TUF 13: Urijah vs. Torres

Not loading good, I'll check in on linker later, don't remember him getting rocked is all.

Torres rocks Bowles and sends him backwards looking to finish, but gets too aggressive and eats a counter himself. What an awesome fight.

LA wrote:

Not loading good, I'll check in on linker later, don't remember him getting rocked is all.

He gets rocked and ends up landing a counter when Torres swarms him.

Bowles says in the post fight that he was really rattled also.

Bowles was def rocked prior to landing on Torres.

but I agree with LA on not putting Faber vs Torres as the main event of a ppv.

Not only is it 2 WEC guys, but it wouldn't even be for the title.

co headline with a higher weight title fight.

captain organic wrote:

Bowles was def rocked prior to landing on Torres.

but I agree with LA on not putting Faber vs Torres as the main event of a ppv.

Not only is it 2 WEC guys, but it wouldn't even be for the title.

co headline with a higher weight title fight.

You don't think if the fight followed a season of TUF that along with a small weight class title fight the combination could carry a PPV to 300k buys? Title fights average 500k plus for almost the last 2 years. Obviously we couldn't expect an unknown champion in a new class to do that but anyone who buys UFC PPVs already knows Torres and Faber.

I think there are some selling the marketability of this fight short.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

captain organic wrote:

Bowles was def rocked prior to landing on Torres.

but I agree with LA on not putting Faber vs Torres as the main event of a ppv.

Not only is it 2 WEC guys, but it wouldn't even be for the title.

co headline with a higher weight title fight.

You don't think if the fight followed a season of TUF that along with a small weight class title fight the combination could carry a PPV to 300k buys? Title fights average 500k plus for almost the last 2 years. Obviously we couldn't expect an unknown champion in a new class to do that but anyone who buys UFC PPVs already knows Torres and Faber.

but your talking 2 guys who are not at the height of their careers, who are new to the UFC, and it wouldn't be a title fight. U've made the title fight/ppv argument a few times.

The crux of my argument would be to anchor this fight with a BW title fight. A BW title fight couldn't stand on its own but a TUF coaches showdown would be enough to package with it without adding it to another title card. The mini-tournament format of this scenario would also spark interest in fans.

Torres and Faber aren't at the height of their career success, but they are both as good as they've ever been in all likelyhood. Neither has slowed or declined significantly. Torres is probably a lot smarter of a fighter with two losses. There may be a question regarding Miguel's chin, but that really isn't a concern you hear voiced publicly enough to hurt this fight. This is the perfect kind of fight for a TUF season. What better coaches for these weight classes than the two most recognizable and dominant champions from the WEC Vs. era? They are both TV friendly and have a boatload of highlight reels. The UFC would be capitalizing also on the new found interest from the Hispanic-American community in the states. Torres is a super easy sell to Mexican American fight fans and some TUF quality latino prospects would be very easy to find.


The UFC should waste no time in baptizing this weight class to the Spike audience through The Ultimate Fighter. This is the ideal way to introduce the weight classes, especially Bantamweight which has no Jose Aldo.

Like I said, this makes too much sense.


No need to thank me Dana, just send me tickets to the PPV finale.

I would not make a UFC event with the top 2 fights being BW fights.

Each is fine as a co-main with a higher weight title fight. would not put the 2 togethor.

What would the buyrate be?

Wolfgangsta wrote:

What would the buyrate be?

No clue, but me personally, i'd introduce the various WEC talents to the UFC by placing them with established UFC draws.

That wouldn't be a bad idea either. But this way they could get a PPV out of exclusively WEC talent and truly establish the WEC bantamweight champion. I really like the tournament hook of this scenario. The winners would then be able to carry a subsequent PPV without another title fight. It would immediately establish the BW division as a viable PPV weight class without requiring the bundling of other headliner quality fights from established divisions.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

What would the buyrate be?

It would be under 400,000.

freakzilla316ftw wrote:

Wolfgangsta wrote:

What would the buyrate be?

It would be under 400,000.

That is what I think, but I don't think that is a bad thing.

I think they should be the co-main event. If they want it as the main-event then they should have a really strong co-main event. Something like Penn vs Alves.

I'm not saying they should headline a card with Faber vs torres, but how longs it been since a UFC card did under 500K?

Crocop Mir didn't touch 500k and I don't think 115 did either if you average the two sets of numbers.

2009 UFC PPV's-

01.) UFC 93 - 320,000 buys
02.) UFC 94 - 800,000 buys*
03.) UFC 96 - 350,000 buys
04.) UFC 97 - 625,000 buys*
05.) UFC 98 - 635,000 buys*
06.) UFC 99 - 360,000 buys
07.) UFC 100 - 1,600,000 buys**
08.) UFC 101 - 1,050,000 buys*
09.) UFC 102 - 435,000 buys
10.) UFC 103 - 400,000 buys
11.) UFC 104 - 500,000 buys*
12.) UFC 106 - 375,000 buys
13.) UFC 107 - 620,000 buys*
* One Title Fight on the card.
** Two Title Fights on the card.

Looking at these numbers, I wonder if 350k is too conservative. If that many people are still buying Mir and Crocop, than a card featuring the scenario as I postulate could probably come close to 500 on its own. I believe in the marketability of Torres vs Faber.

Mir and CroCop are household names and usually everyone buys a ppv to see someone lose. Faber and Torres are too nice and wouldn't know how to promote it.

You sell these guys short. Faber and Torres is a promoter's dream.

In a year I wouldn't have a doubt but right now they aren't popular enough. I could be completely wrong on this though.

Faber is very popular. At my old office he was one of the few guys the casuals there truly liked and made a point to watch. He has been all over the place and in amp'd commercials and similar mainstream media. If they use this TUF season as a vehicle to indroduce and market them correctly to PPV buyers, they could pull this off big. Faber was able to sell 200k off his name(and the almost unknown Aldo's name) alone before without TUF and without the UFC name. Add the UFC name, a couple Spike countdown type promotional hype specials on the careers of both men, and a season of TUF coached by both fighters and you have the recipe for that 400-600 benchmark with the right co-main event.