Showtime's Ken Hershman responds to UFC's "Nonsense":
In addition, No. 1-ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko has signed on to compete for Strikeforce and will be making his Showtime debut sometime this fall, according to Hershman.
Since the signing has been announced, the top heavyweight’s new partners have been defending the signing ad nauseam. With speculation swirling that the Fedor deal could be a financial handcuff for Strikeforce, like many believe it was for now out-of-business Affliction Entertainment, Hershman was eager to quell concerns.
"Let me put everything to rest here -- the Fedor deal is entirely manageable, it will be very, very workable for everyone including Fedor," he said. "He is very well taken care of, but it’s a very responsible deal -- no one’s going out of business because of it. It’s all silliness, and I’ll tell you, if the UFC is good at anything, they are good at spreading a lot of nonsense."
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Luke Thomas
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If the UFC is good at anything, they are good at spreading a lot of nonsense."
i couldn’t have said it better myself!
by Xtor on Aug 20, 2009 11:36 AM EDT reply actions 3 recs
They are also good at winning wars against other promotions that piss them off.
by swells2048 on Aug 20, 2009 11:38 AM EDT up reply actions 10 recs
^this
I'm the kind of girl who loves to watch a GOOD fight!
--------
Join the DC Area UFC Meetup Group
http://www.meetup.com/DCUFCGroup
MMA makes them money, they care a damn bit more than most people, including the promotions they have “killed”.
A man should never waste an opportunity to keep his mouth shut.
by iiowyn on Aug 20, 2009 11:52 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
including the promotions they have "killed".
in all honestly, the competition has killed themselves.
"I’m not going to stop yelling because that would mean, I lost the fight!"-Kenny Powers
shooter/cutter for AllElbows.com
maybe i misread it…
we you trying to imply UFC has killed other promotions?
no matter…. i am still bitter at elitexc and those fuckups.
"I’m not going to stop yelling because that would mean, I lost the fight!"-Kenny Powers
shooter/cutter for AllElbows.com
No, people talk about the UFC killing promotions, I was making fun of that in general. Stupid decisions kill promotions.
A man should never waste an opportunity to keep his mouth shut.
This is why
I think that Strikeforce will be alright. Sure, the UFC can counterprogram and whatnot, but that doesn’t do much more than aggravate a hurting company’s problems.
SF should be just fine
Supporting all Las Vegas MMA. Xtreme Couture FTMFW.
'09 is the year of the FW's.
by ElliotMatheny on Aug 20, 2009 6:25 PM EDT up reply actions
I disagree
I think they care a helluva lot more than most of these “start ups”
Affliction, XC, Showtime, CBS, M1, etc care about the money they see the UFC making and want a cut. The thing is they don’t know what they are doing. Strikeforce did it right for years, which is why the UFC never went to war with them. I guess Coker is ready to move up in stature, which means he’ll have to face the competition.
I agree that they care more about making the UFC bigger than MMA itself. Strikeforce doesn’t do everything perfect but I bet if you sat a sportsfan thats a noob at MMA and played a UFC show and then a SF show he would probably like SF more.
I dunno, Strikeforce just comes off as promoting MMA more authentically IMO. The intro, the stats, the classy SOB that is Jimmy Lennon Jr, Gus Johnson. It’s just done really well IMO. Then you get to UFC and we get the rock music and all that stuff which is fine but I doubt it appeals to the mass audience overall. It’s kinda like a more proffessional wrestling production. Just my 02.
Still, I love UFC more though but they could learn something from SF and Showtime. Sf could lear a ton from UFC with those crappy entrances and meat dummies though lol.
Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."
by xFenixKnightx on Aug 20, 2009 4:00 PM EDT up reply actions
I bet if you sat a sportsfan thats a noob at MMA and played a UFC show and then a SF show he would probably like SF more.
I would take that bet in a heartbeat.
This just screams legitimate sporting event.
A man should never waste an opportunity to keep his mouth shut.
by iiowyn on Aug 20, 2009 4:32 PM EDT up reply actions 2 recs
Sf could learn a ton from UFC with those crappy entrances
Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."
by xFenixKnightx on Aug 20, 2009 4:52 PM EDT up reply actions
This guy is completely full of it. The sad thing is, I don’t even think he realizes it.
1. Showtime has never been a huge player in combat sports. They always pail in comparison to HBO Boxing. They currently are a huge 2nd to the UFC.
2. Signing Fedor automatically increased their payroll, which is something I don’t think he realizes yet. Not only will Fedor’s opponents want big money (or jump to the UFC)…. but now they are competing with the UFC, which means they will have to pay the rest of their fighters more in order to keep them.
Like the above post said, the UFC is great at winning wars.
Lastly, is a little thing called $$$$$$$$. Showtime doesn’t have enough of it to spend on MMA to compete with the UFC. It’s as simple as that.
by AlwaysRelaxing on Aug 20, 2009 11:43 AM EDT reply actions 2 recs
UFC is also really good at promoting MMA.
In fact, they’re probably the best at doing that.
