Contributor: Nolan Howell
In America, bigger is better. Anyone going through a drive-thru or looking in the pages of a magazine would be hard-pressed to tell you any different. Size draws eyes and attention.
One puzzle piece in the puzzle that is Americana is professional wrestling. Wrestling symbolizes the flair for drama in a battle of good versus evil between giants and normal-sized men alike. However, despite there being something for everyone in professional wrestling, it is time and time again proven that size draws. The true talents of professional wrestling were held down by the genetic freaks and inhuman specimens that drew money. In the infamous World Championship Wrestling, Kevin Nash, a nearly seven foot star, dubbed these shorter, more technical grapplers “vanilla midgets” due to their diminutive stature comparatively and their lack of aura to capture the crowd’s imagination. Occasionally, one broke to the top, but the buy rates and money earned took a hit, pushing the booking of the product to the formulaic big guy, big draw route.
On this weekend’s UFC on Fox 8 card, UFC flyweight champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson defends his strap against challenger John Moraga. This 125 lbs. bout headlines the card.
Not unlike their pro wrestling counterparts, the lighter weight classes (sub-155 lbs.) and namely the flyweights have had trouble capturing the eye of even the most hardcore MMA fans. The lack of size and personality in the fighters and the fights that they deliver has shown in the lack of interest in cards main-evented by the 125 pounders.
Unfortunately, it also shows in the money.
But, this begs the question: Why do the flyweights not draw and how can this be remedied?
When looking for a card to buy or watch, fans want explosive finishes and demonstrations of athleticism that will leave them in awe. Either the aura, the arsenal, or a little of both have to be there, proving why the UFC has seen consistent buyrates from men like Georges St. Pierre, Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, etc.
Regarding the arsenal, flyweights bring what almost is a different type of MMA to the cage. Where some of the heavier weights rely on power and finishing ability, flyweights for the most part play a calculated, chess match-like game of pacing for the opportune moment to win a round and occasionally finish a fight.
Emphasis on occasionally. Believe it or not, this is quantifiable when looking at the top ten men in each weight class.
Flyweight Finishing Averages
- Demetrious Johnson: 53%
- Joseph Benavidez: 72%
- John Dodson: 57%
- Ian McCall: 63%
- John Moraga: 61%
- Jussier Formiga: 47%
- Louis Gaudinot: 66%
- John Lineker: 57%
- Chris Cariaso: 28%
- Darren Uyenoyama: 63%
Highest finish rate in the division: Azamat Gashimov: 86%.
Lowest finish rate in the division: Chris Cariaso: 28%
What plagues flyweight is the lack of finishes in the top level of competition. Even those who are touted as finishers, guys like John Dodson and John Lineker, only finish roughly half of their opponents.
The bottom of the division touts the bigger finishers, such as Azamat Gashimov, Phil Harris, and Tim Elliott (both tout a 77% finish rate).
Take a look at the finishing rate seen in other divisions in comparison:
Top 10 Bantamweight finishing rate: 69.6%
(Author’s Note: Dominick Cruz’s 37% finish rate is not on this list, given his prolonged absence. His inclusion would edge out Ivan Menjivar, who posts a 76% finish rate.)
Top 10 Featherweight Finishing Rate: 66%
Top 10 Lightweight Finishing Rate: 64.5%
(Author’s Note: Lightweight contains an extreme outlier that could skew the numbers in Gray Maynard, who has the lowest finishing rate of any top ten fighter in the UFC, finishing a whoppingly low 18% of his competition.)
Top 10 Welterweight Finishing Rate: 70.9%
Top 10 Middleweight Finishing Rate: 70.6%
Top 10 Light Heavyweight Finishing Rate: 68.1%
Top 10 Heavyweight Finishing Rate: 83.3%
The numbers suggest flyweights don’t finish fights at the top level. Given that many tune in to see a monster knockout or slick submission, this can be a hard sell to most fans.
