The Weekly Wrap: Jan. 30 - Feb. 5

UFC 109 Run-Up

The “Hall of Famer vs. Hall of Famer” narrative built around Saturday night’s UFC 109 main event between Randy Couture and Mark Coleman appeared to resonate as the UFC rolled out its event-week marketing push.

A well-received “Countdown” hype special premiered on Spike TV Saturday night following a highly rated replay of UFC 107. The Countdown premiered before a captive audience and garnered an average of 881,000 viewers according to MMAPayout.com, the highest for a special of its type since the one that preceded the wildly successful UFC 100 card last summer.

The UFC 109 preview also replayed on Versus for the first time as part of a new deal to bring two UFC cards to the station in 2010. While Countdown ratings don’t always correlate with pay-per-view buys and often depend more on the timeslots in which they air, they are often a solid barometer on interest in the fight card.

In previewing the main event, the special focused heavily on Coleman’s return to prominence 13 years after he became UFC heavyweight champion. UFC President Dana White said Coleman called him to request a fight against Couture, and that Coleman “did a lot of great things when nobody was watching” after his UFC debut in 1996. The Couture fight was portrayed as Coleman’s moment of glory. He was shown talking with his daughters on video chat during training camp.

Other fights highlighted were Mike Swick vs. Paulo Thiago and Chael Sonnen vs. Nate Marquardt. Thiago was shown training intensely as a member of Brazilian special operations police battalion, and Sonnen was shown meeting with political types as he considered a state election bid while gunning for the middleweight title. Dana White said during a press conference that the winner of the Marquardt-Sonnen fight would get a title shot. Curiously, the trash talk feast that has preceded Saturday’s Matt Serra vs. Frank Trigg fight was not reflected whatsoever on the “Countdown” show.

In addition to the hype, there were tweaks to the 109 card this week. Rolles Gracie was set to debut against Mostapha Al-Turk in a heavyweight bout, but Al-Turk couldn’t make the card due to reported visa issues. Bellator Fighting Championships Joey Beltran, coming off a TKO win over Houston Alexander, will instead face Gracie.

All UFC 109 fighters made weight Friday without incident.