UFC 102: Couture vs Nogueira

[aholbert32]

Re: UFC 102: Couture vs Nogueira

Well Dana himself said they screwed up with the pricing of the tickets, which was the entire problem. I was looking ahead and tickets in Dallas for 103 are much cheaper once you get above the nosebleeds of course but ringside seats in Oregon were 600.00 where as in Dallas I dont believe they have even reached 500.00 so price point had a part to play in this as well. To put it in perspective, in Oregon the tickets ran 50-100-200-300-400-600 where as in Dallas they are running 50-100-150-250-350-450 so it should be plain as day as to why Portland didnt completely sell out. My question is, why the hell did they try and charge so much more for what so many viewed as an average card in a location where theyve never held an event before? I get the whole local flavor thing but to ask someone to pay 50-150 more for good seats over what is being charged in Dallas for 103 which features bigger names in Belfort, Franklin, Cro Cop, Swick, Koscheck, Trigg etc. isnt just bad planning, its ridiculous.

Thats not really a significant difference in pricing. If someone has a problem paying 600 bucks for a lower level close to the octogon seat, they probably will have a problem paying 450. The UFC always has trouble selling those seats no matter where they are (same issue in Philly) because the seats offer poor viewing of the fight and are the most expensive fight. With the other prices we are looking at a difference of 50 bucks per ticket which isnt much. Especially for an event that comes to your town every few years...if you are lucky. This isnt like going to a Blazers game.

The average card argument doesnt work that well either. Correct me if I'm wrong but UFC 78 fits this same situation. Average card (actually worse than UFC 102 with Bisping/Evans as the headliner) and a first time event in an new area (New Jersey). UFC 78 still had a bigger gate than 102. I'm not saying that the prices didnt hurt the chance of a sellout but the fact that the event only sold 10,000 tickets (in a 16-17k arena) and that the UFC had to paper the event in order to make it look packed isnt a good thing for future events there.

[The Chef]

Re: UFC 102: Couture vs Nogueira

Thats not really a significant difference in pricing. If someone has a problem paying 600 bucks for a lower level close to the octogon seat, they probably will have a problem paying 450. The UFC always has trouble selling those seats no matter where they are (same issue in Philly) because the seats offer poor viewing of the fight and are the most expensive fight. With the other prices we are looking at a difference of 50 bucks per ticket which isnt much. Especially for an event that comes to your town every few years...if you are lucky. This isnt like going to a Blazers game.

The average card argument doesnt work that well either. Correct me if I'm wrong but UFC 78 fits this same situation. Average card (actually worse than UFC 102 with Bisping/Evans as the headliner) and a first time event in an new area (New Jersey). UFC 78 still had a bigger gate than 102. I'm not saying that the prices didnt hurt the chance of a sellout but the fact that the event only sold 10,000 tickets (in a 16-17k arena) and that the UFC had to paper the event in order to make it look packed isnt a good thing for future events there.

The Rose Garden holds 20,630 according to the info I got and thats for Blazers games, considering they had seats on the floor where normally there would be a court I would venture a guess that the figure I quoted is pretty accurate. Having said that, where do you get your info that they only sold 10,000 tickets and had to give away the difference? I had heard rumblings that they actually sold 16,000 tickets and I wouldnt be surprised if the truth is somewhere in the middle but to say that they basically gave away 6,000 tickets seems a bit much. UFC 78 did 14,071 in attendance and did a total gate of 2.1 million, Portland did 16,000 in attendance with a gate of 1.9 million so I would say they were fairly close. Im not going to pretend I know but isnt New York City close enough for people to have driven over for the card in Jersey?

EDIT- As it pertains to ticket prices, those differences my have only been 50.00 but in Portland, which is ranked in the top 5 I believe in unemployment, that should be considered a big deal. Maybe Im overstating things but I firmly believe that Dana overpriced the tickets for the market he was in bases solely on his belief that local guys would carry it and that wasnt the case.

