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Dave Meltzer gets the Dana's reaction and points out how well UFC on Spike has done relative to Strikeforce on CBS:

"CBS made its biggest mistake partnering with a tiny, small show with a roster no one cares about," said Dana White. "Just because you read on MMA.TV that someone is a superstar doesn't make it true. This should prove that no one out there gives a [expletive] about Fedor."

"We're pulling those numbers on Spike," White said. "I mean, how the [expletive] is what they did considered any good in any way, shape or form? What kind of numbers do you think we would pull with a live show on CBS? I'll tell you. Huge. It would be significantly, significantly more than what they got with these idiots from Showtime."

"You'd think everyone [in the industry] would be happy because it's great for the industry for everyone to be doing well," responded Coker.

Of the eight episodes of the current season of the UFC's "Ultimate Fighter" reality show on Spike, two had higher ratings than this show. Aside from that, UFC has topped a 2.5 rating for a live event twice, for a 2006 Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock fight and a 2007 Quinton Jackson vs. Dan Henderson fight. UFC 105, which airs this coming Saturday night, headlined by Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera, the first time Couture will have ever fought live on Spike TV, could do a rating in the same range as Strikeforce show.

But the TV ratings news isn't all good for Dana and the UFC:

UFC's attempt at counterprogramming the opposition didn't prove as successful as in the past. UFC has always put on replays of past major pay-per-view events against the prior CBS shows, usually doing a 1.2 rating, considered very strong for Spike TV for using old footage. But they were down 25 percent from usual, doing a 0.9 rating and 1.2 million viewers with a custom-made show featuring the television debuts of four recent never-before-seen pay-per-view main event matches.

It's widely rumored that UFC 75 was aired free on Spike as a demonstration for the networks -- particularly CBS -- of what UFC could do on free television. Having seen the Strikeforce broadcast, Dana White has to be happy he didn't sign with CBS since one of their demands was supposedly taking over production and commentary. It was bad enough for me to hear Gus Johnson talking about Jake Shields "holding his breath" to avoid being submitted by a rear naked choke, can you imagine Dana White's reaction to hearing that kind of commentary on a UFC telecast?

On the other hand, it's very hard for me to imagine a scenario where any major network, even Fox, let's the UFC bring its own production and commentary team along for the network broadcast. It's one thing for the UFC to hire its own announcers on Spike TV or on PPV, but any organization with its own sports news operation is going to be very resistant to airing sports programming that is announced by the promotion's own commenters. Rogan and Goldberg may be better than any team a network could assemble right now, but it's just not big time to let the fight promoter control the coverage. It's not big time, it's WWE.

Dana White's desire to control the presentation of his product is probably the right instinct and might well be what's best for the long term health of the sport, but it's also what's keeping UFC off the networks and allowing otherwise second-tier promotions to grab the opportunity.

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Bloody Elbow spoke to Mike Afromowitz of Strikeforce this evening and was informed that Strikeforce has decided to pay both fighters their contracted win bonuses. 

The quote on the resolution:

..the resolution to this is that both fighters got paid their appearance fees and we're paying them their win bonuses.

On Strikeforce's attempts to follow through on the match-up:

Just so you know, we made every attempt to put the fight back on in another Chicago area fight so they could fight in front of their hometown fans but neither fighter was available on the date proposed for a local card there.

Mike went on to explain that if the fight would have been moved to a local show Strikeforce would have paid them the appearance fee for that fight as well, but when they weren't able to commit to that date both fighters were paid their win bonuses.  Also, Mike was quick to point out that this was the first time a fight has been pushed of a card like this in Strikeforce history and they feel that in the end this resolution was fair.

Links for backstory:

Original Bloody Elbow post: What Happened to Mark Miller v. Deray Davis?

Follow up Bloody Elbow post: New Details on the Mark Miller / Deray Davis Cancellation

Photo via Showtime

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I was initially discouraged by the Strikeforce ratings news, but the final number for the Fedor fight was very good.  5.46 million viewers tuned in and saw Fedor fight.  

People are going to argue that viewers tuned in for the news, but it's an irrelevant point.  The viewership numbers are an average from 11:00-11:15.  If someone tuned in for the news and it wasn't on, they'd turn the show off.  If they didn't and kept watching, then there's no reason not to count those viewers.  Eyeballs are eyeballs.  Someone seeing it and then telling people about it is just as good if not better than someone seeking it out.

