Nate Marquardt file photo: Sherdog.com
With one of the thinnest lineups for an Ultimate Fighting Championship event this year, a bulk of media attention for UFC 122 on Saturday in Germany revolved around the country’s disposition toward MMA after a wave of negative publicity greeted the UFC’s debut in the country in June 2009.
Officials said the company’s sophomore effort in the country, set for the Konig Pilsener Arena in Oberhausen and headlined by Nate Marquardt vs. Yushin Okami, was not greeted with anywhere near the outcry. Media sources ahead of UFC 99 last year decried MMA as a reprehensible display of violence, rhetoric reminiscent of the days when Sen. John McCain infamously railed against the sport as “human cockfighting.” Eventually, the UFC agreed to not allow minors to attend the event.
While the backlash may have subsided, the UFC still did not manage to get a German television deal in place for UFC 122, which airs domestically on tape delay Saturday on Spike TV. The company lost television clearance in the country in March, when a licensing authority in the state of Bavaria withdrew approvals for the UFC to air on a sports channel called Deutsches Sportfernsehen, or DSF. The UFC filed a lawsuit against the licensing authority, called the BLM, claiming UFC events were improperly removed from television. UFC U.K. President Marshall Zelaznik said networks that broadcast from other states in Germany are interested in broadcasting the UFC but will not commit until the lawsuit is resolved.
The company reached a deal with one of Germany’s most-trafficked sports Web sites, Spox.com, to broadcast UFC 122, and will also stream the event free for German fans on the UFC Germany Web site.
Even without television exposure, the company has managed to sell between 8,000 and 9,000 tickets in the 11,000-seat arena for UFC 122. UFC 99 drew a reported 12,800 fans for a $1.3 million gate to Cologne’s 20,000-seat Lanxess Arena. To help drum up buzz, UFC President Dana White and color commentator Joe Rogan hosted a UFC Fight Club Q&A session prior to weigh-ins. All UFC 122 fighters made weight on Friday.