In today's MMA Rant of the Day I argue that discussions of various promotional angles the UFC should take are pretty much moot because the structure of the Fox TV/FX/Fuel TV deal means that the UFC has a greatly diminished promotional reach compared to the Spike TV era.

The Rant, of course, caps off the MMA of the Day Video playlist compiled by Zombie Prophet. That playlist is embedded after the jump along with a list of all the videos included. Subscribe to MMA Nation on YouTube to get all my rants and all of Zombie's playlists as soon as they're online.

You'll have to watch the video to see my main points but here's a quick summary after the jump...

SBN coverage of UFC 152: Jones vs. Belfort

1. Fuel TV with its ~36 million subscribers (and effective reach of 50,000 to 200,000 viewers due to low ratings) is effectively irrelevant as a promotional vehicle. The UFC can have, and does, all the UFC talk shows, UFC highlight shows, and UFC preview shows it wants to air. The problem is no one is watching.
   
   
2. FX has closer to 99 million subscribers (comparable to Spike). Unfortunately for the UFC they only get a single prime time slot a week and that goes to The Ultimate Fighter. We don't have numbers yet for the new season debut, but it got very little promotion (for example there was no lead-in fight event as the one planned for Indianapolis last Wednesday was cancelled a few months back) and I can only expect the ratings to be as bad as last season's -- and those were dismal. Regardless, a one or two-hour slot on FX can't compare with the multiple prime time slots they enjoyed last year on Spike TV.
   
   
3. Fox TV airs the UFC four times a year and so far hasn't lifted a finger to promote any of their PPVs.

Today we've got:

• Tito Ortiz on Mad TV
• Chael Sonnen ripping Jon Jones (again)
• Michelle Waterson Invicta 3 promo featuring her Greg Jackson MMA teammates
• Woman beats man in grappling competition
• GSP signs with NOS energy
• Kyle Kingsbury talks about being the UFC's gatekeeper
• Igor Pokrajac promo (in Croatian)
• Gunnar Nelson training
• Vitor Belfort - the Newest Blackzillian
• MMA Beat episode 2
• UFC Fan tribute from Dana White

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