The fight came in below Kimbo Slice's fights on CBS and on Spike, and also came in below Gina Carano's fight with Kaitlin Young on the first CBS show.  The important thing to note is the large increase in viewership in a short period of time, the half hour before had just 4.01 million viewers, which means the main event segment posted a viewership increase of 1.45 million viewers.  It's an impressive number, and probably enough for CBS to do another MMA show with Fedor on top.  He'll probably draw even better next time.

The final number is supposedly a 2.5, which is a respectable number even if not a home run.  For a show built around a Russian nobody knew with no Gina Carano fight anchoring the main event, this is not a bad rating.  I believe if there was a Gina co-main event the Fedor fight could have potentially rivaled the numbers Kimbo did.  It would have also done better if the Shields-Miller match didn't kill the show's ratings growth.

Unfortunately for Strikeforce, it looks like Fedor is out for at least 6 months with an injury.  They have a solid Showtime deal and can continue to build stars over there, but with Gina out for the forseeable future it's hard to see who they could main event a CBS show with before Fedor returns.  My advice would be to hold off on a second show until he is healthy.  The decision to do a second CBS show for EliteXC in July was disastrous, and it was entirely forseeable that the number would be poor.  Strikeforce and CBS shouldn't set themselves up for failure; instead they should spend 6-8 months building stars on Showtime and in the press and then return to CBS with Fedor's next fight. In the meantime, CBS can contribute by continuing to promote and advertise Strikeforce and its stars.

One thing is for certain: Fedor Emelianenko is no longer an unknown quantity in the U.S.  5 million people saw him win a fantastic fight with a spectacular knockout.  His value increased a lot as a result of this show.

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MMA Fanhouse has the story:

The final Nielsen ratings are in and 5.46 million viewers tuned in Saturday to watch Strikeforce and M-1 Global's main event between Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers from 11:00 pm to 11:15 pm ET on CBS.

...

While CBS still fell short to Fox and ABC, the channel was a big winner in the 18-34 demographic. Saturday Night Fights was the top program for both adults and men 18-34, beating out college football and was an improvement of 283% on CBS' season-to-date average on Saturday nights.

For reference, Kimbo Slice vs James Thompson drew 6.51 million viewers on CBS in May of 2008 and Spike TV's The Ultimate Fighter featuring Kimbo Slice vs Roy Nelson drew 6.1 million viewers only a few weeks ago. It was far stronger than the Robbie Lawler vs Scott Smith headlined EliteXC show which only drew 2.5 million viewers.

Before the show, Josh Gross said it would be a major disappointment if the show did anything less than 5.5 million viewers. I'm curious to see if he sticks with that metric now. I'm also very curious to see if CBS gambles with another Saturday Night Fights headlined by Fedor Emelianenko. These numbers are right on the edge of good enough to try again.

[Update by Luke Thomas]: Full press release with all of the numbers after the jump.

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Photo by Dave Mandel, Sherdog.com

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Jake Shields is in one of the most unique situations a fighter can be in following his Strikeforce Middleweight championship title victory over Jason "Mayhem" Miller on Saturday night at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers. While he doesn't actually hold two titles at the same time, a feat only obtained by former PRIDE welterweight and middleweight champion Dan Henderson, Shields is currently Strikeforce's best welterweight fighter on paper while also holding the belt at middleweight. Interestingly enough, Shields holds the belt at his unnatural weight mostly due to the fact that he stepped up in weight to help Strikeforce promoter Scott Coker fill a need for a quality bout.

There is now a more evident problem with the current situation within Strikeforce's welterweight and middleweight divisions. Shields is now a title holder in a weight class that isn't his ideal weight, and he's considered by most fans to be a fairly undersized middleweight fighter. His performance against the lankier and bigger Jason "Mayhem" Miller wasn't an impressive performance by any means, and the road at 185 pounds only gets tougher if Strikeforce legitimately matches Shields up against high-level talent.

Miller's escapes from the constant flow of transitions to full mount was impressive, but Shields' inability to put any power into his gloves when in a dominating position was the bigger surprise. We knew Shields wasn't a heavy-handed crusher on the feet or in the ground striking department, but his inability to damage Miller was underwhelming. Shields grappled his way to victory in an unpleasing fashion, but the performance didn't inspire confidence in fans that Shields could run the table of challengers at 185 pounds.

