I've got a place to watch UFC 85 and depressing stats...

So, I'll be in Redlands for the fights at the Hunt pad. No one else got back to me about the card and since I'll be in Riverside at a previous engagement I made that night until about 8:30, I'm going to jump in my car and hustle to catch the main event. Fortunately my man Chris is cool enough to let me stick around and watch whatever part of the card I'll miss after the show's over.

UFC 85 is a solid card IMHO and the more I look at the match ups, the more excited I am to see it. It's been a veritable MMA blowout the last week or so with UFC 84, the WEC, TUF, the CBS crap, and now 85. Since I don't have a lot of time to watch TV it seems like the only thing I ever watch when I do watch TV is MMA, but that's fine by me. With school, work, family, etc. I am limited to the ocassional fling with BioShock and my late night MMA.

Anyway, catch up on some news below, especially that relating to Vera and Marquardt, both of whom are staged to make a come back and, perhaps, set themselves up for an eventual title shot. We also have other possible challengers in Marcus Davis and Alves.

Oh and a side note, isn't this the most depressing stat:

MMA's Biggest Stars

by Brett Jones on Jun 4, 2008 1:34 PM EDT

Adam Swift of MMA Payout has posted a list of the five most watched fights in MMA history:

1. Kimbo Slice v. James Thompson - 6.51 million
   
2. Quinton Jackson v. Dan Henderson - 5.93 million
   
3. Tito Ortiz v. Ken Shamrock III - 5.89 million
   
4. Robbie Lawler v. Scott Smith - 5.53 million
5. Gina Carano v. Kaitlin Young - 4.68 million

These results aren't particularly surprising. We all recognize at this point that regardless of how we feel about the event, EliteXC on CBS was a success in the ratings.

To nobody's surprise, Kimbo carried the night, proving that, at least on a short enough time line that a compelling story is more important to the casual viewer than outstanding talent. Many observers, including the Miami Herald's Dan Le Batard have suggested that Kimbo's appeal may diminish in light of his match with James Thompson. While that's certainly a possibility, I can say that anecdotally I have spoken to several casual MMA fans who were not only fine with the stoppage in Kimbo's fight, but they came away wowed by Kimbo. His drawing power will be put to the test in an upcoming EliteXC event on CBS, even if his abilities as a fighter are not.

Perhaps the most intriguing of the fighters included in the list is Gina Carano. On the one hand, her fight was viewed by nearly one million fewer viewers than the following match on the card, Robbie Lawler v. Scott Smith. On the other hand, the inclusion of Carano began the ratings spike leading up to Kimbo's match. Judging by the ratings breakdown for each half-hour of the show, Carano appears to be a bona fide star, sure due in no small part to her involvement in American Gladiators. The half hour in which Carano fought Kaitlin Young saw the largest gain in viewers from the preceding half-hour (1.02 million viewers) on the entire show. The next closest half-hour spike was for the Middleweight title match (0.85 million viewers), which immediately followed Carano v. Young.