UFC ledger takes hit in Denver
What could have been an historic event for the Ultimate Fighting Championship in Denver last weekend ran into problems before it even began.
The organization staged UFC 150 in the city where UFC 1 was held nearly 20 years ago, but did its worst gate in years at Pepsi Center on Saturday night.
The event brought in only $650,000 in ticket sales, which UFC president Dana White said was the worst number for a pay-per-view event since 2007.
The disappointing figure comes on the heels of a U.S. mixed martial arts record gate of $6.9 million for UFC 148 in Las Vegas on July 7 and the $4.1 million arena-record gate the organization did in Calgary, Alberta, for a relatively mediocre UFC 149 card July 21.
White said the recent mass shooting at a movie theater just outside Denver and the wildfires earlier in the summer made for a difficult environment.
"We've been here before and we've always done really well here. It's been a really bad summer for this place," White said late Saturday after the event. "Once all that stuff started going down, we felt it was not (going to) be a good gate here."
The event did draw more than 15,000 fans, and those who were there were quite vocal.
"I'm actually happy the people that did come were able to have fun," White said.
The low gate was not the only problem the event ran into.
Of even more concern for White and the UFC was a flood of complaints by people unable to view or order the event on DirecTV.
"We couldn't be kicked in the balls worse than we did tonight. They dropped. It couldn't have happened last night, it had to happen tonight. The entire system went down. Black," said White, who couldn't estimate exactly how much of the organization's pay-per-view business comes from the satellite provider or how many potential customers were affected. "That's a big number. Huge number.
"Fun night."
■ SWOOSH SUPPORT - Nike has decided to expand its footprint in the mixed martial arts business by sponsoring UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
The 25-year-old confirmed reports he has signed a deal with Nike and says a signature line will be released soon.
"Blessed to be signed by the biggest sports apparel company in the world #NIKE Dreams do come true," Jones posted on Twitter.
He added a reference to one of the most popular Nike campaigns ever, incorporating his own nickname, "Bones." with Bo Jackson's famous tagline.
"Never allow anyone to tell you what you can or cannot do #Bonesknows," he posted.
Nike has previously sponsored middleweight champion Anderson Silva, but not to anywhere near the level of a signature line.
■ MILLER ARRESTED - Former UFC fighter and reality show star Jason "Mayhem" Miller was arrested Monday in Mission Viejo, Calif., according to celebrity website TMZ.com.
The report says the 31-year-old former host of MTV's "Bully Beatdown" broke into a church and sprayed a fire extinguisher all over the building while naked.
The incident comes two days after Miller, who was released from the UFC in May after dropping to 0-2 in the organization, got into a bizarre Twitter battle with White. The UFC president actually said late Saturday he regretted the odd exchange with Miller, who at one point during the back-and-forth told White to "kill yourself."
"That kid's on medicine and he has some issues and the last thing I want to do is have that kid more bummed out and depressed than he already is," White said at the time. "I actually feel bad about it. I wish it didn't happen. It actually kind of bummed me out all day. It sucked."
■ HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE BOUT - Despite a request by heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos to wait for Alistair Overeem to come off suspension instead of fighting top contender Cain Velasquez, White said dos Santos will indeed defend the belt against Velasquez.
The fight will take place Dec. 29 in Las Vegas. Dos Santos won the belt from Velasquez in November 2011, on the first fight ever televised on Fox.
Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.
