The Ultimate Fighting Championship made a very smart move by scheduling UFC on Fuel TV 4 for Wednesday, July 11th. This is an important event for the organization, not because of the names on the card, but because of when the event is taking place. This is one of the few days during the year that the sports world stops, and once again, the executives at Zuffa are trying to capitalize by pushing their brand in front of sports fans that will have nothing to watch.
The UFC has done the same with Super Bowl Saturday, as it has become customary that the organization plans to put on a big card featuring the biggest names on their roster the night before the most watched sports event of the year. UFC on Fuel TV 4 takes place the day after the MLB All Star game, which has historically been a day where much of the sports world is left without anything to watch. That will no longer be the case, as the UFC will give fans, those of fighting and competition alike, an option to entertain themselves with this evening.
Unfortunately, the event is set for Fuel TV, which is a station that many people do not have access to. However, if this event does above average viewership numbers, caompared to the prior three events that have been held on Fuel TV, we should expect this schedule date to become a staple of the UFC’s calendar planning.
Regardless of what the viewership numbers of tonight’s event reach, the UFC needs to make sure that this is a consistent planning date as long as they have the deal in place with Fox. Yes, the UFC and mixed martial arts as a whole are steadily growing, but any chance to be the the only mainstream sporting event happening on a particular night during the week is a welcome one, and when it comes to developing a following within the sports world, being the only act on center stage is exactly what the sport needs.
Along with keeping this as a yearly event date, the UFC should commit more well-known names to the docket when these opportunities come about. Mark Munoz and Chris Weidman carry the UFC on Fuel TV 4 event, but going forward, these opportunities would best be served by having cards that are “stacked” with a variety of fighters. That doesn’t mean the UFC should build this up into a Pay Per View quality card, but imagine the buzz around an event such as this that would have featured the Urijah Faber vs. Renan Barao Interim Bantamweight Championship fight that is scheduled for next weekend. That would have been a great main event to carry a free show. Munoz–Weidman could be considered a strong co-main event, and then the card could be built from there. It’s true the UFC has a large roster, but that roster isn’t packed with names that can truly carry a show. With proper planning, the established names could be used to build up the lesser known names.
We’ve all heard the complaints about the UFC “oversaturating” the market with multiple shows, with complaints that the overall quality of these events are beginning to suffer. As they continue to work to get their scheduling practices down to a science, we can only hope that when they are given opportunities such as Wednesday night’s prime TV location, they will give fight fans the best card available, to capture the attention of a sports world that will not have anything else to hang on to for the evening.