Here is a part from an article I just read kinda highlighting on this and what Dana had to say....

Dana White contributed the less than record outing to poor planning on the part of the UFC. With Portland's unemployment rate around 12%, the ticket prices were out of the range of many in the area. "I'm pissed off that we're not the No. 1 gate in the history of this place," White said at the post fight press conference. "That bums me out because I think we could have done it had we dialed it in right... I've got this thing priced, ticket-wise, for the same price I've got L.A. priced for. [Expletive] stupid. We messed up here. I'm a little bummed out about that."

http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_3305.shtml

[VanCitySportsGuy]

Re: UFC 102: Couture vs Nogueira

What the hell is it with the constant bashing on Portland as if every other city is so much classier and doesnt boo when they shouldnt. Are you kidding me? Ive watched many PPV's and Ive heard the same lame *** boo'ing in Vegas all the time and yet somehow Portland is going to lose the ability to put on another show because they boo'd? I guess you didnt watch the post fight presser when Dana himself said they would come back but probably not before going to Seattle first, now if that lip service? Sure there is a chance, but to act like the fans were ignorantly boo'ing and that somehow all the other venues around the world are that much better is a complete joke.

I know Im taking offense to this but its been a never ending joke since the event ended, and not just here. Portland supported the IFL until they went under, ticket sales were solid for here based on price structure and other factors like unemployment and scalpers taking tickets that were already too high and marking them up even higher and in essence pricing people way out of the tickets. Im not a fan of Portland in the least but lets not get it twisted and act like Portland was a terrible town for UFC events in comparison to other venues.

You’re the only person in this thread that is suggesting Portland might lose the ability to put on another show because of the booing.

I looked on Craiglist and you could have bought tickets for $50 and there were tickets on Stubhub for under $60. I don’t consider these prices out of reach for most UFC fans. The UFC simply has a lot of other markets to go to where they don’t have to struggle to sell tickets like they did in Portland. Portland could get another card but I feel like it would be really down the road.

[The Chef]

Re: UFC 102: Couture vs Nogueira

You’re the only person in this thread that is suggesting Portland might lose the ability to put on another show because of the booing.

I looked on Craiglist and you could have bought tickets for $50 and there were tickets on Stubhub for under $60. I don’t consider these prices out of reach for most UFC fans. The UFC simply has a lot of other markets to go to where they don’t have to struggle to sell tickets like they did in Portland. Portland could get another card but I feel like it would be really down the road.

Im not the only person talking about them not coming back due to the booing, it was brought up before hence the reason Im even addressing it.

Secondly, ticket prices that low were for nosebleeds and more often then not were tickets that were being sold by ticket agencies who were tacking on there own fees and ridiculous "shipping" charges. I was looking at a cheap seat a week ago but with shipping and their charges it brought what was otherwise a 50.00 ticket to over 100.00. There were companies charging 40.00 shipping even though it was an eticket and it was going to be emailed, I mean people were really getting greedy with this.

Ohh well, Im done trying to defend Portland. I believe they will come back eventually but it wont be real soon and probably wouldnt have been even if we had sold extremely well as then it would just be chalked up to the locals carrying the show and nothing more. If they dont then Im sure glad I went last night, if they do then I will for sure be going again as it was an amazing experience.

[Scoop_Brady]

Re: UFC 102: Couture vs Nogueira

LMAO at all the talk that Big Nog was done because of his performance against Mir. It takes more than one bad performance to ruin the career of a legend like Nog.

I didn't know who to root for because I like both guys but I just don't get how you can boo a guy like Nog. The dude is cool as hell. I get that Randy is the local hero but Nog is just too cool to boo IMO. The fight certainly lived up to the hype.

Overall it was another very solid card for the UFC. It's funny that there was very little interest in this card, I'm to the point where I am interested in every fight the UFC puts on. They don't all turn out good but they're getting to the point where most of them are. They're getting so deep with talent even the prelims are exciting as hell now. The only boring fight of the night, including all of the prelims, was the Vera/Soszynski fight.

