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ULTIMATE FIGHTER REBOUNDS IN WEEK THREE RATINGS After an alarming ratings drop the previous week, The Ultimate Fighter 3 rebounded to a strong 1.9 overall rating with its third episode on April 20th. The show had previously drawn a 2.0 rating in its season premiere, and then fell off drastically to an overall rating of 1.3 for Episode Two. The increase to 1.9 for Episode Three must come as a huge sigh of relief to Zuffa and Spike TV just one week after the biggest week-to-week ratings drop-off in the history of the series. In the key demographic of 18-to-34-year-old males, Episode Three drew a 3.0 rating, which is a big improvement from the 2.3 rating that Episode Two drew in that demographic. However, it still falls far short of the 3.7 rating that the show's season premiere drew in that demographic. One Big Reason for the Ratings Increase: Boosts from Specific Age Groups When a TV show's ratings go down gradually over time, the reasons are usually fairly simple. People tend to lose interest in TV series as time passes, or they get turned off by certain things in the series and don't want to watch it anymore. It is much less common for a TV show's ratings to go down drastically one week and then go back up drastically the next week. In examining why the ratings for Episode Three rebounded in such a manner, one of the first things to jump out is the fact that the show's ratings in two specific age demographics went up in Episode Three, to the point that they were actually higher than Episode One's ratings in the same demographics. In the 35-to-49-year-old male demographic, Episode One drew a 1.7 rating, Episode Two was down to a 1.1 rating, and Episode Three was up to a season-high 2.0 rating. Similarly, in the 18-to-24-year-old male demographic, Episode One drew a 1.9 rating, Episode Two was down to a 1.7 rating, and Episode Three was up to a season-high 2.3 rating. If it weren't for these two specific age groups, the overall rating for Episode Three would not have been much higher than the disappointing rating that was drawn by Episode Two. It was these two specific demographics that figuratively carried the show on their back to bring the overall rating back up to the high 1s. In the specific age group that has supported UFC programming on Spike TV more than any other age group, which is 25-to-34-year-old males, the ratings for Episode Three are still nowhere near what they were for Episode One. Episode Three drew a 3.4 rating in that demographic, which is still far short of the record-breaking 5.0 rating that Episode One drew in that demo. Another Reason for the Increase: Huge Lead-In Rating for Royce Gracie Retrospective The most simple and direct reason for Episode Three's ratings increase is the fact that the most recent episode of UFC Unleashed gave TUF a much bigger lead-in audience than it had the week before. The April 20th episode of UFC Unleashed, which was a look back at the career of Royce Gracie, drew an overall rating of 1.4, which is huge for UFC Unleashed and may very well be a testament to the drawing power of Royce Gracie. To put into perspective how big of a deal it is for UFC Unleashed to have drawn a 1.4 overall rating, that actually equals the 1.4 overall rating that The Ultimate Fighter 2 averaged over the course of its twelve-episode run. An overall rating of 1.4 is actually higher than the 1.3 overall rating that TUF 3 drew with its second episode. An overall rating of 1.4 is barely lower than the 1.6 overall rating that the UFC drew with a two-hour live fight special on April 6th. It's a little bit crazy for hour-long retrospective shows to be drawing ratings similar to those drawn by first-run TUF episodes or even live UFC fight broadcasts. The apparent TV viewer interest in Royce Gracie has to be seen as a positive by Zuffa when it comes to what kind of PPV buy-rate UFC 60 is going to draw, especially since ticket sales for the event have been slow (at least compared to the last several UFC PPV events). Positive or Negative Word of Mouth, and Audience Growth Throughout Episode Three Unlike the first two episodes of TUF 3, the third episode showed significant growth in its ratings throughout the episode. Episode One back on April 6th remained steady in its ratings throughout the 90-minute broadcast, with quarter-hour ratings of 1.9 or 2.0 for all six quarter-hours. Episode Two only had mild growth in its audience as the show went on, with a 1.2 overall rating for the first half-hour and a 1.4 overall rating for the second half-hour. On the other hand, the ratings for Episode Three went up significantly as the show went on, with the first 15 minutes drawing a 1.6 rating, the second quarter-hour drawing a 1.7 rating, the third quarter-hour drawing a 2.0 rating, and the final 15 minutes of the show drawing a 2.3 rating. This is most likely due to the fact that the scheduled fight