Another thing I didn’t realize till this fanpost, is that Showtime should really not be talking a lot of shit. Zuffa and HBO have been in talks rumored to be close to done a few times. HBO and Showtime are enemies, if Showtime jumps into Dana’s crosshairs, that might be the final thing to push HBO and Zuffa into finally working together. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and Zuffa and HBO consummating their friendship would be bad for SF and Showtime.
by Phildo on Aug 20, 2009 11:50 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
BINGO!!
All the UFC has to do is take a deal that is still solid but not exactly what they want just to hurt Showtime and Strikeforce. They can likely do this with HBO or Network TV.
Big companies do it all the time….. They financially do things that are not the best, but it knocks out the smaller competition.
I’m kind of surprised this Ken is talking smack. He obviously doesn’t know the sport very well, because it seems like the more smack somebody talks to White, the more motivated he gets to putting them out of business….
by AlwaysRelaxing on Aug 20, 2009 11:59 AM EDT up reply actions
Poor Ken Hershman, not even cool enough to have his own Wikipedia page =(
A man should never waste an opportunity to keep his mouth shut.
by iiowyn on Aug 20, 2009 11:59 AM EDT reply actions 4 recs
This Is More Interesting To Me
"It was the highest rated MMA show on the network to date," stated Hershman. "We’re obviously in a much smaller universe than Spike or the broadcast networks with 17 million homes, so the big apples to apples comparison for us is that our rating was a 2.1 and Spike’s was a 1.5 and that’s a victory in my book."
Hershman said Showtime is very satisfied with Strikeforce, which replaced the now defunct EliteXC and ShoXC brands on the network last April.
"We’re three events in with Strikeforce and I think we’ve made amazing progress that we’re even in this conversation about UFC and counter-programming and all that silliness," remarked Hershman. "They have a 100-event head start on us and I think that we’re doing pretty damn well."
It could also be a long run for MMA on Showtime, judging from the channel’s increasing subscription numbers. Obviously, not all of the new subscribers cough up their monthly fee because of MMA, but the influx of new paid viewers fall heavily in the young demographic that has been the lifeblood of the sport’s meteoric rise.
"If you want to track back to February ‘07 it’s probably about two, two-and-a-half million subscriber growth," boasted Hershman. "That is unprecedented in premium television in the last few years. Most of our new subscribers coming onto Showtime are 18 to 34, so mixed martial arts is a perfect entrée for them to the network, it allows us to reach this younger demographic with programming they want and we’re growing."
Of course it is, it fits your agenda nicely.
A man should never waste an opportunity to keep his mouth shut.
by iiowyn on Aug 20, 2009 1:47 PM EDT up reply actions 3 recs
Growth is from cable companies giving it away for free for 12 months.
They have been doing MMA for over 2 years…. They have to stop acting like this is their true 3rd event.
by AlwaysRelaxing on Aug 20, 2009 1:48 PM EDT up reply actions 2 recs
So because they got a higher percentage of people who subscribe to their channel to watch something on their channel, I’m supposed to be impressed that hey got less than 1/3 the viewership than a UFC rerun?
by Screwface on Aug 20, 2009 2:04 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
those are GREAT numbers.
and come one… if you want to use rating numbers without context, you might has well say EliteXC on CBS DESTROYS UFC PPV’s….
"I’m not going to stop yelling because that would mean, I lost the fight!"-Kenny Powers
shooter/cutter for AllElbows.com
EliteXC's numbers...
on CBS did smash UFC’s PPV buys. The problem with your statement is that I have used the ratings in context. EVERYBODY has CBS, everybody with cable/satellite has Spike, the people with Showtime have Showtime for a reason. EliteXC’s shows garnered around 4% of the viewing public’s attention. UFC’s PPVs get somewhere between 1.5 – 3% of possible viewers. Strikeforce garned somewehere between 1.8 – 2.5% of possible viewers. Now when you put those #s in “context.” That’s EliteXC with 111,400,000 possible viewers, the UFC with roughly 59,732,000 possible viewers and depending on whose numbers you go by Showtime with 18.5 – 21mil viewers.
EliteXC = an average of 4.4mil out of 111.4mil possible viewers..
UFC = an average of 1.1mil out of 59.7mil possible viewers.
Stikeforce = an average of .576mil out of 19.75mil possible viewers.
SOURCES:
http://www.ce.org/Press/CEA_Pubs/2011.asp
hhtp://us.nielsen.com/main/news/news_releases/2007/march/Average_U_S__Home_Now_Receives_A_Record_104_2_TV_Channels__According_to_Nielsen
Good for CBS/Showtime.
I hope they support MMA this time rather than bleeding Strikeforce dry and trying auction off the corpse like they did with EliteXC.
Something to consider...
Would there be a conflict of interest if the UFC and HBO teamed up? Follow me here, HBO is owned by Time Warner, who also has half-ownership of the CW with the CBS corporation who owns Showtime, who has a deal with Strikeforce MMA…
by Screwface on Aug 20, 2009 3:29 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
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