by MMAjunkie.com Staff on May 07, 2008 at 2:10 pm ET
On the night Elite Xtreme Combat makes it network television debut on CBS, Spike TV and the UFC will counter with a night-long broadcast schedule of Chuck Liddell programming.
"EliteXC: PRIMETIME" airs from 9-11 p.m. ET/PT, and Spike TV's homage to Liddell begins at 8 p.m. ET/PT and runs for three hours.
The night includes the premiere of "Ultimate Iceman: Chuck Liddell," an hour-long documentary that chronicles the career of the UFC's former light heavyweight champion both in and out of the cage.
Spike TV will follow with a "Liddell vs. Silva: UFC Unleashed Special Edition" that includes Liddell's December 2007 main-event fight with Wanderlei Silva. It'll be the first time the UFC 79 fight airs on cable TV.
The night actually kicks off with "Ultimate Knockouts 4," which features Liddell's most memorable bouts.
CBS, meanwhile, will run its first "Saturday Night Fights" event the same night. Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson and James Thompson headline the event, and EliteXC middleweight champ Robbie Lawler defends his title against Scott Smith.
Liddell Doc sounds interesting. I'll def DVR it and watch it after EXC
Mosley/Judah is same night too. I think that will be hurt the most. Both guys coming off losses to Cotto and Judah chokes in big fights. I bet it barely gets 250k buys
The EXC show will garner a whole new breed of fans while IF anyone who has Spike watches the Chuck mess it will be current UFC goons. No new fans will watch the Chuck "homage." All the while Kimbo will be attracting a greater number of fans not familiar with the sport or the UFC. I say there is no way for the UFC to win this battle unless they get on TV. And soon.
"garner a whole new breed of fans" The only "NEW FANS" will be those that stumble across it on a saturday night. All the mma fans already know about it.
"no way for the UFC to win this battle" UFC is winning the battle.
SbmissionSooner - I was able to watch this CHUCK LIDELL Biography a couple of days ago, and I was really impressed with it.. Ya don't want to miss it when it airs!!
Angry guy. More people stumbling onto CBS on a Saturday than have access to Spike. That's the point. Not to mention they have the ability to market the show to millions of people more than the UFC does on Spike. I guess what I am saying is that everyone in America who has a TV will be able to watch the show if they somehow here about it. The chances that someone will see it on cbs.com are far greater than to stumble across ufc.com. See what I mean? I am saying that you will hear about the cbs show without looking for MMA.
" It's been out on DVD for over a year and can be found online pretty easily."
That one came out around UFC 58/59, but this is a new one.. I just found out it won't be aired, it will be realeased on DVD. It has stuff from the Jardine/Wand fights..Also don't miss the Countdown 84 show.. It's the best one that's ever been made in my opinion. They stepped up the production and editing, and it's really good !! Unfortunately Rachelle isn't in it..
its funny, in a modern world with tivo and dvr's everywhere why anyone would care to do this. mma fans will watch one and record the other to view later that night or the next day.
as for casual viewers, its noted above that more people will flip by CBS then Spike so it makes it a rather pointless move.
"as for casual viewers, its noted above that more people will flip by CBS then Spike so it makes it a rather pointless move."
Sorry, but that's incorrect in a sense.
Those who flip by CBS are much less likely to be the target audience of an MMA promotion than those who flip by Spike. My senior citizen parents are the type that flip on CBS on a Saturday night.
In my honest opinion, I kinda doubt either one will do anything stellar as far as ratings. Both are fairly unpromoted(I've seen nothing on TV and heard nothing on radio about either) and the target audience for MMA isn't gonna be sitting at home at 9 on a Saturday night flipping channels.
They'll both pull some ratings, but it's not some huge thing like two PPVs going head to head on the same night.
But as far as marketing goes... UFC has a pretty solid lock with Spike. Spike's viewers are the same demographic as an MMA promotion's target audience. That's a very serious competitive advantage. Personally, I'd love to see EXC somehow overcome that obstacle... but it certainly won't be easy. And I highly doubt it'll be done on the first try.
1) Ultimate Iceman totally sucks, do a quick google search and you can find it online
2) All this will likely do is mobilize the UFC fans who might not otherwise be watching TV at that time, and once they realize how much that "documentary" sucks they'll probably flip around and realize there is Ultimate Fighting on CBS now.
On the night Elite Xtreme Combat makes it network television debut on CBS, Spike TV and the UFC will counter with a night-long broadcast schedule of Chuck Liddell programming.