On September 19th, UFC 103: Franklin vs. Belfort is scheduled to go head-to-head with the HBO pay-per-view telecast of Mayweather vs. Marquez. Now, the UFC has decided to go on the offensive by televising a portion of the UFC 103 preliminary undercard for free during a one-hour commercial free telecast on Spike TV. The broadcast will begin at 9PM and will lead into the main card televised on pay-per-view at 10PM. The UFC is notorious for their counter-programming tactics and the move could very well have a serious impact on the pay-per-view sales for Mayweather vs. Marquez.
Last weekend, opposite the live "Strikeforce: Carano vs Cyborg" event that aired on Showtime, the UFC aired a replay of select UFC 100 fights on Spike TV. They were able to outdraw the competition by well over 1 million viewers. In fact, they did so well that they also outdrew Major League Baseball on FOX as well as Golf's PGA Championship on CBS in the male 18-34 demographic during that time slot. While some would argue that boxing and mixed martial arts fans are independent of each other, there are many who actually do follow both sports. Not to mention, the casual sports fan, who has no particular allegiance to either sport, might be lured into watching UFC 103 over Mayweather vs. Marquez after given the opportunity to watch UFC Fight Night: Diaz vs. Guillard on September 16th followed by the premier of The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights immediately after and then another two hours of MMA action right before the event. That's a lot of MMA and most importantly, it's all free.
To their credit, Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions have put together a fairly decent undercard for their event. At the very least, it's a lot better than some of the recent pay-per-view undercards we've been getting. The televised supporting bouts to the Mayweather vs. Marquez clash include WBA featherweight champion Chris John defending his title in a rematch with Rocky Juarez, Michael Katsidis and Vicente Escobedo battling it out for the interim WBO lightweight title and former undisputed welterweight champion Zab Judah will taking on battle-tested veteran Antonio Diaz. That being said, for $49.95, I'm not so sure it's enough to outdo the $44.95 UFC card headlined by Rich Franklin and Vitor Belfort. The televised UFC 103 pay-per-view card will also feature a heavyweight clash between former PRIDE star Mirko Cro Cop and Junior Dos Santos, a welterweight showdowns between Martin Kampmann and Mike Swick, another welterweight fight between Josh Koscheck and Frank Trigg, who's making his return to the Octagon, and then a lightweight scrap between Tyson Griffin and Hermes Franca.
For those fans who are undecided, the one hour of commercial-free fights might be all it takes to sway their decision as the preliminary undercard for UFC 103 is stacked full of talent that's sure to guarantee a number of submissions and knockouts. The following is a list of those bouts and what fans can expect to see for free beginning at 9PM:
- Efrain Escudero (11-0) vs. Cole Miller (15-3)
- Jim Miller (14-2) vs. TBA
- Dan Lauzon (12-2) vs. Rafaello Oliveira (8-1)
- Paul Daley (21-8-2) vs. Brian Foster (10-3)
- Tomasz Drwal (16-2-1) vs. Drew McFedries (8-5)
- Eliot Marshall (7-1) vs. Jason Brilz (17-1-1)
- Vladimir Matyushenko (22-4) vs. Igor Pokrajac (21-5)
- Rafael dos Anjos (11-4) vs. Matt Wiman (10-5)
Personally, on September 19th, I will be watching the Mayweather vs. Marquez card, but I admit, I'm a diehard boxing fan and I'm just curious to see how Floyd looks after a 18-month layoff. Something tells me, however, that the diehard boxing fans are few and far between so if the number of pay-per-view buys are dependent on the casual fans, I have a funny feeling that those pay-per-view numbers will fall somewhere between 400-500,000 buys. Is that a success? It's hard to say, but when the final numbers come out, this certainly will be a good test as to which sport, boxing or MMA, is more popular.
[ Follow Ben Thompson on Twitter @fighthype ]