Promoting Brock Lesnar at UFC 87

by Michael Rome on Jul 28, 2008 12:28 AM EDT in MMA News

In order to promote UFC 81, the UFC advertised in a very non-traditional manner. They partnered with TNA and WWE to promote the fact that an old Pro Wrestling star was going to be making his real fighting debut. The new method worked, and the show did in the neighborhood of 600,000 buys. The UFC estimated that up to 300,000 of those were first time buyers.

Brock Lesnar lost an exciting fight, and six months later he has another tough test against Heath Herring. From the looks of it, it does not look like they plan on playing up Brock's past in Pro Wrestling anymore. The hype videos on the UFC website barely mention it, and it looks like they're just going to treat him like another fighter, and hope his name draws in some of those wrestling fans again. My suspicion is that without the Pro Wrestling push, the vast majority of those 300,000 fans will not buy it again.

If I'm wrong, this show could be one of the biggest Pay Per View successes of 2008 for the UFC. Lesnar did a very strong buyrate up in Canada, only second to the numbers Georges St. Pierre has pulled in Canada, and he's on the card too. If they're able to do the kind of Canadian buys they did for UFC 83, and if they're also able to get a bunch of pro wrestling fans to tune into a very stacked card, this could be a sleeper show that does over 600,000 buys.

The marketing for this show should be very interesting to watch. Both the Pro Wrestling fans and the Canadian fans are specialized markets that the UFC has targeted in the past, and it will be interesting to see if they do a two pronged attack to get both bases, or if they focus on one and hope the other follows.

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He’s fighting Heath Herring this time (second paragraph, first line).

Unless those WWE fans actually enjoyed the MMA (rather than just the spectacle of seeing how a wrestler fares in a real fight) the first time around (UFC 81), they probably won’t be tuning in again.

by idefinecagefighter on Jul 28, 2008 12:39 AM EDT reply actions

Blah, can’t believe I did that.

by Michael Rome on Jul 28, 2008 12:40 AM EDT up reply actions

I could see a good number of those wrestling fans buying this card as well. In defeat, Brock still looked more than capable and left a lot of those fans wanting to see more of what he could do. UFC should press them this week.

Canada + Pro Wrestling = huge PPV buy#

by steak_knife on Jul 28, 2008 1:57 AM EDT up reply actions

I just hope Mazzagatti and Miragliotta aren’t reffing this fight. Although ironically they’re both accused of Pro Wrestling-style fixing.

by Flying Gogoplata on Jul 28, 2008 2:24 AM EDT reply actions

I find this card very attractive but I don’t see it doing over 500k ppv buys. I’ve not seen too much advertising for this event.

by steveoc24 on Jul 28, 2008 2:45 AM EDT reply actions

The ads for all shows always need to come at the end. Nobody remembers ads from weeks out.

by Michael Rome on Jul 28, 2008 3:41 AM EDT up reply actions

They played the trailer for it about 5 times tonight during a mini-marathon of UFC unleashed. And I’ve seen it a few other times scattered throughout spikes programming.

by B Money on Jul 28, 2008 5:07 AM EDT up reply actions

One, I wouldnt call Lesnars first TV fight anything close to the word “exciting”. If average = exciting, then I suppose you’re right.

Second, GSP is the bigger draw to PPV then Lesnar right now—hence why UFC have him as the headliner. The WWE tie in worked to get the name out there but the UFC is spot on in NOT making a mention of it this go around. Say what you want about Dana White, but he works hard to make his product true to form. Keeping Lesnar off the WWE tip gives the fight, if not the league, even more cred.

And if anyone doesnt think that Dana White et all are not already looking ahead at UFC 88. You get the Liddell PPV pop as well three other fights that, on paper, may end up further elevating UFC’s status as the kig of the MMA hill.

by HoustonRaven on Jul 28, 2008 6:58 AM EDT reply actions

The Lesnar/Mir fight was exciting IMO.

