The Weekly Wrap: Nov. 7 - Nov. 13

UFC 105 Run-Up

The arena was just about full, but Zuffa still had reason to launch an aggressive go-home marketing push for a UFC 105 show that could -- on the back of Randy Couture in his first free TV bout -- draw ratings on par with Strikeforce’s CBS effort and set a UFC United Kingdom attendance record.

The company expects to sell out the Manchester Evening News Arena for the event, which would likely rival the company’s all-time U.K. attendance record (16,235 for UFC 75 in September 2007). The arena opened up a few hundred seats this week that could pack 16,500 into the building, which promotes itself as the most-booked arena in the world.

The UFC took the rare step of producing a “Countdown” Spike TV hype special for a free television event. It highlighted the Couture vs. Brandon Vera, Dan Hardy vs. Mike Swick and Michael Bisping vs. Denis Kang fights, framing them as “careers on the rise, at a crossroads or running out of time.”

Both Couture and Vera were shown drilling their wrestling, Couture with Neil Melanson, Vera with Phil Davis. Bisping was shown at home, looking at fight footage with his camp and sparring playfully with his young son, whom Bisping claimed cried with his grandmother after his father was knocked out by Dan Henderson at UFC 100. Swick and Hardy talked some trash, with Swick saying Hardy was “in over his mohawk,” while Hardy called his opponent “One Trick Swick.” At a Nov. 12 press conference, Hardy presented a Runner-Up trophy to Swick, who took the rib in stride.

The Countdown show drew 547,000 average viewers on Spike TV, according to MMAPayout.com. The number was a slight improvement over the 524,000 drawn for the preview special for UFC 104, which projects to do 475,000 buys, according to the Wrestling Observer.

All 22 fighters made weight for UFC 105. Couture tipped the scales at 204 pounds for his first appearance as a light heavyweight in nearly four years.