Shields is a natural welterweight fighter, and his reign at 185 pounds likely won't last long. With contenders like Matt Lindland and Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza possibly being in the mix for a shot at Shields' new hardware, it isn't looking like Shields' streak of wins will continue for much longer. Furthermore, his performance probably didn't put a whole lot of confidence in creating those match-ups since both Lindland and Souza are ground specialists. Lindland could easily come in much heavier, and his wrestling experience could smother the BJJ grappler. Souza, on the other hand, offers superior jiu-jitsu abilities along with some solid power, an attribute that is a direct benefit from the added weight.

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via www.cdn.sherdog.com

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Did Jake Shields cost the Chicago Cubs another shot at a World Series?  Ye gods.  Shields received so much heat Saturday night that South Side hero/North Side goat Steve Bartman announced he would return from the underground world he entered following the Cubs' 2003 playoff exit.

Chicago, it seems, is not the place to host your middleweight title fights.  Just over a calendar year passed since Anderson Silva mocked and embarassed Patrick Cote in the UFC Octagon before Cote blew his knee out.  While Silva danced circles around Cote, Shields brought opponent Jason Miller's hug-a-thon prognostication to fruition.

Yet, while Shields initiated the ground war of attrition, Miller has escaped any sort of blame for the entertainment value of the fight.  It was Miller, not Shields, who lacked the ability to maintain a vertical base.  It was Miller, not Shields, who entered the cage as the larger fighter.  It was Miller, not Shields, who guaranteed he would turn the fight into a brawl.

It's also hard to find fault in the reaction from Sears Center patrons.  For all the build the first two fights provided, Shields and Miller unleashed a buzzkill more potent than flashing red and blue lights outside of a high school house party.

The blame should rest squarely on the shoulders of Scott Coker and the Strikeforce matchmaking team.  Not only did the fight look like a turd for casual fans on paper, but Strikeforce found a way to increase the turdness exponentially when it put up the vacated (and meaningless) Strikeforce middleweight title, adding two rounds to a fight that promised to go fifteen.

And now, instead of crowning a champion with exposure to a national network audience, Jake Shields is stuck with a case of MMA's genital herpes, the Scarlet Letter "B" for "boring".

Like a real case of the herp, no cure exists.  You only hope to contain the symptoms.  He'll have to have his next fight on Showtime with the virus still fresh on his skin.  He won't be able to headline an event for the foreseeable future.  And you'll constantly have to apply high-priced lotions like Gina Carano to keep that bothersome itch in check.

It's unfortunate for Shields because he went out and did exactly what he needed to do.  You could hear the faint whispers of Randy Couture gushing about Shields's ability to impose his will on Miller.  But now, because he couldn't finish a guy that makes Gumby look rigid, Shields, and Shields alone, has to deal with the backlash for putting on an "underwhelming" performance.

In an article from the LA Times:

Dana White calls Strikeforce's overall ratings Saturday a disappointment -

"CBS would be out of their mind to put that rinky-dink [Strikeforce] . . . on the air again . . . and without that backing, [promoters] won't have the money to pay [Emelianenko]."

"Fedor just got his face smashed in by Brett Rogers. Do you know what Brock or Frank Mir and Cain Velasquez would do to Brett Rogers?" White said. "It's time to bring this guy [Fedor] in, to see Brock Lesnar smash his head."

Scott Coker says Emelianenko is dealing with a fracture and tendon damage in his left thumb, and a fractured nose -

"[The hand injury] could've been from that blow when he had Brett on the mat at the end," Coker said. "We're hearing he could be out for four to six months."

Alistair Overeem will headline a Strikeforce card on Showtime early next year, and he is the favorite to be Emelianenko's next foe, Coker said.

More at latimes.com.
-- photo via m-1global.com

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After our last update in which we had ULTMMA getting a statement from Knock Out Representation there was a report on The Underground stating that Mark Miller and Deray Davis had been promised a fight on the next Strikeforce card and had "been compensated."  I decided to speak to Miller's representation myself to clarify.

When asked if they had now been paid their win bonus as the Underground post insinuated:

Mark was not given his win money.. the fight being cancelled also caused us to miss out on the sponsor $ that were under contract.  As you know often the sponsorships can exceed what the fighter was set to make for his actual fight night salary. 