Also, the UFC will always have the title fight as the headline bout, no matter what. I do agree that GSP is a bigger star than Lesnar though.

by idefinecagefighter on Jul 28, 2008 7:09 AM EDT up reply actions

I think the route the UFC is using for Brock’s promotion this time around is the right way…if he wins impressively….then guess what happens…all those pro rassling fans will be right back on his bandwagon for his next fight IMO. The main thing is for his first fight…they wanted everyone to know he was in the UFC now(mission accomplished)...secondly…they wanted show they he is fighting legitimate opponents(mission accomplished)...now it’s all on Brock to win this fight so they can continue marketing him.

http://tharealness.wordpress.com/

by Tha Realness on Jul 28, 2008 8:03 AM EDT reply actions

I saw Lesnar fight at UFC 81 in Vegas. If Mazzagatti hadn’t stood them up for that BS “to the back of the head” call, Lesnar would have won. This dudes very, very fast for his size. He’ll be a top 3 within 3-4 years. This is going to be a fantastic card. It could even rival UFC 84.

by Josh H. on Jul 28, 2008 9:10 AM EDT reply actions

Not really.

It very much looked like Mir was about to go for an armbar when Mazzi stood them up.

by mythbuster on Jul 28, 2008 9:35 AM EDT up reply actions

by mythbuster on Jul 28, 2008 9:55 AM EDT up reply actions

I just dont see how he could lock in the armbar in that situation. Mir would have to give up both of his hands to just to lock one of Brock’s arms. Those hands were awfully busy keeping his face from being turned into silly putty. Watch him stagger up up after the Maz break.

Another problem was that even if he hooked the leg over Brock’s head, it didn’t look to me as if he had anywhere near the leverage to turn a guy with that much upperbody weight over in order to apply any pressure .

by Day Man on Jul 28, 2008 12:45 PM EDT up reply actions

Maybe, Maybe not

but my point is that it isn’t the “omg brock was gonna keeel heeem if Mazza didn’t step in!” that people like to say. Clearly he wasn’t about to be dead, and in fact was looking for a sub. Whether he got it or not isn’t relevant.

by mythbuster on Jul 28, 2008 2:22 PM EDT up reply actions

I agree that people tend to go overboard in their support of Brock, and Mir is an accomplished professional fighter who was intelligently defending himself, however, I do not think Mir was going to get out of that situation.

by Day Man on Jul 28, 2008 3:29 PM EDT up reply actions

Also, thanks for the gif, they really do add a lot to the discussions.

by Day Man on Jul 28, 2008 3:29 PM EDT up reply actions

I personally didn’t think it was a bogus call, Brock hit Frank like 3 times to the back of the head. Just b/c Joe Rogan didn’t see it, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Also, I was not too impressed with his rabbit-kiddie like punches; but that may have been the octagon jitters. I think the way the UFC is marketing him this time, is the right way to market him. The first time he fought in the UFC it was okay to market him as the pro-wrestler he was. Now he is a mixed martial artist. I do have tons of admiration for Brock as he is asking for tough fights – he doesn’t want any easy fights.

In Faber’s fight with Pulver, I wish the ref had stopped it when Faber hit Jen to the back of the head like 10 times. My personal opinion is that – stopping hits to the back of the head is a good call anytime in a fight.

by lovingmma25 on Jul 28, 2008 11:06 AM EDT reply actions

In certain positions, hammer fists are the only strikes you can throw, so that is what Lesnar was throwing. And they damaged Mir to a pretty good degree. Mir would’ve been destroyed if Lesnar got more space to GNP. And let’s not forget Lesnar tagging Mir in the standup when Mir threw a kick. Lesnar as a ton of talent.

by Hardcharger on Jul 28, 2008 11:42 AM EDT up reply actions

I agree. Someone teach that monster to elbow strike on the ground and he might actually kill someone in the ring.

by Day Man on Jul 28, 2008 12:47 PM EDT up reply actions

Yep

Lesner dropped Mir with what looked like a jab…lol

http://tharealness.wordpress.com/

by Tha Realness on Jul 28, 2008 1:18 PM EDT up reply actions

I dunno if he dropped him, it looked more like a rope a dope type thing.

by Michael Rome on Jul 28, 2008 1:28 PM EDT up reply actions

I thought it was just a ploy by Mir to get Lesnar to the ground.

by lovingmma25 on Jul 28, 2008 2:11 PM EDT up reply actions

Agreed

there should be a verbal warning followed by a point deduction. These fighters are smart enough to pick there spots and I think it was a good call by Steve because Brock isn’t as seasoned and probably needed the lesson in fighter safety

all you gotta do is...

by imapimp08 on Jul 29, 2008 1:08 PM EDT up reply actions