Ortiz Shamrock 3 - This Time, It Continues To Be Personal

Tonight is the long anticipated Ortiz-Shamrock rematch. Well, not really long-awaited, given that most people actually saw Ortiz whup Shamrock's ass a few months ago on PPV. But since that fight ended somewhat controversially, I guess its a highly anticipated fight. Kinda, sorta, not really. Its really more of a sideshow curiosity, to see how quickly and how bad Ortiz disposes of Shamrock this time around.

What this match really is is a way for UFC to get a high profile fight on quasi-free television. Because you can only see it if you have cable, which some people don't. So its not really on free tv. But its not PPV, which is something. Dana has even admitted in the commercials for the event that the match is being given away for free as a way of making up for the less than satisfying ending to their last fight. And while this is all well and good, I think it also poses a problem for the UFC.

I was watching the TUF4 marathon yesterday on Spike TV, and shockingly, there were quite a few ads for tonight's show. The ads stressed the animosity between the two men, replete with footage of the two men arguing and in pull aparts. The other thing stressed by the ads was that the fight was available "FOR FREE." And while its all well and good to make sure people know that this fight is on Spike TV and not PPV, I think the emphasis on FREE can be dangerous.

If people are told over and over again that the fight is available for FREE, it will raise questions about the value of paying for fights on PPV. And UFC's PPV rates are too high, particularly for a company that doesn't even wait a month between events. By stressing the FREE nature of tonight's fight, people may begin to ask why they are paying $39.99 for a UFC event. If one of the selling points for the fight is that it's FREE, then it must mean that even UFC knows that their prices are close to becoming prohibitive.

Pitching the fight as FREE brings the notion of cost to the foreground of any discussion of UFC. While it is certainly honest for them to be bragging about giving the fight away for free, it probably isn't the best business decision. Particularly when this weekend's UFC 64 card isn't the strongest they've presented. Why should I pay forty bucks for a PPV when a big name fight like Shamrock/Ortiz III is being given away for free on cable television? The last thing the UFC needs right now is for people to be questioning the cumulative costs of ordering all UFC events on PPV. Particularly when you consider the highly ambitious number of events that the UFC is looking at putting on in the coming year.

Of course, the other problem is that anything on television isn't actually FREE. Instead, the audience is being sold to advertisers in exchange for their attention. The viewing habits, demographics, psychographics and purchasing power of viewers are the commodity they are exchanging for the privilege of watching television. Particularly when you consider that the card is being presented as a lead-in to Spike TV's Scream Awards, and they want a large audience to watch that show. This is all part of Dallas Smythe's "Free Lunch" formulation.

But enough of that depressing polecon stuff. Fight Predictions!!!

• Tito Ortiz (203.5) vs Ken Shamrock (204.5)
• Kendall Grove (184.5) vs Chris Price (185)
• Jason MacDonald (185) vs Ed Herman (186)
• Matt Hamill (205) vs Seth Petruzelli (203.5)
• Nate Marquardt (184.5) vs Crafton Wallace (175.5)
• Dustin Hazelett (167.5) vs Tony DeSouza (171)
• Josh Haynes (184.5) vs Rory Singer (185.5)
• John Alessio (169.5) vs Thiago Alves (171)
• Marcus Davis (170) vs Forrest Petz (169.5)

All in all, this entire card is built around Ortiz/Shamrock. Which is fine. But don't tell me its FREE.