Saturday night's UFC 136 marks the fourth event in four weeks for the Las Vegas-based promotion.
Get used to it.
The schedule continues to grow at an exponential rate, according to UFC president Dana White, who said that the organization has already penciled in dates on its 2012 calendar.
The final tally? Thirty-four events. That's a serious increase from 2011, which will see 27 live events by the time Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem close out the UFC's year in Las Vegas on December 30.
That increased number of shows will come as welcome news to fans in markets that have been promised events but were shut out in 2011, like Sweden and Ireland. Though no locations are yet set in stone, the increased frequency of events will at least provide additional opportunities to visit more parts of the world as the UFC continues to grow its global footprint.
White also reiterated his plan to host two events on the same day at least once next year, with their first experiment in dual productions tentatively planned for late February, with shows in Las Vegas and Japan.
In 2011, the UFC re-opened what they believe will be a huge market for them, hosting a show in Brazil to great fanfare. It was the organization's first venture there since 1998. Afterward, UFC CEO and chairman Lorenzo Fertitta was so pleased with the reception that he voiced a hope the promotion could bring as many as four events there in 2012.
Aside from that, entering the Japanese market would be something of a coup for the UFC, which has not brought fights there under the Zuffa banner.
The expanded schedule is just one of many planned and/or official UFC initiatives and changes to roll out in 2012. Also among them, a move to network television on FOX, a departure from longtime cable home Spike, the addition of a flyweight division, and a revamping of The Ultimate Fighter to include live weekly fights.
http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/10/07/ufc-calendar-to-grow-to-34-events-in-2012/
That's wicked cool.
And hopefully a couple of those would be Anderson Silva vs Jon Jones and Brock Lesnar vs Fedor Emelianenko... yeah I still hope he comes over to UFC, leaves M1 forever and ever!
Top 10 fights I expect in 2012 :
Anderson Silva vs Brian Stann (middleweight championship)
Carlos Condit vs Nick Diaz (world welterweight championship)
GSP vs BJ Penn 4 (#1 contender match)
Gray Maynard vs Gilbert Melendez (lightweight championship)
JDS vs Brock Lesnar (heavyweight championship)
Machida vs Hendo (light-heavyweight championship)
Big Nog vs Big Foot
Frank Mir vs Josh Barnett
Carwin vs Cornier
Sonnen vs Bisping
Your overall feelings on this UG?
~
great, hope they can come to Ireland this year.
It's not that much of an increase for Zuffa. Last year Zuffa had 30 or so live events (including wec). This year it's 27 but then you have the strikeforce purchase which includes 8 events on showtime a year (im not counting the challenger series because they dont matter)
so you have roughly 35 events this year. The only difference next year will be that most of those extra shows will be overseas and the UFC label will be on them instead of shitfarce.
More shows, lower collective PPV buys than a year ago.
Yeah, that's a sport on the rise!
NFL look out!
The Super Bowl never loses viewers. 
^ the UFC got around 40 million this year in US TV rights fee's... next year they are getting 100 million.
I don't really think it's a shock that PPVs are down this year. The level of anticipation that used to come with a UFC event is just not there anymore because there are so many events happening every week. I used to wish there were more UFC events 5 years ago, guess I should be careful what I wish for.
That doesn't mean I'm not looking forward to these fights, this fall has some of the sickest fights lined up in recent memory. It just gets a little overwhelming with Bellator and UFC every week. Oh well, guess its not a bad problem to have.
JeffersonDArcyChoke - More shows, lower collective PPV buys than a year ago.
Yeah, that's a sport on the rise!
NFL look out!
The Super Bowl never loses viewers.
The Super Bowl is on network tv. You don't need to shell out $49.95 to watch it on PPV.
yhknq - 35 sounds about right
287 fighters on the roster
give them an opportunity to fight a few times a year
287x3=861
now cut that in half because it take 2 to tango
430.5
now divide that by 12 because there are usually 12 fights per card
35.875
and that equals the number of shows required to allow your roster the opportunity to earn a few paychecks
I like what you did here.
yhknq - 35 sounds about right
287 fighters on the roster
give them an opportunity to fight a few times a year
287x3=861
now cut that in half because it take 2 to tango
430.5
now divide that by 12 because there are usually 12 fights per card
35.875
and that equals the number of shows required to allow your roster the opportunity to earn a few paychecks
Well done!
Bad news. This will run up my bandwidth and I might get charged overage )-:
Damn you Zuffa
God I hate you gigaheart.....
JeffersonDArcyChoke - More shows, lower collective PPV buys than a year ago. <br><br>Yeah, that's a sport on the rise!<br><br>NFL look out!<br><br>The Super Bowl never loses viewers. <img src="/images/phone/apple.png" alt="Phone Post" border="0" style="vertical-align:middle;"/>
No, the UFC is of course not challenging the NFL at this point haha, but still. There are so many metrics that go into the growth of MMA that the Superbowl analogy and overall comment is honestly kinda silly. Much like hockey here, Football is basically your national sport. The Superbowl, and the Stanley cup here, are jammed down you throat an impossible to miss. Viewership will of course get gradually stronger as the population expands as a certain percentage of the population WILL see it. The NFL is monstrous and will grow at a steady and relatively gradual rate because of what it is. The NFL is so deeply established in the culture, yet MMA essentially started only a decade ago. The nature of its expansion is completely different, it is more volatile but without a doubt on an upward tragectory.
AS I said there are so many aspects that go into a new sport growing. How can you honestly doubt or mock MMA's general upward tragectory. There is noticeably more money, exposure, and respect for MMA than even 3 years ago. That time period is absolutely nothing, and yet it seems an eternity in MMA. Gyms are popping up everywhere and are not short on business. Sponsorship and endorsement money for these kinds of ventures is noticeably more. These basic building blocks are for sure growing despite the recession.
