What will the UFC\u2019s move to Paramount do for overall viewership, and what can we learn from the UFC 324 streaming numbers? Is it ever a good idea to be coached by your significant other? And what should happen to a fighter who breaks his opponent\u2019s nose with a pre-fight head-butt?<\/p>\n
All that and more in this week\u2019s mailbag. To ask a question of your own, hit up @BenFowlkesMMA<\/a> on X or @Ben_Fowlkes<\/a> on Threads.<\/p>\n @zachmarcus: Does the paramount deal actually mean fewer people will watch whole events? Theres no longer an $80 commitment to watch the whole card. Now people can watch the main event only and not feel like theyre wasting money.<\/p>\n I think the takeaway is that more people will watch some UFC fights. Possibly a lot more. Early reports from Paramount claim that the UFC 324 main card averaged 4.96 million viewers, peaking at 5.93 million streams. We rarely got reliable numbers during the ESPN era, but I think we would have heard about it if ESPN ever sold 6 million pay-per-views. (Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor is, as far as we know, still the high-water mark for UFC pay-per-view sales with 2.4 million buys.)<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n This makes sense, right? If the cover charge at your club is $9 instead of $80, you\u2019re going to get more people willing to wander in and check it out for themselves. Will all those people stay the whole time? No, but I\u2019m not sure that matters. It definitely doesn\u2019t matter to Paramount, since the subscription cost is the same whether you watch one fight or 10. And there are bound to be people who think they\u2019re interested only in the main event but tune in early so as not to miss anything and end up catching more fights by accident (and liking it).<\/p>\n The point is the UFC is in a good position to substantially increase viewership, at least in the United States, for the first time in a long time. Price makes all the difference. A huge pay-per-view paywall (which was itself behind an ESPN+ subscription paywall that cost more than Paramount+) meant people had to be pretty sure they were going to see something worth the money. But at $9 per month, a lot of people will sign up just to watch a handful of fights here or there. Plus, they\u2019ve got \u201cSouth Park.”<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Last thing on the Paramount topic: Advertisements. Yes, there were a ton of them at UFC 324. And sometimes they crowded out stuff we actually cared about, like walkouts and corner work. But as someone who came up in the pay-per-view era and got gradually squeezed from $40 per event all the way to $80, I feel a lot more forgiving of ads when it helps the cost drop to $8.99 for everything. They put that mute button on my remote for a reason.<\/p>\n @picturehousepod: In light of your post re your frustration with the phrase \u2018first ballot hall of fame\u2019 in MMA, which other common \u2018MMAisms\u2019 would you like to eliminate?<\/p>\n I hate when fighters talk about how they want a rematch with someone who beat them so they can \u201cget that one back.\u201d You won\u2019t. You won\u2019t ever get it back. This is a different fight, and if you win it, that prior loss will still be on your record. That\u2019s how it works, and you know it.<\/p>\n I also hate any mention of \u201cOctagon control.\u201d No one cares about that. It basically never impacts the judging of a round. You can\u2019t even clearly articulate what it means. It\u2019s just an empty phrase for commentators to abuse.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Speaking of stuff commentators lean on too heavily, phrases such as \u201cin the mix\u201d or \u201ccrack the top 10\u201d or \u201cget a number next to his name\u201d have rapidly lost all meaning in the UFC. These rankings don\u2019t really matter. The UFC has basically told us that.<\/a> It\u2019s a talking point for the broadcasts, but that\u2019s about it.<\/p>\n As for referring to Dominick Cruz as a \u201cfirst-ballot UFC hall of famer,\u201d I get what we\u2019re trying to do. We\u2019re trying to convey that he\u2019s an automatic choice. He has to be in the UFC hall of fame, which is true. But. There. Are. No. Ballots. Nobody gets a vote. The UFC alone decides these things, so using that phrase here really just draws attention to all the ways this is not like other sports halls of fame. The other difference is that other sports have an actual building to house those halls, but that\u2019s a conversation for another day.<\/p>\n @NeedXtoseePosts: If it’s true that Arman broke Hookers nose with the headbutt do we sort of have to say<\/p>\n If UFC didn’t trust him to headline the first Paramount card<\/p>\n