Silva, Marquardt, and Duffee's knockouts were insane.

I feel bad for Ed Herman. Guy showed a lot of guts going back out after being in obvious pain. Simpson looked very good and the fight was very entertaining before the injury stopped it.

Rosholt showed the promise he displayed in the WEC. I was surprised he beat Leben, especially the way he did it.

Dunham was impressive in his win over Aurelio. He really took it to him and dominated the stand up. He showed some good ground defense as well. He seems like one to keep an eye on.

Unaired prelims:

Spoiler

The Catone/Munoz fight was a good one. Lots of back-and-forth action and some serious ground-and-pound from Munoz in the third round to seal the victory. Like Rosholt, Munoz finally showed some of the promise he displayed in the WEC.

Justin McCully got his *** whooped! Local cop Mike Russow just totally dominated him. It was good to see Russow debut in the UFC. He's definitely a tough guy with solid wrestling skills but I don't see him having the speed or athleticism to compete with the top heavyweights.

Tuchscherer showed a lot of heart after taking that nut shot but irregardless I don't think he ever had a chance against Gonzaga. He had a punchers chance for sure but Gonazaga is on a totally other level than he is. I think the fight would have lasted another minute-and-a-half without the nut shot.

Overall another very great card and I can't wait for the next UFC Fight Night.

[ex carrabba fan]

Re: UFC 102: Couture vs Nogueira

I understand that the Randy/Nog fight was "good" in a sense, but overall it wasn't even close to the "best fight" of the year.

Randy was never ever in that bout. He was fighting for his life the entire 3 rounds it seemed. I wish Randy could have threatened Nog a bit more.

Overall I was entertained but just glad I didn't shell out PPV money to see it.

[The Chef]

Re: UFC 102: Couture vs Nogueira

I generally find the local sports writer John Canzano to be a complete idiot, and thankfully, with the following article he did nothing to make me think otherwise. The guy is a complete idiot, he writes articles about the Blazers normally that are just completely void of any original thought and now hes bashing UFC because apparently John cant take the violence of it all. I question how a so called "reporter" doesnt know what hes going to watch before he signs on to do it, but leave it to this idiot to figure out how to accomplish that. Anyways, here is the article...

http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/john_canzano/index.ssf/2009/08/in_this_ultimate_fighting_cham.html

[ex carrabba fan]

Re: UFC 102: Couture vs Nogueira

That doesn't surprise me.

I wasn't aware of the fighter getting kicked in the balls and spitting up blood. I missed that one.

Or the broken bones?

I have a short term memory I guess

[The Chef]

Re: UFC 102: Couture vs Nogueira

That doesn't surprise me.

I wasn't aware of the fighter getting kicked in the balls and spitting up blood. I missed that one.

Or the broken bones?

I have a short term memory I guess

Tuchsherer was the guy who got booted in the balls and was supposendly spitting up blood, now I never saw them bring in a bucket for him to spit up in but many claim they did. Broken bones wise the only fight I can think of would be Herman blowing out his knee, but that can happen in any sport under normal conditions, Lord knows what he was thinking when Shaun Livingston damn near ended his career on a routine play in the NBA, that must have forced him to curl up in the fetal position and cry for days on end. I just hate the guy, Canzano, and am secretly counting the days until hes gone.

[ex carrabba fan]

Re: UFC 102: Couture vs Nogueira

Tuchsherer was the guy who got booted in the balls and was supposendly spitting up blood, now I never saw them bring in a bucket for him to spit up in but many claim they did. Broken bones wise the only fight I can think of would be Herman blowing out his knee, but that can happen in any sport under normal conditions, Lord knows what he was thinking when Shaun Livingston damn near ended his career on a routine play in the NBA, that must have forced him to curl up in the fetal position and cry for days on end. I just hate the guy, Canzano, and am secretly counting the days until hes gone.