was established early in the episode, and the rest of the episode was focused on building towards that fight. The vast majority of the people who were watching at 10:00 PM stuck around for the entire episode, and when you combine that with the fact that new viewers are typically tuning in at various times throughout any given episode of a TV show, that's what leads to the aforementioned quarter-hour ratings growth during the course of an episode. However, even with the audience growth during the course of Episode Three, it is still the case for this series (and the vast majority of TV series) that the buzz from episode to episode actually centers on the previous episode of the series. This is a notion that holds up when one examines the week-to-week ratings changes during the first two seasons of TUF. If a significant percentage of the people who watched Episode One of TUF 3 were disappointed with what they saw, that would likely not be reflected in the ratings for the first episode. It would be far more likely to be reflected in the ratings for the following week's episode, since the people who were disappointed by the first episode would be far less likely to tune in for Episode Two. On the same token, if the people who watched Episode Two liked what they saw for the most part, that would probably not be reflected in the ratings of Episode Two. It would be far more likely to be reflected in the ratings for the following week's episode, as the people who enjoyed the show talk about it at the proverbial water-cooler the next day (or the next week), and positive word of mouth spreads in the days leading up to the debut of the next episode. With that in mind, it has to be considered a strong possibility that many of the people who watched Episode One of this season were disappointed with what they saw (perhaps by the drunkenness of what is supposed to be a group of professional athletes, or perhaps by the first episode's constant refrain of, "Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock really, really hate each other! No, I mean it! They really do!" or perhaps by any number of other factors), and therefore many of those people didn't come back to watch Episode Two. It also has to be considered a strong possibility that many of the people who watched Episode Two liked what they saw enough to tell their friends or co-workers about it in the subsequent days, and many of those friends and co-workers tuned in to see part or all of Episode Three. As with any episode of TUF or any television series in general, the ratings for Episode Four of this season of TUF will be determined in part by which group of people is greater in size--- the group that was disappointed enough in Episode Three to have lost some or all of their interest in the series, or the group that enjoyed Episode Three enough to talk about the show with their friends or co-workers. Network TV Competition Not Likely to Have Stolen Many Viewers from TUF's Third Episode Episode Three of TUF 3 went head-to-head with a fairly weak night of network TV competition. In the 10:00 PM to 11:00 PM hour on April 20th, CBS' Without a Trace led the way with an overall rating of 11.5, which is much lower than usual due to the fact that the show's CSI lead-in was a repeat. ABC's Commander in Chief continued to struggle on its road towards a possible cancellation with an overall rating of just 5.2, which is down drastically from the 10+ overall ratings that the show was drawing in its first several weeks on the air. Finally, a repeat of ER on NBC drew an overall rating of just 4.3, which is less than half of what ER normally draws with its new episodes (ER repeats generally don't hold up well in the ratings). Either side of the argument could easily be made on whether the network TV competition has any significant effect on TUF's ratings. It's true that TUF draws from different viewer demographics than Without a Trace or Commander in Chief, but TUF certainly does draw from many of the same age demographics as ER. ER is supported primarily by 18-to-49-year-old viewers, which is also the general age demographic that Spike TV targets with The Ultimate Fighter. The pro wrestling show TNA Impact, which airs Thursday nights at 11:00 PM on Spike TV and is now relying on TUF to provide it with a big lead-in audience, drew an overall rating of 0.9 on April 20th, which was down from the April 13th episode's overall rating of 1.1. While TNA certainly can't put on the kind of risky, high-impact match every week that they had at the beginning of the April 13th show, the April 20th rating still has to be considered hugely disappointing for TNA because its lead-in audience was actually much bigger on April 20th. In just one week, TNA Impact went from retaining a strong 85% of TUF's overall rating (1.1 compared to TUF's 1.3), to retaining just 47% of TUF's overall rating (0.9 compared to TUF's 1.9). By: Ivan Trembow MMA WEEKLY

