If they are going to put him on a free Fox card then they must not be too confident of his ability to sell despite him being one of Dana's self-proclaimed favorite fighters. They would never dream of putting Weidman or Werdum on a Fox card.
Or they see Cerrone as TV ratings gold for their major network partner to end the year with a bang, kinda like how they put Cain vs. JDS on the first FOX card to try to make an impression (even though they semi-failed). Also, RDA isn't a PPV draw. Why are you bitching about a title fight on free TV any way?
The first Fox card was an exception because it was inaugural. Other than that Fox card are reserved for the Benson Hendersons of the world and the lower weight classes that people don't give a shit about, not a lightweight title fight that could sell a lot if it were on PPV.
This is more for Dos anjos no casual fans know who he is. I was at wal mart last month and still saw Pettis's wheaties box with him holding the belt on the shelf wouldn't surprise me if people still thought Pettis was the champ haha. Obviously this fight is more then capable of headlining a PPV and you know this
It was weird to read that Cerrone is going to be on free tv but hey that's cool. My other thought was that he was requested by the channel. I recall them doing that before with either Cerrone or another fighter. RDA speaks English but I don't know how much of a draw he is, compared to Cerrone it's as stiff as they come. He did fuck up Pettis though.
There's a lot of title fights in a short span so of course the one with the unknown PPV draws wound up on Fox. That's a good thing, not a bad thing.
Fox (and I mean big FOX) hasn't exactly been getting top ratings from UFC on Fox cards. They could have demanded a relatively high profile title fight to be put on the end-of-year Fox card for some ratings boost. Fox is a major partner and UFC would have to cater to their needs. Doesn't mean Cerrone's falling out with Dana. It's the same kind of deal with UFC 190, where they threw 2 god awful TUF fights onto the main card for Globo.
This ain't Fox Sports 1, this is actual Fox, network TV. This fight will be seen by millions of people. Boxing used to (and recently just started again) having world title fights on network TV. Nothing wrong with this at all.
UFC knows it would do a lot better than any of Mighty Mouse's cards. So would Dillashaw vs Barao II and several of the fights that have been on FOX. Neither RDA or Cerrone get PPV points obviously. I'm glad they decided to feature a solid title fight like this on FOX rather just having it on a PPV undercard.
Nearly half the UFC on Fox events have been headlined by title fights. Don't see why it matters. Cain v JDS Bendo v Diaz MM v Dodson Bendo v Gil MM v Moraga MM v Benavidez 2 Dillashaw v Barao 2 and soon, RDA v Cerrone 2
The lightweight title has never been a PPV draw aside from when BJ was champion. Not only did Bendo fight on FOX but Pettis was also scheduled to defend his belt against Thomson on ths platform. RDA will likely be featured on free cards or co-main a PPV as a contingency plan in case the headliner falls apart (basically what DJ is doing). Khabib will be the same. Cerrone could possibly headline a PPV on his own as the champion but I don't see him beating RDA or Khabib to afford him that opportunity. Johnson vs Benavidez and Dillashaw vs Barao did the same ratings average. Actually, the former was a tad higher.
What about that time last year when Werdum fought Travis Browne on a fox card? Or All those other times that Mighty mouse, Benson Henderson, Joanna champion, TJ Dillashaw, Renan Barao (Who Dana once said was P4P best), and Cain Velasquez defended their titles on fox cards? Especially when it's one of the champs earlier title-shots they probably do it for the exposure.
The big Fox cards are actually an advertisement for PPVs. That's why they put the TJ/Barao card on free. People watch it for free and think all of the fights are like that so they order the ppv. The free Fox cards are usually pretty good.
