadow of a doubt, the 2011 Fighter of the Year in MMA should be UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.

• The UFC's growth is always amazing, but even more so when one considers that its two biggest draws, heavyweight Brock Lesnar and welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre, will have combined to have fought just two times in 2011. And that's assuming that nothing untoward happens to scuttle the Dec. 30 bout at UFC 141 between Lesnar and Alistair Overeem.

• Count me among those who believe that "Big Nog," Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, has had enough and ought to retire. He's one of the great fighters in the sport's history, but his time has come.

• The UFC nailed it with its choices for the coaching assignments for the next season of "The Ultimate Fighter." The U.S. version will feature featherweights Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber, which should provide for a home run of a season. In the first international "TUF," "TUF Brazil," the UFC named Vitor Belfort against Wanderlei Silva. Great call on both fronts.

• I am among those who would like to see a Jon Jones-Anderson Silva fight, but I also want to see Silva-Chael Sonnen II.

Why fans boo Jon Jones

Why we boo Jon Jones: I've been asking myself this question since he dispatched Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in March to win the UFC light heavyweight title. I didn't have the chance to watch him defend his belt against Lyoto Machida at UFC 140 on Saturday in Toronto, but I checked the updates and found myself extremely pleased to see the consensus that Machida had a solid first round and was doing some damage. Why do I hate Jon Jones? Why is he so often met with boos rather than appreciation? No doubt he lacks the grace of Randy Couture, the polish of Georges St. Pierre or even the heart of Frankie Edgar. But by any reasonable standard, he is a decent and classy champion and is certainly more humble than Anderson Silva or Frank Mir. As Jones has said, he's no Floyd Mayweather.

After careful consideration, I've concluded the criticism toward Jones stems from two factors: 1.) His obvious superiority; and 2.) his lack of something not quite definable. Americans and MMA fans worldwide love a fighter, an underdog and a comeback story. They love Frankie Edgar for taking punches and bouncing back; the Forrest Griffin-Stephan Bonnar slugfest or Rua and Dan Henderson for leaving it all in the cage. They love a "Rocky" story, a fighter who overcomes adversity and "guts it out" against all odds like Matt Hamill. Jon Jones is none of the above. He is simply too good, and we are jealous. He makes it look too easy. He isn't one dimensional like Brock Lesnar or meticulous like St. Pierre. He is beyond them; he is perfect at almost everything in the octagon. This is not to suggest that Jones hasn't worked his tail off and earned everything he's received. It is simply a matter of perception; he seems like he's so young and too good. We can't relate to Jon Jones. We don't want to have a beer with him. We're jealous, so we boo.

Jon Walker
Chicago

You can't really get to know the fighters personally, so to say someone is a jerk or a great guy is really only speculation. If you judge them by what they do in the cage, which is how it should be, how can Jones be anything but beloved? He's as exciting as they get and he fights all comers. Nobody who is an MMA fan should dislike a guy like that.

Jones is disrespectful, narcissistic

It appears to me that Jon Jones has a disrespectful attitude and has a narcissistic cockiness toward his opponents in a sport where honor, respect of one's adversary and overall humble decorum are held in high regard. He arrogantly flung Quinton "Rampage" Jackson to his face on purpose after the bell, then unceremoniously dumped Lyoto Machida to the floor, walking away shaking his head as if it were a bore. I surely root for his first "butt kicking" and despise him for not having a champion's character. Do you think there are many others that feel the same way and how can Dana White summarily dismiss his poor sportsmanship (especially winning in disgust or disdain)?

Robert Moore
Maryland

If Jones is cocky, doesn't he have a reason to be? He's good and he knows it. And you have to remember that this is a fighting sport and that there are emotions running high. He didn't do anything wrong, in my opinion, in the way he let go of Machida. It would have been nicer, and more sportsmanlike, had he not simply let Machida crash unconscious to the mat, but being a nice guy in the cage is not part of any MMA fighter's job description.

How do you mean?

Hey Kevin, I liked your article, except one sentence: "If he loses, it's likely going to be an out-of-the-ring issue that derails him and not because the opponent was better." I'm not sure what you meant by that behavior? Legal problems? Injury? Either way, it seemed totally out of place!

Chris
Ohio

I was actually intending to compliment him. In essence, I was saying he's so good, I don't see anyone out there who is good enough to beat him. So, by referring to an "out-of-the-ring issue," it could be any of a wide variety of things: He gets complacent, he has a personal problem which distracts him, etc. I was trying to pay him a compliment for his ability, but I guess it didn't come across the way I wanted it.

"I think I came out thinking a little too much, wondering what Nogueira was going to do, trying to see what his game plan was. But when he caught me with the right hand, at that point, it turned into a war." – UFC heavyweight Frank Mir after his first-round victory Saturday over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in which Mir snapped Nogueira's forearm with a Kimura.

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