UFC 91

Joe Lauzon: “He doesn’t want to fight me on the ground”

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Joe Lauzon (17-4) held an open work out at Lauzon Mixed Martial Arts yesterday in Bridgewater, MA. “J-Lau” had been preparing to face Hermes Franca at UFC Fight Night 17.

However, Franca tore his ACL while training four days ago forcing the former Lightweight title contender off the card. Jeremy Stephens stepped in as a last minute replacement.

Stephens (14-3) knocked out Rafael dos Anjos back at UFC 91 and has been rumored to face Efrain Escuedero at UFC Fight Night 18 in Nashville, TN on April 1st. Lauzon released an official statement to PRO MMA (http://promma.info) regarding his main event bout next Saturday in Tampa, FL.

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UFC 91 replay on Spike TV pulls big numbers

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 As many MMA fans know, the UFC aired the replay of UFC 91 (originally broadcast live on PPV Nov. 15th) on Spike TV, in which Brock Lesnar defeated Randy Couture for the UFC Heavyweight Title, as a counter-program to Affliction’s Day of Reckoning on Jan. 24th. According to Spike TV’s press release on Tuesday, the number of viewers was impressive.

The “free” cable premiere was the highest rated show among Men 18-34 in all of television (broadcast or cable) in its time slot on Saturday, January 24 (9:00-11:30pm ET/PT). UFC 91 peaked at 3.3 million viewers at 11:15, easily making UFC 91 the most-watched taped UFC event in network history.

The entire card, which included Kenny Florian defeating Joe Stevenson, Demien Maia choking out Nate Quarry, and Jeremy Stephens KO’ing Rafael dos Anjos via a monstrous uppercut, drew a 1.7 household rating and a 1.8 among M18-49 (991,000), a 1.8 among M18-34 (508,000) and had an average audience of 2.3 million viewers.

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UFC 92 defeats “Lesnar fight” by 150k buys – Rampage to fight Evans for LHW Title

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Dana White recently did an interview with ESPN The Magazine that revealed a few interesting nuggets. White is such a busy guy in an ever-changing and evolving business that something new is revealed just about every time he speaks publicly.

UFC 91, at last count did a little over a million buys. White’s statement in this interview indicates that UFC 92 blew 91 out of the water by over 150,000 buys. Here’s an excerpt from the interview:

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2008 Pay Per View champion: Brock Lesnar

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Brock Lesnar’s popularity is a mixed bag with MMA fans. When asked their opinion of Lesnar, most fans are very vocal one way or the other. Whether you hate him or love him, one thing is certain, you have to respect his marketability. Brock was the the most watched PPV fighter in all of 2008. … Read more

THE INFO epsiode 2 – PRO MMA podcast

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In this week’s edition of The Info, promma.info’s Editor, Jack Bratcher joins Matt and “Fast Eddie” to give the fans the run down on all the major news stories from this past Thanksgiving weekend. Jorge Gurgel, Sokoudjou, UFC 91 buy rates, Strikeforce and Frank Trigg were some of the hot topics discussed on the first … Read more

UFC 91 PPV numbers look good

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Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer is reporting early returns on UFC 91 pay-per-view buys range from 800,000-850,000 purchases. While Couture vs. Lesnar did not quite hit the 1.2 million mark Dana White openly predicted, UFC 91 ranks only behind UFC 66 Liddell vs Ortiz 2 in terms of PPV buys.

The Dana White media machine provided the public with enough UFC Kool-aid to make people want to spend $44.95 on the bout.  Although the UFC 91 card had many exciting finishes, as a whole it did not have much star power outside the main event.

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UFC 91 Paid Attendence Figures

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The final figures are in and the paid attendance for last Saturday’s UFC 91 topped out at 10,845. The Nevada State Athletic Commission’s Executive Director Keith Kizer reported the figures earlier this afternoon. Immediately following the event Dana White announced the live gate and attendance figure’s of $4.8 million and 14,272 at the MGM Grand. … Read more

M-1 releases statement about Brock Lesnar

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Oh man, one cool thing about this sport is there is ALWAYS something going on. It’s almost like a soap opera at times.  Fedor Emelianenko’s management company, M-1 released a statement on Tuesday claiming the long-talked about fight between Randy Couture and Fedor Emelianenko has now “lost its luster” due to Randy losing to Brock Lesnar at UFC 91.

Most people would agree with that. In fact, PRO MMA even agrees with that since we already have an article up about that very subject.

In an effort to stifle any bright ideas the UFC might have about labeling Brock Lesnar as the best heavyweight in the world, M-1 is issuing a challenge to have Brock Lesnar fight Fedor in a “superfight.”  M-1 proposes that the UFC will try to say Lesnar is the number one heavyweight in the world much like they have tried to use a “marketing campaign” claiming Anderson Silva is the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

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Kim Couture interview – Pro MMA Radio exclusive

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Kim Couture prepares for fourth fight of the year

Female professional mixed martial arts fighter, Kim “Sugar Free Couture”, spoke with our good friend Larry Pepe over at Pro MMA Radio Monday evening. Kim had a lot to say about her husband, Randy Couture’s performance at UFC 91 against Brock Lesnar, her upcoming fight on November 21st with Lina Kvokov (0-1), and legal issues with former Affliction executive, Todd Beard.

Kim starts out by revealing how she got her nickname “Sugar Free”. She explains that the guys at Xtreme Couture started calling her “Sugar Free” because she’s blunt, always speaks her mind and doesn’t “sugar coat” anything.

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