Did UFC 87 Bring Back the Casual Fan?

I’m not saying that the casual fan has disappeared completely from MMA since UFC 86, but I was interested in UFC 87 because of the names that Joe Silva and Dana White had managed to put on top of the card. We had an ex-WWE wrestler vs. a Pride Veteran, a dominating and lovable French Canadian vs. A hard working All-American boy, and then it’s the Mexican from the hometown (who also graced the cover of ESPN magazine a while back) vs. Fight Finishing Florian. Did it draw the big numbers, or is that something that Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz were born to do?

I usually gauge the overall viewership of UFC events by the number of patrons at a local sports bar. This little sports bar grabs a large crowd and has the rooms split between a bar with a bunch of HD televisions on the wall and a larger eating room with small HD televisions at each booth. I know it sounds cheesy, but I’m not the only one using “trending analysis” in an attempt to gauge PPV numbers. Even though Dave Meltzer does a much better job, it’s still somewhat of a poor-boys means of determining casual fan interest without resorting to hard numbers. I also can’t really pull out many trending numbers because I sometimes buy the UFC PPV events at home. But, if we go back to last spring during UFC 71 when we had Chuck Liddel vs. Quinton Jackson, the place was packed and all eyes were on the televisions. Not since May 26th have I seen a crowd that was really excited to watch a UFC fight out in a little Pennsylvania town far away from Las Vegas.

The casual fan returned to watch UFC 87 in my little bar, but it was mostly thanks to the man with the big tattoo and the bigger right hand that dominated a smaller MMA veteran to the delight of all the wrestling fans in the house. I’m pretty sure Brock Lesnar pulled in a very full house around in the country even if the Target Center in Minneapolis wasn’t completely sold out. The excitement for Lesnar overshadowed the all out main event war between Georges St. Pierre and Jon Fitch as well. But is it a surprise? Did Silva and White grab Brock Lensar to shake up their heavyweight division for shits and giggles? Obviously it was a great idea to pick an ex-WWE wrestler with a dominating NCAA record and some football experience. It worked for UFC 87. The casual fan returned for the casual fighter, but now it’s time to continue his training, work on his ground game that failed to end his fight with Herring, and bring in more fans to the sport.

As for the event overall, UFC 87 had the ability to break into the big PPV numbers even in the midst of a supposed economic downturn. We’ll find out if Lesnar was able to convince the casual fan to shell out $45-$55 and become the next big draw.