Two ways of potentially remedying this lack of finishing in the division lie in advertising. The first route is placing potentially unfavorable or fan-friendly matchups on televised cards. This would expose the audience to flyweight finishes and give fans suggestions on fighters to get behind. Additionally, the squash match or unearned fight route would be easily forgivable in retrospect and the UFC should strike while the iron is hot. Being that this is a growing division, it is excusable for the organization to try and build stars with this way while there are so few fighters signed.
They obviously don’t have problems doing this in other divisions (see: Sonnen, Chael), so this could be a quick fix that could turn out positively.
The other route is to market flyweight fights (and lighter weight classes, if so inclined) as a different sort of MMA in a way. Just like some wrestling organizations highlight comedic, high-flying, or stiff styles, the UFC could potentially inform fans what types of fights they’ll be seeing in comparison to the romanticized heavyweight class. This allows for the audience to know the niche they are getting into and potentially building a sect of an audience for that grouping.
Again, ZUFFA had no problems doing this for the lighter divisions in the WEC, even going so much as to scale the cage in comparison to the smaller fighters.
Finally, they could continue on the route they are going on in highlighting smaller weight classes on the biggest stage of them all for MMA on Fox. The channel has become the unofficial home of the flyweights and lightweights, trying to brand Demetrious Johnson and Benson Henderson as stars, while somehow still excluding the bantamweight and featherweight divisions.
Is this method working?
For the lightweights, it seems to be a relatively successful experiment. The true test of this will come at UFC 164 when Fox mainstay and champion Ben Henderson takes on Anthony Pettis, who had a major showcase on the channel against Donald Cerrone.
UFC on Fox 3 featured a number one contender’s bout of sorts at 155 between Nate Diaz and Jim Miller. The show averaged only 2.4 million viewers. However, in the long run, this was used to parlay another Fox shows into a lightweight title bout. Nate Diaz again main-evented on UFC on Fox 5, fighting champion Ben Henderson en route to being dominated in a lopsided decision. This show averaged 4.4 million viewers, making it the third best Fox show to date.
However, there is also evidence that Ben Henderson’s star is in direct correlation to the fighter he is taking on. On the last UFC on Fox 7 card, Henderson took on a relatively unknown name to casual fans in former Strikeforce lightweight king Gilbert Melendez. Despite a back-and-forth war that saw Henderson come out on top, the show drew only 3.7 million viewers, landing it in fifth place out of seven.
Flyweights have only seen two cards with their name in the marquee, with the common denominator being Demetrious Johnson. “Mighty Mouse” first took on Ian McCall in a rematch on UFC on FX 3 from their controversial bout at UFC on FX 2. Despite the familiarity in channel and an exciting first fight, the show only drew 1. million viewers, tying it with UFC on FX 5: Browne vs. Bigfoot at 1.1 million for seventh place out of eight, only beating out UFC on FX 8: Sotiropoulos vs. Pearson, which drew 927,000.
Given a spotlight on Fox for UFC on Fox 6, “Mighty Mouse” took on John Dodson with his belt on the line. The show drew 4.4 million, landing it it in the middle of the pack at fourth out of seven.
Unfortunately, this card could also be an outlier because of the co-main event featuring Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, who had starred in The A-Team and provided one of the bigger UFC buyrates at UFC 114.
Simply put, size matters. The UFC has proven that it cannot always draw with just their name and the flyweights suffer from that accordingly. There is hope, however, as the UFC has many different options and opportunities to build this new weight class. Despite these outlets, it may just be the lack of relation between the casual MMA fan and these small, lean killing machines that makes the weight class suffer. The lack of the legendary powerful punch and the unique stature just takes the aura out of the flyweight class for many.
Whatever it is, the UFC has made a cup of tea. Their job is to keep on brewing it and get folks to like it. Adding sugar, milk, or whatever is needed should be their goal to get the flyweights over and put butts in seats.
One thing’s for certain and that is I will be one of the many or one of the few and the proud enjoying what should be a great back-and-forth battle between some of the most unique athletes the UFC has to offer tomorrow night.
(ht: MMAWeekly.com, RankingMMA.com)
-Nolan can be reached @nolanhowell
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