Free UFC Tonight

[Jimmy]

Prelim fights are on Facebook and foxsports.com, main event is on fox. Heavyweight title is on the line!

[mr x]

And Pacquiao/Marquez III is on later. Lots of websites will be streaming that one.

[jeffsmith]

Watching the Facebook fights right now! Can't wait for the main event.

[jeffsmith]

Ho-ly shit. What a fight between Bendo and Guida!

[Jimmy]

The last couple minutes were pretty crazy

[mr x]

I'm not so big on this streaming format then one event on tv...

[Jimmy]

I'm not so big on this streaming format then one event on tv...

I agree. I think they fucked that up last night. The Guida/Henderson fight should have been aired as well. Putting the whole emphasis on one fight, regardless of the outcome, didn't seem like a smart move.

[mr x]

Exactly. I think the issue is advertising. I'm not sure how Fox planned to do in-between rounds. Were they going to cut to commercials for 60 seconds? If they plan to squeeze every second out of 60 minutes, a 3 & 5 round fight could chew up 40 minutes, plus the 6 round breaks, plus the intro and end interviews. Doesn't leave much time in one hour for 2 fights. They need an hour and a half. But then, if you get fast ko's, then what? I prefer the ppv format. Or just run the full card, don't try a one fight event...plus I hate streaming video quality.

[Jimmy]

Exactly. I think the issue is advertising. I'm not sure how Fox planned to do in-between rounds. Were they going to cut to commercials for 60 seconds? If they plan to squeeze every second out of 60 minutes, a 3 & 5 round fight could chew up 40 minutes, plus the 6 round breaks, plus the intro and end interviews. Doesn't leave much time in one hour for 2 fights. They need an hour and a half. But then, if you get fast ko's, then what? I prefer the ppv format. Or just run the full card, don't try a one fight event...plus I hate streaming video quality.

At first we were streaming from foxsports.com and the quality was shit, then we switched to facebook and it was streaming at 720p. That's something else they need to get fixed if they plan on streaming on foxsports.com for future events.

[mr x]

I started watching on fox, and then it seemed like an international filter kicked in. They cut to what looked like a taped Brock Lesnar interview just as guys were getting into the ring. After a couples minutes of WTF, I left the page and came back, and there was a message that the video was not available. That was it for me. Pissed off. Oh well, downloading today. Any good fights other than guido? Pacman/marquez was wirth the 60 minutes. Not insane, but pretty good.

[Jimmy]

That happened to us as well. I honestly missed half the fights because of people talking, issues with fox sports, issues with my internet explorer (on my friends laptop) not streaming from facebook etc..but the only fight that stood out to me was the guida/henderson one.

[jeffsmith]

The Dustin Poirier/Pablo Garza fight was really good, as was the Cub Swanson/Ricardo Lamas bout. There were a few others that were pretty decent as well, not too many sleepers really. Overall a pretty solid card.

I watched the fights on Facebook, quality stayed at 720p for me the majority of the time. I watched the main event on Sportsnet, they did a lot better job than Fox—of course they've got a lot more experience with MMA. They started off by showing the Guida/Bendo fight rather than all the lead up crap that Fox had on. After the main event they showed a lot of the undercard fights. PPV's are going to start to be available on Xbox Live next month with some interesting interactive stuff attached: http://majornelson.com/2011/10/07/ufc-o ... ember-1st/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. I'm curious if they'll be adding all the prelim fights there, or if we'll still need to go to Facebook to watch those.

I'm interested to see how Fox is going to handle the events next year. I have a feeling I'll likely continue to watch on Sportsnet. The event last night on Fox reminded me of when the NHL first started showing on US networks back in the 90's; when they had the highlight on the puck and had explanations of most of the calls as they happened.

[mr x]

That garza fight is where it cut to black for me. I'll get it in a minute.

[mr x]

Saturday night's UFC on FOX debut drew in an average of 5.7 million viewers during the one-hour show in adjusted ratings released Sunday afternoon by Nielsen Media Research through FOX.

Preliminary overnights initially suggested an average of 4.6 million viewers for the event, which saw Junior dos Santos knock out Cain Velasquez in the first round, but those estimates were expected to change as more information became available. The final number suggests an audience that was around 20 percent larger than originally thought.

According to FOX, it was the most watched professional fight since boxing heavyweights Lennox Lewis and Vladimir Klitschko drew 7 million viewers to their HBO fight in 2003. The network also says it projects the hour to win its key demographics, including the coveted 18-to-34-year old age group.

While the event was the first time ever for the UFC on broadcast television, it wasn't the first time for MMA on a network platform. In 2008, an EliteXC event was the first to pull off the feat, airing an event featuring Kimbo Slice vs. James Thompson that drew an average of 4.3 million viewers. That event, which lasted more than two hours, peaked with over 6.5 million viewers to watch Slice knock out Thompson. The match went into the third round, likely helping the broadcast draw viewers as it went along. That's a stark contrast to dos Santos-Velasquez, which lasted just 64 seconds.

The one-hour special was extremely strong among the male 18-34 demographic, as it out-rated every college football game this year with the exception of November 5's LSU vs. Alabama game, a matchup that featured No. 1 vs. No. 2 in the national rankings.

Among local markets, Las Vegas led the nation in ratings. Dallas, Phoenix, San Antonio, Texas and Tulsa, Oklahoma rounded out the top five.

[mr x]

Powerful numbers against NCAAF...