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UFC on Versus 6 from Washington DC.

Main Card-
Dominick Cruz (c) vs. Demetrious Johnson
Pat Barry vs Stefan Struve
Charlie Brenneman vs. Anthony Johnson
Matt Wiman vs. Mac Danzig

Preliminary Card-
Yves Edwards vs. Rafaello Oliveira
Shane Roller vs. T.J. Grant
Paul Sass vs. Michael Johnson
Byron Bloodworth vs. Mike Easton
Josh Neer vs. Keith Wisniewski
Walel Watson vs. Joseph Sandoval

Pretty solid start to a free card.

However, and I know I shouldn't complain about a title fight on free TV, but I feel like this kind of devalues the BW title, and by extension the entire division. Might not be the best idea when trying to get the division going, especially coming off a fight like Cruz/Faber II. I suppose you could argue that UFC 75 did nothing to devalue the LHW title (and you would be right), I just think the circumstances are quite a bit different.

Am I the only one who thinks Rumble is going to absolutely brutalize Charlie? I mean I just picture it looking like a damn crime scene.

Awesome that it'll be a free card, bad news for Mighty Mouse though. He's not ready and he's too small. It's going to be a repeat of the Jorgensen fight with him getting picked apart while being unable to threaten with takedowns because his reach isn't there.

CPT wrote:However, and I know I shouldn't complain about a title fight on free TV, but I feel like this kind of devalues the BW title, and by extension the entire division.

I'm with you that it is possible, but I don't think we should be surprised by it.

Starkiller wrote:Am I the only one who thinks Rumble is going to absolutely brutalize Charlie? I mean I just picture it looking like a damn crime scene.

Nope, I see that happening too.

Nemesis21 wrote:

Starkiller wrote:Am I the only one who thinks Rumble is going to absolutely brutalize Charlie? I mean I just picture it looking like a damn crime scene.

Nope, I see that happening too.

I'm talking like, Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin bad. Or Andre Winner vs. Roli Delgado. Just bad.

Many people thought Story would kill him too.

Starkiller wrote:

Nemesis21 wrote:

Starkiller wrote:Am I the only one who thinks Rumble is going to absolutely brutalize Charlie? I mean I just picture it looking like a damn crime scene.

Nope, I see that happening too.

I'm talking like, Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin bad. Or Andre Winner vs. Roli Delgado. Just bad.

That's what I see, hope Rumble comes out guns blazin from the moment the bell rings. Do him like he did Tommy Spear.

SDM wrote:Many people thought Story would kill him too.

That was simply on a talent/skill level, Rumble is a giant compared to CB. So much bigger and stronger.

CPT wrote:Pretty solid start to a free card.

However, and I know I shouldn't complain about a title fight on free TV, but I feel like this kind of devalues the BW title, and by extension the entire division. Might not be the best idea when trying to get the division going, especially coming off a fight like Cruz/Faber II. I suppose you could argue that UFC 75 did nothing to devalue the LHW title (and you would be right), I just think the circumstances are quite a bit different.

I don't see that way. As long as the fight is good, this should only create more interest in the division.

I just thought they had made a great step forward by having Cruz and Faber headline a PPV, the fight did well (though I don't know about PPV buys), and now the next title fight is back to free TV? Makes it seem like it's not important.

the ufc should do this more often. if there are 15-16 ppv's a year and 8-9 free cards maybe have 2 title fights on free tv. it would increase the fanbase and i doubt it would stop people from buying ppvs. obviously it would be awesome if the ufc had a network deal with nbc or espn/abc instead of just spike and versus which are sort of limited. goddamn that would be surreal. could we one day see a major ppv quality card on saturday night primetime television, say 10 million viewers? who knows.

I don't think it will devalue it so to speak (it kind of does) but its a good tool by the UFC to promote the weight class atm with probably the least amount of fan backing/exposure. Cruz for a UFC champ is relatively unknown/unrated (if you get my meaning) so this gives people a chance to watch him for free, plus the fact there is a title will probably draw more attention - it should actually be quite well watched, with any luck promoting that division.

It does devalue it in the sense that its admitting its already under valued - so that they have to put it up for free.

I get the events for free (being the UK) anyway so not much difference to me lol.

The 135 and 145 division need HEAVY exposure, the average MMA fan probably doesn't even know more than 2 guys in each division.
I watch MMA all the time and I don't think I could name 4 guys at 135. I never watched WEC.

You can't headline a card and expect good buys if it's with the 135 or 145 divisions. They need to really build up some names there, which is why Florian getting a title shot soon is a great idea.

They really need to do a 135-145 TUF season badly to create some names. Even if some of the guys are current fighters in the UFC, they really need to create stars in those divisions.

I agree about the lighter weight tuf season, would also be nice not to see top contenders and good smaller fighters on the prelims all the damn time.

Getting the 135 pound division exposure by putting fights like this on TV is a win/win for the UFC and it's fans.

The thing is, it isn't more exposure. These free cards are not 'events' in the way UFC PPVs are. You can't compare PPV buyrates and ratings directly. People don't often get together with friends to watch these events (usually on weeknights), nor do they flock to bars to watch. Check out the activity on Twitter during a PPV event and a UFC on Versus, and you will see what I mean. And even with all that being said, sometimes PPVs actually draw more buys than a Versus card. The average is around 450,000 for a PPV, while shows on Versus are around 750,000, but PPVs with big names get more than that Versus number routinely. Unfortunately, Cruz vs. Faber only drew about 350,000 buys, but if you put this fight on behind Jones vs. Rampage, and threw Sanchez vs. Hughes on this free show (or just got another main event), you would be doing more for Cruz and the BW division.

Johnson's got some decent wins under his belt lately between Torres and Kid Yama, I won't bet against him. That said, Cruz is just always moving around and is bigger, I wonder what Demtrius' camp has in their sights, in terms of a gameplan?

Pat Barry vs Struve added to this card... love it. tallest guy in the division versus the shortest. they're complete opposites with their games too.