Why is the UFC deliberately counter-programming boxing?

by SDD on Sep 18, 2009 5:06 AM EDT

This may seem like a naieve question but I can understand them counter-programming MMA rivals like Strikeforce. I can also undertanding them going all-out to beat boxing PPVs which just happen to fall on the same days. What I do not understand is why they are counter-programming fights like Cotto-Pacquiao with free cards on Spike such as Couture-Vera. I really like MMA, have loved boxing for well over twenty years but have slowly come around to MMA being a great sport (and having better fighters in a NHB situation). So, with my regard for boxing still strong it is annoying to see the UFC appearing to go out of their way to deliberately hurt boxing by eating into their PPV revenue. I do not care about the Mayweather-Marquez fight as I will choose UFC 103 over that but the Cotto-Pacquiao is boxing potentially at its best. Strange that Dana says he loves boxing, he's a 'boxing guy' and then attempts to drive a stake through its heart. Do they counter-program because they want to erode the boxing fanbase or is it simply to hold their dominant position in the marketplace where a resurgent boxing would be a threat to their growth? Or is it that logically there are just so few Saturday nights available for combat PPVs because of other sports that they have to clash?

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UFC booked their November 14 date before Pacquiao/Cotto did. Same deal with 103 and Mayweather/Marquez.

by rabrown on Sep 18, 2009 5:49 AM EDT reply actions 5 recs

this

by AfroSamurai on Sep 18, 2009 8:54 AM EDT up reply actions

So boxing is the one “deliberately” counter-programming the UFC then.

Just BE.

by mattman73 on Sep 18, 2009 10:27 AM EDT up reply actions

What rab said.

"Respond intelligently even to unintelligent treatment."

-Lao Tzu

by RoyalB on Sep 18, 2009 11:57 AM EDT up reply actions

I LOVE FREE FIGHTS!

What better way to get more viewers other than showing fresh new fights?

UFC finally smart enough to share valuable contents which could’ve been waste and more exposure to up and coming fighters too!

anyways Boxing is pretty much dead and they only show 2 fights on PPV compare to 7 fights in UFC.

You have to beat the legend, in order to become the LEGEND
-Melvin Manhoef (after his destruction of Sakuraba)

by chopstickthugz on Sep 18, 2009 6:27 AM EDT reply actions

Yeah about that last sentence of yours....

"[Aaron] Curry is not a good pass-rusher" - Fearless Frog, 4/25/2009

by SSreporters on Sep 18, 2009 10:18 AM EDT up reply actions

anyways Boxing is pretty much dead

by Tonley on Sep 18, 2009 11:17 AM EDT up reply actions

Not as much fail as the threadstarter.

by Swordslasher on Sep 18, 2009 4:37 PM EDT up reply actions

anyways Boxing is pretty much dead and they only show 2 fights on PPV compare to 7 fights in UFC.

Every boxing PPV has at least four fights. The quality of them is much more debatable than the quantity, because on that you are flat-out wrong.

Bad Left Hook
"Well Howie, I think I'm going to stay outside and outjab him." -- Tex Cobb telling Howard Cosell how he would approach Larry Holmes

by Scott Christ on Sep 18, 2009 12:03 PM EDT up reply actions

I’d like to point out that the opinions expressed by chopstickthugz are his personal opinions, and do not necessarily reflect the views of us here at Bloody Elbow as a whole.

by Shaun32887 on Sep 18, 2009 12:46 PM EDT up reply actions

Not internationally.

I have bought boxing PPVs and gotten one fight. Mike Tyson-Lamon Brewster was one fight (and a lousy fight at that).

I like using semi-colons; they make me feel smart.

by Llewdor on Sep 18, 2009 3:29 PM EDT up reply actions

Mike Tyson never fought Lamon Brewster.

Bad Left Hook
"Well Howie, I think I'm going to stay outside and outjab him." -- Tex Cobb telling Howard Cosell how he would approach Larry Holmes

by Scott Christ on Sep 18, 2009 7:32 PM EDT up reply actions

I came off like a dickhead there. Let me try that again: “Mike Tyson never fought Lamon Brewster, but I have heard of that international junk of which you speak.”

Was the price of a one-fight boxing PPV like that equivalent to the $40-60 US PPV price for a full televised card?

Bad Left Hook
"Well Howie, I think I'm going to stay outside and outjab him." -- Tex Cobb telling Howard Cosell how he would approach Larry Holmes

by Scott Christ on Sep 18, 2009 7:34 PM EDT up reply actions

Stating fact never makes you a dickhead.

http://www.vancouversun.com/mma

by Ozzz on Sep 19, 2009 12:31 PM EDT up reply actions

They aren’t.

by GoldenOldie on Sep 18, 2009 9:53 AM EDT reply actions

they're not

From my understanding UFC books their dates and venues well in advance. The Sept. 19 thing was kind of bound to happen with something, since it’s Mexican Independence weekend and there’s usually a big fight then, but it happened with Mayweather-Marquez because they postponed their original July 18 date. UFC had Nov. 14 well before Top Rank decided to put Cotto-Pacquiao on that date, too.

I understand the circumstances surrounding 9/19, not so much 11/14. There were plenty of open dates when Arum put that fight together.

Bad Left Hook
"Well Howie, I think I'm going to stay outside and outjab him." -- Tex Cobb telling Howard Cosell how he would approach Larry Holmes

by Scott Christ on Sep 18, 2009 12:05 PM EDT reply actions