Judo has subs. Lots of subs. Is it not reasonable to believe that a guy who has trained for years in Judo would be good at subs? Esp a guy who wins lots of his fights via subs? Hunt was able to beat Bobish after getting taken down and laid on. Silva took him down too.

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No. I suppose not. I mean, Gold Medals in Judo? That's a laff. Judo isn't a real martial art anyways. It's just Hasidic bread before it gets put in the oven.

At the time, Royce Gracie was near-god. After seeing UFC 2 over a decade ago, me and my buddies stopped trying to do sharpshooters and camel clutches on each other and started doing guillotine chokes and armbars. The sense of "no one can beat this man", that we may get with Fedor or Liddell today, was the feeling every time Gracie stepped into the octagon times 10. The mystique that the UFC put on the Gracies was just, I've never seen anything like it (even if it was pretty much all fictional). Basing his fights just on Unleashed is a bit unfair. You have to see the whole events to get the aura and importance of Gracie. And BJJ is still one of, if not thee, most important martial art to study. For offense, but more importantly, for defense.

I was watching the Unleashed special last week and for the first time it really dawned on me "ROYCE GRACIE IS FIGHTING IN THE UFC". That's fucking amazing.

Kharitonov was able to get Schilt down and put his nuts in his face. I think the "Hunt is prone to submissions" is a bit premature of a statement to make. He got subbed in his first ever MMA match against a really good submissions guy, and still showed natural defending abilities. And that's it. It's not like he is Frank Trigg and gets subbed over and over again. If he gets subbed again, sure, but basing how he is on a fighter now just on his first match is absurd. It would be more likely for Hunt to KO Arlovski than for Arlovski to sub Hunt, IMO.

Being a whore and being a hypocrite aren't the same thing. Actually... whore (hôr, hōr) pronunciation n. 1. A prostitute. 2. A person considered sexually promiscuous. 3. A person considered as having compromised principles for personal gain.

This is getting ridiculous with the amount of baddies this season. Awesomely ridiculous, but ridiculous nonetheless. So Heller going off the cliff was a bit drastic, right? He has to still be alive. I dunno what made me happier, having Curtis show up and save the day, or the homeland chick teamin with the good guys.

Who thinks Arlovski or Sylvia could beat Hunt? Kharitonov?

Tito's fight against Cote and Matyushenko were pretty boring (granted, it's been a few years since I saw the Vladdy fight). However, his fights against Shamrock, Griffin, Belfort, Shamrock, Couture, Mezger were very entertaining. However, does that make Tito an exciting fighter? Was it him that made those fights exciting? I think that's debatable.

I think there is a difference between not expecting and being surprised by.

