The Houston Chronicle took a gamble and decided to feature UFC 69 on their Front Page.
OK, maybe its not so much of a gamble. Tickets for UFC 69 went REALLY fast. YOu can’t find them on ticketmaster and at stubhub they are going from $112-$600. The rumor is that they have sold about 12,000 tickets but nothing has been confirmed yet.
Also, according to the numbers that the Chronicle put out, Houston is a hotbed for MMA viewership with MMA shows in general exceeding the national average by as much as 25%. Houston reached top 10 Nielson rating for The Ultimate Fighter 4, which aired on SPIKE TV last year. MyNetworkTV and FSN Southwest also garnered top viewership in Houston on their respective networks nationwide for IFL showings.
You don’t need the Nielson ratings to tell a Houston native that MMA is hot in Houston. Renegade Fights, a semi-pro show that is sponsored by Saul Soliz, sells out regularly here in the Houston Metro area. To see any UFC PPV at Buffalo Wild Wings, which airs UFC for free, you have to arrive 2 hours early to reserve more than just a single seat and the restaurant is always standing room only inside during the fights.
The UFC looks to capitalize on the MMA groundswell and has performed in spectacular fashion this year due to it’s defacto status as the face of Mixed Martial Arts in the U.S. With earlier shows this year in L.A. and Ohio that drew crowds of 13,000 and 19,000 respectively, the Houston show looks to continue the upward trend.
It will be interesting to see if the UFC can sustain these astronomical numbers as the quantity of shows go up. The UFC has three shows in April with UFC Fight Night Live on April 5, UFC 69 on April 7, and UFC 70 on April 21.
Obviously MMA has is going mainstream and the decision by the Houston Chronicle to cater to the 18-34 age group is but an evolution in the coverage of the nationally beloved MMA sport. In conclusion, UFC is king for a weekend. It’s good to be king.