UFC 163 - A Viewings Flop?

UFC 163 happens tonight in Rio, Brazil & features a featherweight title bout between Jose Aldo & The Korean Zombie. A $50 PPV event in the US and a new venture of BT Sports in the UK. How many people will splash money for the PPV or a new subscription in the UK is unknown but the card has been criticised on message boards as being particularly light on star power or meaningful bouts.

Aldo - Korean Zombie
An intriguing bout but one in which Aldo is expected to take with ease. The Korean Zombie is suprising and it seems at time unstoppable. Aldo on the other hand is a machine who tears through opposition. I don't see the Korean Zombie having much chance of walking into Aldo's kicks or punches all night and lean towards the champion for a stoppage victory. Aldo by clinical masterclass and TKO round 3.

UFC on BT Sport in UK

Lyoto Machida - Phil Davis
This fight has potential title implications for Machida and will throw Davis right into the mix with a win. Davis will not stand a chance on his feet against the Dragon and needs to get this to the ground pretty quickly. I think this is too much of a step up for Davis at this point. I see Machida stuffing the take downs and brutally KO'ing Davis in the 2nd.

Cezar Ferreira - Thiago Santos
I don't really know enough about these fighters as I never watched the Ultimatete Fighter Brazil. I am hugely confused why this is on the main portion off a PPV card when Ian McCall is on the prelims? I'm guessing its for the Brazilian fans. Anyway from what I do know about the two I would say Ferreira is the better all round fighter. I see him softening Santos up for two rounds before stopping him late in the 3rd with the overhand left. TKO / KO round 3 fr Ferreira.

Thales Leites - Tom Watson
Now I am a big Watson fan being British but I honestly feel he is going to come up short here. Leites experience wise has been in with the far better fighters and holds wins of Nate Marquadt & Jeremy Horn. Leites also took former middleweight champion and p4p great Anderson Silva 5 rounds in his quest to capture the UFC middleweight title. I see this potentially being fight of the night but feel Watson will lose a close decision. I see Watson gassing mid fight and losing a unanimous decision.

Me & Anthony Perosh

Vinny Magalhaes - Anthony Perosh
This fight I feel will be when Perosh receives his walking papers. An awful match up for him in my opinion. I feel Magalhaes can take this fight however he chooses. Second round submission for Magalhaes.

Ian McCall - Iliarde Santos
I am shocked where Uncle Creepy has been placed on this card. One of the more entertaining fighters in the UFC and in my opinion the only person to beat Mighty Mouse recently. I see McCall taking this fight with ease. Nice easy Unanimous Decision or late submission.

Overall the card is good if your a hardcore fan. For me I would never me any UFC event regardless of price but that's me. I have a feeling viewing figures worldwide will be low for this in comparison to recent PPV events. I shall be watching reluctantly on BT Sport.

UFC not on ESPN in UK - BT Sport takes over

I was slightly disappointed and saddened when I went to see if this was true on my TV guide. The only reason I have ESPN is for UFC and sadly for ESPN subscribers BT Sport  is the new home for UFC. BT sport are even opening their UFC coverage on Saturday night with "The UFC so far" - a documentary on the history of UFC.

My lovely gloves

So my to-do list of the day has changed to cancel ESPN with immediate effect and subscribe to BT Sport. Easy enough I suppose. Okay so I find the BT site, now how much will BT sport be? Well if you have BT broadband its free and if your order before the 1st of August you get HD free, thats great apart from the fact I don't use BT Internet as I find the service slightly retarded. I wont go into my gripes with BT now!

Okay so with an existing Sky package BT sport is a measly £12 a month - pretty damn good. Oh I must not forget the £15 "one off" connection fee (as it costs £15 to push a button to activate the service?). I should not really moan as UFC is incredibly cheap here in comparison to the US where this weekends UFC 163 featuring a featherweight title fight between Aldo & The Korean Zombie is only available on PPV for $50.

One thing I do hope BT Sport do is get the timing correct for the events and put a bit of care in. ESPN often allowed other shows to over-run thus clashing with UFC events and spoiling everything. Also the timing of commercial breaks was appalling at times. I will give my predictions on UFC 163 later during the week.