Yeah, HHH isn't that bad. He just made sure Benoit had a lame duck title reign and then destroyed the guy who ended up taking the title from Benoit about a month later. Great guy, that HHH. I agree that Benoit winning the title, and even in that fashion, wasn't a surprise. The win had the emotional impact of a buttered roll. The last five minutes of Kawada/Taue vs. Misawa/Kobashi. Kawada and Misawa lay on the ground, slowly get up, Misawa throws a punch, maybe getting some life back, Kawada blocks it and drills him with a rolling kick and knocks him to the apron. Taue, on the apron, picks Misawa up and is read to choke slam him to the floor. Kobashi hobbles on his injured leg over to stop him. The crowd heat throughout is on its highest level, reacting to everything. As Kobashi tries to stop Taue, Kawada pulls him off and then kicks his hurt leg out from underneath him. As Kobashi lays on the ground clutching his knee, Taue forces his hand around Misawas throat on the apron. Misawa desperately fights him, but Kawada runs up behind him from the inside of the ring and lariats the back of his head. Taue chokeslams Misawa off the apron, in a great visual given the camera movement. Structurally, that whole sequence was perfect and it's been about a minute. Now Kobashi is on the outside, CRAWLING, to get to Misawa. Kawada is on the inside taking a breather. Misawa is DEAD on the ground. Taue tries to pick him up, the crowd starts to passionately chant "Mis-a-wa" as Kobashi crawls his way over and lays himself over Misawa. Kobashi, who failed to stop the attack which had Taue chokeslamming Misawa to the outside because his knee was fucked, is doing the only thing now that he can do - put his body on the line and take a beating so Misawa doesn't have to. Taue obliges and starts to stop and chop Kobashi while he c overs Misawa. He then picks him up and throws him aside, as if to say "you're not worth my energy". Two minutes in. Taue rolls Misawa back in, and at this point you have to remember that Kawada has yet to pin Misawa -ever-. So after Misawa is rolled into the ring, Kawada immediately tries to get the pin, but Misawa continues to roll all the way out to the otherside of the ring. These are stall tactics and they are brillaintly used. They sell the chokeslam. They sell the need to not get pinned from Kobashi and Misawa, and also the need to pin by Kawada and Taue. Kawada goes to the outside and immediately rolls Misawa back in. 1 - 2, no. A close pin, but everyone knew Kawada wasn't going to get it because Misawa had too much time to recover. Three minutes in. Kawada then tries to go for a powerbomb, but Misawa struggles against it. To wear him down some more, Kawada does his rapidkicks to the face. At this time I should note that Kobashi has slowly made it back to his corner. He sees what Kawada is doing and crawls under the ropes and grabs on to Misawas leg, preventing Kawadas powerbomb. Taue comes in and puts the boots to Kobashi, but Kobashi still won't let go. Taue has to pull Kobashi by his hair to get him off, chops him rapidly, and then he chokeslams Kobashi while Kawada stuff powerbombs Misawa. 1-2-no. Misawa folds over. This one the crowd bought and are going NUTS. The look on Kawadas face is one of bewilderment. Four minutes in. Kawada tries for the powerbomb again. He is stressing over it. What's great about this is that EVERYTHING is worked for. There is exertion on all of their faces. You get the sense that they are fighting for everything. Misawa backdrops Kawada off. Falls to a knee, and then trips Kawada so Kawada can't immediately follow up. Again, buying more time Misawa can't follow this up though and merely delays Kawada. Kawada, out of frustration, starts stomping Misawa repeatedly while holding the ropes. Kobashi crawls over and covers Misawa again and Kawada just doesn't stop. Both Taue and Kawada try to pull Kobashi off Misawa but he is fighting it, he is desperately trying to protect Misawa. This is the closest thing to a touching moment you will get in wrestling. The image of the two guys trying to force Kobashi off. I don't know if it is loyalty, regret, or will to win that has Kobashi trying to protect Misawa, but it's like he's the dog trying to protect his master. For this loyalty. For this dedication and passion. For this admirable defense of his comrade. Taue has Kobashis throat. Kawada has his waist. Chokeslam/Dangerous Backdrop Combo. Kobashi lands on his head. He's done for. But he did give Misawa more time. Misawa is to his feet, spinning elbow to Taue. But before he can get any momentum, he gets a ganmengiri from Kawada. There is no way Kawada is going to let his big pin slip from his grasp. 1-2-NO. Crowd is ape shit. The finish comes after another dangerous backdrop, a ganmengiri and finally -for the win- a stuff powerbomb. Kobashi tries to crawl to the rescue but Taue holds him back. It's over.

