UFC on VS. 2 moved from Salt Lake City to SD because of weak ticket sales

Sherdog:

UFC on Versus 2 will find a new home on Aug. 1 at the San Diego Sports Arena in San Diego, Calif., after the promotion announced on Monday that it had moved the event from the EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City.

Heavy.com initially reported the venue change prior to the promotion’s announcement, which also re-named the event UFC “Live.”

The event, which is anchored by a light heavyweight headliner between rising star Jon Jones and seasoned veteran Vladimir Matyushenko, is scheduled to take place on a Sunday evening.

The promotion said the move from Utah to the Golden State was based on underwhelming ticket sales.

“Our television ratings in Salt Lake City have always been strong, and when we finally found the opportunity to bring a UFC event there with a great card, I was very surprised and disappointed in ticket sales. As a result, for the first time in UFC history, I decided to pull the plug and move this August 1st event to the San Diego Sports Arena,” said UFC President Dana White in a press release.

The 22-year-old Jones stopped Brandon Vera with first-round punches and elbows at UFC on Versus 1 last March in Broomfield, Colo. Jones’ sole career defeat came during a controversial disqualification to Matt Hamill at “The Ultimate Fighter 10” Finale last December.

Matyushenko has won 11 of his last 12 fights and earned a split decision over Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Eliot Marshall in March. The 39-year-old Belarusian has only been finished twice in 28 professional bouts and holds notable victories against Pedro Rizzo and the world-ranked Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. Matyushenko was a national wrestling champion in the Soviet Union and his native Belarus.

In the co-main event, middleweight contender Yushin Okami will square off with two-time All-American wrestler Mark Munoz.

UFC “Live” airs live on Versus at 9:00 p.m. EST.

sucks for utah.

remember when i said this is a card with no main event

Birdofthad wrote:

remember when i said this is a card with no main event

ya but watch it sell in cali.

yeah, they needed to put more white folk on a Salt Lake city card.

captain organic wrote:

yeah, they needed to put more white folk on a Salt Lake city card.

lol true.

Mormons don't like MMA, I thought that was common knowledge.

OUSOONERSOU wrote:

Mormons don't like MMA, I thought that was common knowledge.

its science.

Birdofthad wrote:

remember when i said this is a card with no main event

I'm cool with the main event, though I think it should have been backed up better. Okami vs Munoz? gomi vs Joe Daddy?

OUSOONERSOU wrote:

Mormons don't like MMA, I thought that was common knowledge.

Well, according to Dana they get really good ratings from that market so there must be enough momo's who like MMA to inspire them to head to SLC...it sucks for the people who actually did buy tickets though.

captain organic wrote:

Birdofthad wrote:

remember when i said this is a card with no main event

I'm cool with the main event, though I think it should have been backed up better. Okami vs Munoz? gomi vs Joe Daddy?

I don't get it...those are awesome fights.

Utahians to busy, remember, porn > mma in Utah.

KingsOwn19 wrote:

captain organic wrote:

Birdofthad wrote:

remember when i said this is a card with no main event

I'm cool with the main event, though I think it should have been backed up better. Okami vs Munoz? gomi vs Joe Daddy?

I don't get it...those are awesome fights.

Yea I was thinking the same thing, the rest of the fights are really good just the main event isnt the greatest

That main event does suck, though. Casual fans don't even know who The Janitor is and may not even know who Bones is. If this was a ppv I wouldn't buy it.

This card is just fine and IMO much better then plenty of the other free cards. This main event is better then Hamill vs Jardine this weekend IMO.

I'm real excited to get to see Gomi again...

OUSOONERSOU wrote:

This card is just fine and IMO much better then plenty of the other free cards. This main event is better then Hamill vs Jardine this weekend IMO.

AGREE

KingsOwn19 wrote:

captain organic wrote:

Birdofthad wrote:

remember when i said this is a card with no main event

I'm cool with the main event, though I think it should have been backed up better. Okami vs Munoz? gomi vs Joe Daddy?

I don't get it...those are awesome fights.

Gomi vs Daddy is an awesome fight? 2 guys coming of losses, both guys are 2-3 in their last 5. Awesome is a big a stretch. Imo bones is a main event talent if not yet a main event name, they should have backed him up with some bigger names like they did the first time he headlined a vs card. Okami vs Munoz does not cut it.

They say Mormons don't drink or do drugs too. They do. They say their women are virtuous. Bullshit! I fucked more Mormon girls than Joseph smith and Brigham
Young combined. They are easier than a game of Candyland.

Quote :

That main event does suck, though. Casual fans don't even know who The Janitor is and may not even know who Bones is. If this was a ppv I wouldn't buy it.

Well Bigs, how exactly can the UFC build their names if they shouldn't be putting up and comers and lesser knowns on free cards? This card isn't and never was designed to be PPV quality(though the actual card itself is significantly better rankingwise than 115) People watch free UFC because it is free UFC, not so much because of the names. This is designed to make Bones and Munoz into PPV draws later down the line. Nothing more. The UFC doesn't care about casual fans. Relying on fical here today gone tomorrow retards is a proven strategy for failure. They care about making casual fans into UFC fans. This is exactly how.

This card is better than UFC 115 in terms of what it does for the divisions. Jones and Munoz are both very close to being title ready and are more more realistic threats in their division than Kampmann or Thiago, the only fight on 115 that mattered beyond nostalgia purposes.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Quote :

That main event does suck, though. Casual fans don't even know who The Janitor is and may not even know who Bones is. If this was a ppv I wouldn't buy it.

Well Bigs, how exactly can the UFC build their names if they shouldn't be putting up and comers and lesser knowns on free cards? This card isn't and never was designed to be PPV quality(though the actual card itself is significantly better rankingwise than 115) People watch free UFC because it is free UFC, not so much because of the names. This is designed to make Bones and Munoz into PPV draws later down the line. Nothing more. The UFC doesn't care about casual fans. Relying on fical here today gone tomorrow retards is a proven strategy for failure. They care about making casual fans into UFC fans. This is exactly how.

This card is better than UFC 115 in terms of what it does for the divisions. Jones and Munoz are both very close to being title ready and are more more realistic threats in their division than Kampmann or Thiago, the only fight on 115 that mattered beyond nostalgia purposes.

Whatever, I just don't like garbage main events, regardless of whether I have to pay for the card. We're about to witness the MMA death of The Janitor. They could've done a better main event, that's all I'm saying.

And of course the UFC cares about casual fans. Casual fans are who they are trying to appeal to and you're right, they want those casual fans to become hardcore fans. The UFC doesn't need to worry about the already hardcore fans because they're going to tune in or buy a PPV regardless.

Casual fans are not the fans who buy UFC PPVs, aside from megacard media events like Tyson-Holyfeild and Lesnar fights. Bigs this is stuff you know, or at least should know.

This isn't a sexy main event, but this is the highest ranked and most regarded fighter he has faced arguably. Janitor has a great record.