The biggest superstars the UFC ever had were Kimbo/Brock.

Pierre or Liddell are second to Lesnar.

Kimbo isn't even on the radar. Everyone posting the rating for the finale aren't really getting that:
1. This is ONE event. After that, Kimbo became pretty much unmarketable
2. This event was free. The real draws are on PPV cards care they can get 700k+ viewers to pay to watch them fight consistently fight after fight (Pierre/Lesnar, etc)
 
kurtwpg said:
JDS-Cain 1 did 8.8 million and no one knew who they were.
Click to expand...

No, it was 5.7 million. Kimbo vs Thompson on CBS did 7.2 million and remains the MOST WATCHED MMA EVENT IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
http://www.cagepotato.com/good-to-know-the-20-most-watched-mma-fights-in-us-history/
this is a few years old so it doesnt have the UFC on Fox ratings, but you can compare against this:
UFC-on-Fox-13.png

and see how pitiful the state of MMA in America is. Well not just America to be fair as its dead in Japan and failed to gain momentum in Europe. Maybe still big in Canada?
 
Let what sink in? UFC's policy has never been to brand its core fighters per se, they brand themselves, via Dana mainly. They'll use whatever along the way: Kimbo, Brock, James Toney ffs and now CM Punk. UFC does NOT put real MMA fighters first. I get it, it's a business, doesn't mean they're BS practises can't be called out.
 
Wooting said:
Let that sink in for a minute. A youtube street fighter and a professional wrestler. UFC needs to learn to build stars on their own when a youtube street fighter has more promo than they can build their FW champ.
Click to expand...

Lesnar yes LoL at Kimbo.

Not even close.

GSP and Silva were the 2 biggest PPV stars after Lesnar.
Both have had 1 mil PPVs and Silva had massive Network TV veiws in Brazil.
 
Brock? Absolutely.

Kimbo? Not so much.

Chuck, GSP, and Anderson would round out the top 4.
 
Combat Wombatt said:
Lesnar, yes. Kimbo, I'm pretty sure no.
Click to expand...

One of his fights on CBS... is still the highest rated on network television? Something like that.

It sucks, but he was big.

Edit: BadSeed knows the deal several posts before this one.
 
People will always tune in for a freak show. MMA isnt and never will be a mainstream sport/entertainment. Its for fans of fighting who are a small percentage.

Besides boxing in its hayday and a couple fighters now, fighting has never been a major event.
 
JosephDredd said:
One of his fights on CBS... is still the highest rated on network television? Something like that.

It sucks, but he was big.
Click to expand...
Before he was signed to pro MMA and his youtube vids were all the rage, people in my town were seriously saying Kimbo would KO a prime Tyson. It was a magical time.
 
Yolandabecool said:
Lol at Kimbo.
Click to expand...

I still remember being amazed by Kimbo waaaay back in the day as a teenager. He was sort of a folk hero popularized by the internet.

There isn't exactly a well-defined reliable science of creating a superstar in MMA. It's more alchemy than that at this point.
 
bad seed said:
No, it was 5.7 million. Kimbo vs Thompson on CBS did 7.2 million and remains the MOST WATCHED MMA EVENT IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
http://www.cagepotato.com/good-to-know-the-20-most-watched-mma-fights-in-us-history/
this is a few years old so it doesnt have the UFC on Fox ratings, but you can compare against this:
UFC-on-Fox-13.png

and see how pitiful the state of MMA in America is. Well not just America to be fair as its dead in Japan and failed to gain momentum in Europe. Maybe still big in Canada?
Click to expand...

Damn, I bet fox is regretting this deal.

It's difficult to convert people to mma. Believe me I've tried, and I haven't been able to convert anyone..and I've been working at it for more than 20 years now.

It isn't for everyone, and that's for sure.
 
bad seed said:
Before he was signed to pro MMA and his youtube vids were all the rage, people in my town were seriously saying Kimbo would KO a prime Tyson. It was a magical time.
Click to expand...

Like, you would literally have to believe in magic to believe that Kimbo Slice would KO Mike Tyson. :)
 
By the time Kimbo got to the UFC he was losing a lot of his star momentum. I think Seth Petruzelli and Roy Nelson had a lot to do with that.
 
MrHappypants said:
It's difficult to convert people to mma. Believe me I've tried, and I haven't been able to convert anyone..and I've been working at it for more than 20 years now.
Click to expand...

After you convert them do you baptize them?
 
MrHappypants said:
Damn, I bet fox is regretting this deal.

It's difficult to convert people to mma. Believe me I've tried, and I haven't been able to convert anyone..and I've been working at it for more than 20 years now.

It isn't for everyone, and that's for sure.
Click to expand...
there is definitely a low upper cieling of potential fans. I converted a lot of fans to the cause back in the PRIDE days, but almost all of them stopped watching. The novelty is gone and too many UFC events turned out to be 5 round humpathons in the octagon.

The irony is MMA has gotten exciting again with every division stacked with talent, but too many bad years preceding have dulled everyones enthusiasm. A lot of the blame can be attributed to the mismanaged FOX transition and Dana promising too much and delivering too little over and over again.
 
Wooting said:
Let that sink in for a minute. A youtube street fighter and a professional wrestler. UFC needs to learn to build stars on their own when a youtube street fighter has more promo than they can build their FW champ.
Click to expand...

I waited a minute - it didn't sink in. Kimbo Slice a 'superstar' in UFC? Seriously LOL. I started with Royce, Severn, Taktarov...etc. Slice was a fad/experiment. And quite fun I'll admit. No superstar.
 
People laughing at Kimbo dont remember how popular he was with all the youtube videos.
 
Superstars

Lesnar
Gsp
Lidell
Hughes
Randy


Not kimbo
 
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