Fedor Emelianenko - Wins over Coleman, Randleman, Schilt, Herring, Goodridge, Fujita, TK, Cro Cop and most importantly Noguiera. Probably the most well-rounded heavyweight fighter ever, with the ability to sub off his back, destroy in the guard, ko power in his hands, solid takedowns, great balance, and great strategic mind. Stood with Cro Cop, stayed in Nogs guard. And almost more importantly, he proved he can take a shot, take punishment, and come back. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira - If it wasn't for Fedor, Nog would be heads and shoulders above the rest. Wins over Goodridge, Coleman, Rodriguez, Cro Cop, Schilt, Sapp, Herring, Kharitonov, and VOLK HAN. Rock-hard chin, the biggest heart, best heavyweight off his back, and great, memorable, fights. He pretty much cleared out the division before Fedor came along. Mark Coleman - Might be a controversial choice given his past losses to Cro Cop, Nog, Fedor, Williams, Smith, Rizzo... but the guy pretty much made the Heavyweight division with tournament wins at UFC 10 and 11 as well as dominant wins over Severn and Frye. First Heavyweight champion, influencial in that he proliferated the gnp style that is still popular today. Came back and won the PRIDE Grand Prix. Mirko Cro Cop - A surprise pick, perhaps, given that he's still a competitive fighter and his place in history is still being written, but wins over Herring, Vovchanchyn, Fujita, Coleman, Randleman, Barnett, as-well-as a tremendous performance against Nog and Fedor certainly puts him in considertation. The most deadly striker in the HW division, did more with it than Pedro Rizzo, and if you put him against any Heavyweight who has ever lived, he'd have a good chance of winning it. Pedro Rizzo - Wins overAbbott, Rodriguez, Arlovski, Barnett, Severn, TK, debated loss against Couture, and debated win over Coleman. At his best, there were very few better. Unfortunately, he failed to live up to his potential on many occasions, but all those big wins (cept for Abbott) were, at the time, against top 10 calibre fighters. Significant drop-off in recent years hurts his legacy. Ricco Rodriguez - drop-off aside, Ricco is one of the more talented Heavyweight fighters in history. Good wrestler who was able to use size and positioning effectively to get off submission and GnP wins. Wins over Couture, TK, Williams, Arlovski, Monson, Buentello, Goodridge, and a debated loss against Noguiera Dan Severn - UFC 4 finalist, UFC 5 winner, Ultimate Ultimate 2 winner, Superfight Champion. Wins over Griffin, Christison, Eilers, Silveira, Sims, Kopylov, Shamrock, Taktorov, Abbott, Fulton... not the greatest calibre of wins, and he's not the most exciting fighter, but all things considered, a remarkable set of accomplishments. He was the first successful wrestler in MMA, and though he was never in the top ten for the vast majority of his career, he gets points for laying the groundwork for the heavyweight division. Don Frye - Another one of those foundation fighters who are on the list because they were necesary for the development of the HW division. I think these type of fighters should be considered seriously because when you look at what makes for a legitimate top 10 fighter, who they beat is very important. Frye didn't really beat anyone big. Goodridge and Abbott are about his biggest wins. However, UFC 8 tourny champ, UU champ, the guy was a top guy during a period of time when everything was very disorganized and chaotic and Frye stood out as a clear top fighter. Along with Severn, Frye was a trailblazer. Randy Couture - Not a tremendously accomplished HW. I was debating putting him on the list. But wins over Belfort, Randleman, Smith and Rizzo - he helped bring the UFC heavyeweight picture legitimacy coming out of the dark-ages. Igor Vovchanchyn - Probably one of the most debatable picks on this list, but I look at him as a much better version of Tank Abbott. Looking at his fight record shows many tournament wins, many ko wins... the guy was a wrecking machine. Sure, those wins over lots of junk fighters, but this is something we have to accept and appreciate in the development of MMA history. The guy was a definite force in early PRIDE and helped lay the foundation for their HW division. Kazyuki Fujita/Josh Barnett - Fujita is a pick that will probably get lots of eye rolls. Wins over Kerr, Shamrock, Sapp, Yvel. Took Cro Cop to a decision. Came closest to beating Fedor. The best Japanese Heavyweight, and I think he could be competitive against anybody in the division, even today. Barnett has wins over Couture, Schilt, Hoffman, McGee, Severn, and competitive losses against Rizzo and Cro Cop. One of the more well rounded heavies.

Joey Styles used to write columns bashing the WWE and Sports Entertainment and now he not only works for them, but he spews out the stuff he used to make fun of. That's being a whore. Plus, Joey turned down the WWE before because his marketing job paid him more than they were offering him. That probably changed when the WWE got rid of Ross and the replacements (Coach and King) sucked balls. They offered Joey the right price to sell whatever principles he was trying to say he had. Joey never got a "free pass" when he was announcing for ECW, most of us just thought that the guy honestly felt the way he did and wasn't fed the information. It's clear now Joey is nothing more than a puppet and has absolutely no credibility to speak of.

Christian/Abyss not being a blood bath angers me.

Billy Jean would be the perfect entrance theme.

Yeah, I was writing the list and was like "jeez, I could put ANYONE after Fedor and Nog and it wouldn't matter."

Styles reportedly was making good/better money with his marketing job. So you can't really use the "he's trying to feed his kids" line. He had options. He's a whore.

You know how in professional wrestling they give promo packages sometimes building up fighters? They should do that with Silva. Theres enough footage that they could get to hype him up. "Anderson Silva... is coming" or something.

It's tough with the heavyweight division in MMA because most guys who could be heavies can cut down to 205 or even 185. Like in Boxing, I believe, HW is 205. So the guys who DO fight at HW are typically just guys who don't want to bother cutting weight, which leaves lots of junk.

When did UFC.tv become UFC.com?? I <3 the UFC's MW division. They could do a Grand Prix and it would be so good.

For a second, I thought you wrote "Colbert". I got very confused.

I mentioned this over at DVDVR, but Nemesis seemed like a good 2 parter for the TV show and that's about it. It was kinda weak on the plot-side (ditto Insurrection)

That's an interesting point. I watch SPIKE (relatively) a lot so, to me, it's like they are advertising it all over the place, when I guess it's just on that one channel.