Exactly. I'm not trying to defend the UFC here because I understand that the nature of the sport is pretty brutal and borderline crude.

However the guy should not be allowed to just loosely throw out that type of language and perhaps fictional statements as well.

And Herman looked like a cartilage thing more than anything.

Concussions, broken bones, torn knees, blood all happen a ton in other sports. Like I said I don't wish to turn this into suck fest for the UFC but just take a look at other sports.. especially hockey. Especially in hockey where fighting is allowed with no gloves or mouth pieces.

[allBthere]

Re: UFC 102: Couture vs Nogueira

Man... I mean I'm a big Marquardt fan, but Maia is my favorite fighter and it sucks to see him lose like that. It must suck to train for months and see it all go to waste like that. Really classy of Nate to not throw any punches after Maia got KO'd.

I still don't think Marquardt can handle Silva though.

Nate did that against Wilson G. too. I really like it too, it just shows that he can turn it on and off instantly.

[Stumbleweed]

Re: UFC 102: Couture vs Nogueira


KABOOM! BLAM! POW! ZOT!

Totally wrecked him... I could watch that for hours.. lifted him off his feet. That was almost Hendo-Bisping status except I don't hate Maia at all... just wow. Also nice to see the classiness in slo-mo... you can tell he looked him in the eyes right before landing and knew he was finished... you can see his fist slowly open as he stops his arm swinging.

[Salhus]

Re: UFC 102: Couture vs Nogueira

No way should Leben be cut yet. He's popular, he's 8-5 in the UFC, and he's pretty reliable in terms of putting on a good fight. Not every fighter in the UFC has to be a championship contender or some up-and-comer on a 5-fight win streak. There's a place for guys like Leben.

Also, I really hope that a fight between Hendo and Marquardt doesn't happen. I think it's bull**** the crap Silva and his management are trying to pull. There's two obvious contenders for his title. They're talking about how they're willing to wait for the result of that fight before defending the title again, but that would mean the MW champ would defend his title once in about 15 months. That's insane.

Plus, if they fight each other, one of them won't get a title shot, because there's no way a guy gets one coming off a loss. I get that there's no clear number one contender, but so what? It's not worth sabotaging one of the guys just so we can distinguish between 1a and 1b.

Let Hendo go first, because he's more likely to be ready sooner. And then let Marquardt go next. Hopefully by that time, another challenger emerges to fight for the MW title next summer (maybe Okami).

If Silva finds that disagreeable, he can give up his title and move up to LHW and mess around in that division all he wants.

Silva is what, 34? He's expressed that age is a factor in his career. Looks like he is worried about his legacy more than the MW division. Marquardt and Henderson= 2 more title defenses for Silva and you know why.

That's something that he has done before. Other accomplishments would expand his legacy more than those MW fights

[Wet Bandit]

Re: UFC 102: Couture vs Nogueira

Silva is what, 34? He's expressed that age is a factor in his career. Looks like he is worried about his legacy more than the MW division. Marquardt and Henderson= 2 more title defenses for Silva and you know why.

That's something that he has done before. Other accomplishments would expand his legacy more than those MW fights

And that's fine. If Silva wants superfights to expand his legacy, I've got no problem with that. But he's got no business with the MW title then. A fighter shouldn't be able to be champion of a division if he's only going to defend his belt once in a year when he's completely healthy.

[Scoop_Brady]

Re: UFC 102: Couture vs Nogueira

And that's fine. If Silva wants superfights to expand his legacy, I've got no problem with that. But he's got no business with the MW title then. A fighter shouldn't be able to be champion of a division if he's only going to defend his belt once in a year when he's completely healthy.

I totally agree, he's holding the MW title hostage when both Henderson and Marquardt deserve a crack at it. The only way those two should fight each other would be if Silva abandons the belt and moves up in weight. Otherwise give Henderson a shot and have Marquardt face the winner.