Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers: MMA Twitter Mailbag

MMA Twitter universe is getting excited for Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers Saturday night on CBS, and that's reflected in the latest installment of our MMA Twitter mailbag.

But what's particualrly interesting is how many fans I'm hearing from who are concerned about whether this CBS show will be a success: Below we address fans' questions about how strong a rating CBS needs and what kinds of ads CBS has sold.

hansen9j: Any early expectations on ratings? Are they aiming for Kimbos, or just hoping they don't get Smith/Lawler?
What I've been told by people at CBS is that they want the rating in the young male demographic to be better than what they usually get on Saturday nights. When the ratings for Saturday night's show come in, a lot of people will focus on the total number of viewers, but that's not what CBS is really looking for. They want the young, male demographic that's coveted by advertisers.

Comparing it to last year's three EliteXC shows on CBS, I don't think they have a very good chance of doing as well as the two shows that featured Kimbo Slice. Like him or not, Kimbo is a big draw, and so is Gina Carano, who also fought on both of those shows. No one on this card has that kind of star power, even though the quality of the MMA we'll see Saturday night is leaps and bounds better than what we saw in EliteXC. I think they'll do better than the EliteXC card that was headlined by Scott Smith vs. Robbie Lawler and better than an average Saturday night in the young male demographic, and that will be viewed at CBS as a step in the right direction.

BlackRainNinja Awesome news for MMA in primetime!!! RT @MichaelDavSmith CBS says every ad spot is sold for Saturday night MMA.
It's very good news for MMA that CBS sold all its ads, and it's also very good news that, from what I was told, the types of ads weren't the ones CBS usually gets on Saturday nights: Video games, beer, cars and movies will be well represented on Saturday night's commercials, and that usually isn't the case for the CBS Saturday night audience. It's way too early to judge whether MMA on CBS is going to be successful, but there are encouraging signs.

MMAUSA: Did you see the news that Fedor-Rogers is for the WAMMA belt? Does that mean it's five rounds or still three?
No, it's still a three-round fight. I was surprised by the announcement that the WAMMA belt is on the line because we'd been told all along that this is a non-title fight. And I was particualrly surprised that Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker was quoted in the official announcement as saying,"Putting a title on the line just provides the fighters with more incentives to perform at their best."

I disagree with Coker: I don't think the WAMMA belt gives Fedor or Rogers any more incentive than they already had; both of these guys are already completely motivated and ready to give it a great fight. And if Coker thinks a title on the line is so important, why didn't he make this a Strikeforce heavyweight title fight and strip Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem of his belt, just as he stripped Cung Le of the Strikeforce middleweight belt and made Jake Shields vs. Jason Mayhem Miller a title fight?

The bottom line is that Fedor is universally regarded as the true heavyweight champion of mixed martial arts, and that makes every one of his fights a title fight in the eyes of MMA fans. I don't much care whether any particular belt is on the line or not.

beewsee: Just finished listening to The MMA Hour with @arielhelwani and @michaeldavsmith. So ready for Strikeforce and Fedor on Saturday!!
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks.

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