MMA Numbers in the News Fights, Flights, and Ratings

534 NBC’s Strikeforce Saturday Night continued to do well in a time slot that makes the name Strikeforce Sunday Morning, seem more appropriate. Its May 25th edition drew (534,000) viewers, good for the 17th highest rated network program on the week.

16 Number of months Martin Kampmann has sat out due to a knee injury. The Dane won his UFC debut over Crafton Wallace on the day he was scheduled to fly back home after visiting friend Mike Pyle at Team Couture. Now Martin is back in Vegas training at Couture’s and ready to take on a very tough Jorge Rivera, who is 4-1 in his fights in the U.K. Of course UFC 85 is in London.

10 Speaking of London, Liddell will appear there after all for UFC 85. With the still tender hamstring he will sit on a (10) hour flight to make the trip across the pond. Those flights aren’t too fun, but just a guess...Liddell will have plenty of leg room in first class.

125 And so it seems Affliction is becoming more of a player in the MMA promotion jungle. Now they’ve announced the signing of (12-5) heavyweight Andrei Arlovski., another big grab for the fledgling promotion. The other news coming from Affliction is their partnership with a guy who’s MMA record sits at 0-0, but has a wallet to make up for it, Donald Trump. It will be interesting to see this one unfold.

263 The disclosed payroll ($263,000) for WEC Faber vs. Pulver. The two big names were the big winners in the money department as Faber earned $44,000 and Pulver $33,000.

651 And finally a handful of crazy numbers. The five most watched fights in MMA history according to MMApayout.com...

Kimbo Slice v. James Thompson – (6.51) million
Quinton Jackson v. Dan Henderson - 5.93 million
Tito Ortiz v. Ken Shamrock III - 5.89 million
Robbie Lawler v. Scott Smith - 5.53 million
Gina Carano v. Kaitlin Young - 4.68 million

Although the idea of the power of network television is exciting, many MMA fans probably find the above stats hard to stomach. Jackson vs. Henderson was a great five rounder involving two top fighters. Many would say it deserved to be the most watched, but now it has been ousted by Kimbo vs. Thompson, not even in the same league (both literally and figuratively).