 

I can not speak for what happened with the promotion.. We just know the fight was scrapped and are obviously disappointed.  What can ya do?  We look forward to hearing from Strikeoforce very shortly to schedule a new bout.  Either way we greatly appreciate our partners-Jaco Clothing, Hayabusa, World Fight Shop, Immortal Apparel, Guerrilla Fight, Another Dimension Tatoos and Rockwell Watches.  We look forward to Mark fighting in the VERY near future. 

nothing has been promised as of yet. 

Even more upsetting is the fact that both fighters are local and sold several tickets to their friends, family, and training partners.  While exact numbers are not known, MMA Recap has estimated that somewhere between 120-150 tickets were sold between the two fighters.  In a 12,000 capacity venue, that's roughly 1% of all the fans showed up to watch that specific fight.  MMA Recap has also confirmed that several of these fans tried to get a refund as the only fight they came to see live did not happen.  These fans were told, "Card is subject to change" and were denied their refund.

via sherdog.com

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During the undercard portion of Saturday's Strikeforce show the Mark Miller v. Deray Davis fight was skipped over from it's scheduled slot to make sure the women's bout would have adequate time to get in before the start of the CBS broadcast.  The ladies only took a few minutes to get their fight taken care of and there were thirty minutes left before the show went live.  Still, the Miller/Davis fight didn't happen.  We were told in the media section that the fight was going to be moved to after the main event.  I'm not sure who provided that update but it was passed around from media member to media member.

After the post-Fedor madness cleared from the cage we were told to get upstairs for the press conference and it was clear that the Miller/Davis fight wasn't taking place.  I tried to ask the few executives I saw walking around for the story and no one seemed to know.

However I have since found the following from Chicago Now:

Mark Miller vs Deray Davis was canceled by fight organizers due to lack of time.  A real un-cool decision.  Both fighters prepared for this evening and were told with no advance noticed what-so-ever.  At the moment they would be walking out on the floor for their match, Miller and Davis were informed that they were canceled! Fighters stood stand-by in shock trying to understand how this became their evening's destiny.

As impressed as I was overall by how smoothly things seemed to run from the Strikeforce side, how the hell does this happen?  Two hometown guys have been put through a training camp, all the mental and physical preparation, the weight cut only to be told seconds before walking out to the cage that the fight is canceled.  It's a massive ball drop, especially considering that the Jeff Curran / Dustin Neace and Marloes Coenen / Roxanne Modafferi fights both ended in under three minutes.  It isn't as though every fight went to the judges and time just became completely unavailable.

I'm sure Strikeforce paid both guys, but fighters want to fight and it's a real shame that Strikeforce fell down so badly on this contest.

UPDATE by Brent Brookhouse:

As posted in the comments as well as this fanshot by Scott Haber it appears both men were paid their contracted "show" money but no win bonus as well as no opportunity for other bonuses.  Also, one of the men reportedly lost all sponsorship money since he was never out in front of the crowd to fulfill his side of the contract.

I have requested a response from Strikeforce.  Here is an excerpt from said request:

Does Strikeforce wish to issue a statement to BloodyElbow to the following questions?

- What does Strikeforce feel are it's obligations as a promoter to afford the fighters the opportunity to fight for their contracted win bonus?

- How did the show hit the point where when two undercard bouts ended in under 2 minutes and a third ended in the second round that there was no room for one of the scheduled bouts?

- What responsibility does the promotion take in the damaging hit to the livelihoods of these fighters as well as the professional toll taken on them?  These men were put through training camps, gathered sponsorship contracts and then were not given the opportunity to compete.

- Why did the bout not take place when there were 30+ minutes left prior to the start of the CBS broadcast and no other remaining preliminary bouts?

Updates to follow as available.  Stay tuned.

Update 2 By Brent Brookhouse:

ULTMMA pointed us back to their site via this fanpost which covers a discussion they had with Mark Miller's management.  The highlight:

From a email with Oren Hodak of KO reps

"He (Mark Miller) obviously wanted to fight. I can't charge his sponsor since he didn't actually fight. We will try and transfer most of them to his next fight. One problem is that 2 of the sponsors were Chicago based, hopefully they will still support his next bout.