MMA is still attempting to set its roots and must expand it's infrastructure quickly or else that explosion of popularity really will be a fad. Most importantly the UFC probably actually wants to totally transition away from the PPV model. It not really sustainable for a major sport and times like these will hit PPV growth hard. The expansion in the number of shows is indicative of the growth into a different model. Of course lower PPV sales isn't good, but that is a less than a one year trend in a sport that's be around for 10. Also consider only North America does PPV as the UFC must necessarily spend an disproportionate amount of money in order to grow outside North America.
This is getting long, I could obviously go on, but there are so many things to evaluate when looking at MMA's development and a string of weak PPV's is nothing in comparison to other signs. Establishing that UFC is not quite yet NFL, which everyone knows, and then applying the same metrics of the biggest sport in America to something as unique and new as MMA doesn't really result in an accurate picture. In short, Yes, the most basic indicators of capitol and participation, ALONG with more overall shows does in fact show a sport on the rise. But you just need to look at the world of MMA in front of you. There is more coverage, bigger classes and seminars, prices for these things are slowly increasing, more fights to sign, more prospects to pay attention to, talk of more weight classes, more sponsors, more scrutiny on commissions and officials etc . . .
I really hope the increase in shows doesn't mean more ppv's. At $55 a pop it's getting very expensive.
caposa - I don't really think it's a shock that PPVs are down this year. The level of anticipation that used to come with a UFC event is just not there anymore because there are so many events happening every week. I used to wish there were more UFC events 5 years ago, guess I should be careful what I wish for.
That doesn't mean I'm not looking forward to these fights, this fall has some of the sickest fights lined up in recent memory. It just gets a little overwhelming with Bellator and UFC every week. Oh well, guess its not a bad problem to have.
Lol yea count your blessings dude, not a bad problem at all. I'm sick of hearing about "the over saturation of UFC/MMA" Guys who complain about that are not real fans of the sport at all (not pointing to you caposa).
I guess it's a personal level of enjoyment, but I can't get enough, I find myself trying to catch every UFC event that comes along and Bellator/Strikeforce when there isn't one. Even when there is a weekend off I'm craving a card of some kind. I just love watching fights. I'll take lay n' prays over no fights at all.
MMA is the only sport to rise during the internet age, so MMA fans are spoiled because of the growth spurt the web has caused and the fact that fights are only about 15 minutes makes the web access even easier, how many people watch entire football games online? Fans, please remember the dark ages and stop bitching about something that we should be thankful for.
Someone please back me up on this.
i cant get enough events give me one a week
deljayson -GlGAHEART - That's wicked cool.Ew so ur saying all champions will pretty much lose there titles in there upcoming fights.....<br><br>Tisk tisk <img src="/images/phone/apple.png" alt="Phone Post" border="0" style="vertical-align:middle;"/>
And hopefully a couple of those would be Anderson Silva vs Jon Jones and Brock Lesnar vs Fedor Emelianenko... yeah I still hope he comes over to UFC, leaves M1 forever and ever!
Top 10 fights I expect in 2012 :
Anderson Silva vs Brian Stann (middleweight championship)
Carlos Condit vs Nick Diaz (world welterweight championship)
GSP vs BJ Penn 4 (#1 contender match)
Gray Maynard vs Gilbert Melendez (lightweight championship)
JDS vs Brock Lesnar (heavyweight championship)
Machida vs Hendo (light-heavyweight championship)
Big Nog vs Big Foot
Frank Mir vs Josh Barnett
Carwin vs Cornier
Sonnen vs Bisping
Your overall feelings on this UG?
~
Besides the best & greatest fighter ever born Anderson, yeah, all the current champions are beatable.
Most notably GSP. GSP needs quarter of an hour to outpoint Dan Hardy in boring lay & pray... Condit only need 4 minutes and 30 seconds to turn Hardy's lights out.
~
yhknq - 35 sounds about right
287 fighters on the roster
give them an opportunity to fight a few times a year
287x3=861
now cut that in half because it take 2 to tango
430.5
now divide that by 12 because there are usually 12 fights per card
35.875
and that equals the number of shows required to allow your roster the opportunity to earn a few paychecks
I got a boner
mchase126 -caposa - I don't really think it's a shock that PPVs are down this year. The level of anticipation that used to come with a UFC event is just not there anymore because there are so many events happening every week. I used to wish there were more UFC events 5 years ago, guess I should be careful what I wish for.
That doesn't mean I'm not looking forward to these fights, this fall has some of the sickest fights lined up in recent memory. It just gets a little overwhelming with Bellator and UFC every week. Oh well, guess its not a bad problem to have.
Lol yea count your blessings dude, not a bad problem at all. I'm sick of hearing about "the over saturation of UFC/MMA" Guys who complain about that are not real fans of the sport at all (not pointing to you caposa).
I guess it's a personal level of enjoyment, but I can't get enough, I find myself trying to catch every UFC event that comes along and Bellator/Strikeforce when there isn't one. Even when there is a weekend off I'm craving a card of some kind. I just love watching fights. I'll take lay n' prays over no fights at all.
MMA is the only sport to rise during the internet age, so MMA fans are spoiled because of the growth spurt the web has caused and the fact that fights are only about 15 minutes makes the web access even easier, how many people watch entire football games online? Fans, please remember the dark ages and stop bitching about something that we should be thankful for.
Someone please back me up on this.
I'm completely with you man, I may complain but I fully plan on watching all of these cards. I'm just saying a weekend off here and there can hurt and could actually help build the anticipation for some events.
~