UFC vs MMA

by Geno Mrosko on Jan 18, 2012 2:48 PM EST in UFC Ratings Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) kicked off its deal with FX by broadcasting a live two-hour "Prelims" special for the UFC 142: "Aldo vs. Mendes" event this past Sat., Jan. 14, 2012, from the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Well the ratings are in ... and they're not pretty. The first episode on the new network reeled in just 880,000 viewers, which is lower than any "Prelims" special broadcast that aired on Spike TV, according to MMAWeekly.com. This in comparison to the final preliminary card broadcast on Spike at UFC 141 that drew 1.8 million viewers back on Dec. 30. There will, of course, be a transition period as fans get used to the switch from Spike TV to FX. Both cable channels are in roughly 100 million homes but the former spent years cultivating an audience with 14 season of The Ultimate Fighter as well as countless specials and other assorted programming. Baby steps, Mania...

LAS VEGAS - It's a special main event if the fighters are jacked up about the possibilities and that was clear yesterday at the MGM Grand Garden Garden Arena. Set up on the concourse with our show on ESPN1100/98.9 FM in Las Vegas, fighter after fighter stopped by and beamed about tonight's fight between Alistair Overeem and Brock Lesnar (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT). Most said it comes down to the fighter that dictates the style of the fight and all of them suggested that there's no way it goes past the second round. "Different athletes are well-rounded and then there are athletes that are very good at one particular skill set," Roy Nelson told "The MMA Insiders" show with myself, Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole and  fighter/MMA analyst Frank Trigg. "If Brock tries to go in there throwing punches with Alistair, he's gonna lose. If Alistair tries to wrestle with Brock, he's gonna lose. This fight is whoever gets off first." Outside of the respec...