Strikeforce did pay him his 'show' money, but they still took out the 'corner man fee'."

Strikeforce still has not replied to my request for a statement and I will be following up with a phone call shortly.

Photo via Showtime Sports

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We talk a lot at Bloody Elbow about whether Fedor is marketable or not. Sometimes readers object that they only care about the fights and don't want to hear about what goes on backstage and want to hear informed speculation about marketability even less. The reason we write about this aspect of MMA is this -- MMA is a fringe sport emerging into the mainstream and its success in the sports and entertainment marketplace determines the quality of athletes entering the sport, the quality of match-ups promoters present and even the larger cultural relevance (if any) of the sport.

With that introductory note out of the way, let's get to some breathless speculation about whether or not Fedor is going to be a marketable star in the States.

BE commenter MMALogic did a very capable job of describing how a fighter, even a seemingly non-charismatic fighter like Fedor can become a star:

When you look at fighters and experience who they are you have to look at them like a casting agent to see the potential. Since everyone has been brought up and raised by TV we look at people and categorize them if they were in a movie or show.

GSP is a Van Damme
Lyoto is a Ryu or the lead martial artist in the karate movies we used to see.
Anderson (Silva) comes off as an extra henchmen type or the bad guy the hero has to beat at the end of the movie.
Fedor looks like the fat guy behind the counter where the lead actor is buying a pretzel.

The closer a fighter can get to being viewed as a "lead" character in a movie the more potential they have.

Without talking about acting skills and just looking at their character can you see them as a "lead" in a movie? Can they be a supporting character? or just an extra? Those are the most important questions in regards to potential (besides the physical abilities).

What trumps all of this though is what experience the fighter actually gives the viewer plus REPETITION. Any lack of star potential can be overcome with these 2 factors (quality of experience delivered and repetition of delivery)

The hard core fans have had many "experiences" with fedor. They go way back. To ask or to expect some new fan to view Fedor in the same or similar light just doesnt work.

And if the experience and repetition occurs in big fights (where endorphins of the viewer are most released) you multiply the effect of that "experience".

The thing is ANYONE can end up being a star... it's just a matter of how much quality of "experience" that needs to be delivered and the repetition (how many times it needs to be delivered)... this differs from fighter to fighter and what usually determines it is the potential (the answers to the questions I posed above regarding the "casting" of a fighter).

With that in mind, how did Fedor do at delivering that quality of "experience" Saturday night.

Kevin Iole tells the story how Fedor Emelianenko introduced himself to a mass American audience on Saturday:

The crowd was booing and not in a good mood as Shields and Miller exited the cage.

But as soon as Emelianenko's image appeared on the video boards, it was as if a switch was flipped and the crowd erupted in cheers. Emelianenko, staring straight ahead with a blank expression, walked to the cage and quietly awaited the bell.

...

..it's pretty clear that Emelianenko's next fight will be a much bigger deal. He's never been a big ticket seller before and his pay-per-view numbers were atrocious, but the crowd Saturday was clearly into it and the fight had to have been well-received by those who didn't walk away from their TVs after the dreadful Shields-Miller match.

...

One more fight like that on network television and Emelianenko will be able to carry a show by himself.

I have to agree whole-heartedly  with Iole's assessment. I enjoyed the rare treat (for me) of getting to watch the fight with a room full of first time MMA watchers, a couple of skeptical boxing fans who've seen a few MMA fights and our host, one of my long-time MMA watching buds. It was very telling to gauge the reactions. The Shields-Miller fight was more an occasion for discussion of Mayhem's pre-fight antics and a lot of remarks about the sexual connotations of the guard and back-mount positions. 

But as soon as Fedor-Rogers began everyone was into the fight. And once Rogers, whose Sam's Club background made a big impression on everyone, scored first and bloodied Fedor the excitement and tension in the room was palpable. When Fedor answered the challenge with his trademark looping bombs, the room was abuzz.

Everyone happily watched the fight a second and then a third time amidst much spirited discussion of whether or not it was an early stoppage, whether there was anything Rogers could have done differently to secure the win and most of all about this mysterious, odd-looking chubby Russian who had such an impassive but implacable aura and an amazing ability to fight.

I have no doubt that most of the first time MMA watchers that I saw the fight with will be back for more the next time they hear Fedor will be fighting.