Modern Fighting

AN EXPLOSIVE SECOND SEASON OF WEC WREKCAGE PREMIERES ON VERSUS TONIGHT AT 9 P.M. ET

Network to Re-Air Historic Faber vs. Pulver Bout Tonight at 7 and 10 p.m. ET

Stamford, CONN. (June 4, 2008)—VERSUS, the network that celebrates real competition and the exclusive cable television home of World Extreme Cagefighting® (WEC™), will debut the second season of WEC WrekCAGE—a show that features a mix of the top matches from WEC events never before seen on television and VERSUS’ best live events—tonight at 9 p.m. ET.

Prior to, and immediately following tonight’s WEC WrekCAGE episode, VERSUS will re-air one of the most epic bouts in featherweight history: the June 1 battle between WEC champion Urijah Faber and former UFC® champion Jens Pulver. This highly anticipated bout lived up to the pre-fight hype as it was seen by nearly 4 million viewers and was the highest-rated and most-watched WEC on VERSUS telecast ever.

Upcoming WrekCAGE Schedule Follows (subject to change):

Wednesday, June 4 at 9 p.m. ET
The night begins with a featherweight battle between Micah Miller and Chance Farrar. Then in a bantamweight showdown, Ian McCall faces Ox Wheeler. For the feature fight of the night, Damacio “The Angel of Death” Page and Scott “Young Guns” Jorgensen make their WEC debut in bantamweight showdown.

Wednesday, June 11 at 9 p.m. ET
The first fight of the night features featherweight Josh “The Fluke” Grispi as he makes his WEC debut against Mark Hominick. In the feature fight of the night bantamweights’ Ox Wheeler takes on veteran Del Hawkins. Additional featured fights include Alex Karalexis vs. Ed Ratcliff, Kenneth Alexander vs. Donald Cerrone and Charlie Valencia vs. Yoshiro Maeda.

Wednesday, June 18 at 9 p.m. ET
This episode features John “The Natural” Alessio as he gets into the cage to take on Todd Moore in a welterweight match-up. A lightweight bout between Ed “9mm” Ratcliff and Johnny “Gun” Sampaio is also presented in this episode.

Wednesday, June 25 at 9 p.m. ET
Chris Manuel puts his undefeated record on the line against Kenji Osawa in a bantamweight match-up. Then in a welterweight bout, Alex Serdyukov battles undefeated Ryan Stonitsch. Finally, for the feature fight of the night, Eric Schambari takes on Logan Clark in a middleweight match-up

Fight was Highest-Rated and Most-Watched WEC on VERSUS Telecast Ever;

Epic Bout to Re-Air Wednesday, June 4, at 7 and 10 p.m. ET
 
Stamford, CONN. (June 3, 2008)—VERSUS, the network that celebrates real competition and the exclusive cable television home of World Extreme Cagefighting® (WEC™), garnered a 1.4 HH rating and averaged 1,535,705 viewers (P2+) for its June 1 WEC telecast featuring the most-anticipated featherweight fight in history between WEC champion Urijah Faber and former UFC® champion Jens Pulver.  The fight lived up to the hype as Faber, in his epic homecoming bout, retained his title by unanimous decision after going five explosive rounds in the cage with Pulver.

Since the WEC debuted on VERSUS one-year ago, the June 1 telecast is the highest-rated and most-watched WEC on VERSUS telecast ever and the highest-rated and most-watched non-NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs / non-Tour de France telecast in network history (OLN/VS) among households, total viewers and key male demos.  For the 9-11:45 p.m. ET time period, VERSUS was the most-watched cable network among Men 18-34 (534,385) and Men 18-49 (885,743).  Additionally, the Faber vs. Pulver telecast was the third most-watched telecast in network history (OLN/VS) among Men 25-54 (773,267).

As compared to the average of the previous six live fights on VERSUS, the June 1 telecast is up 180 percent in HH rating (1.4 vs .5), viewership jumped 216 percent (1,535,705 vs 485,288) and viewership for key male demos showed dramatic increases which range between 222 and 336 percent.  The June 1 HH rating is double the previous best WEC live telecast rating garnered on December 12 (1.4 vs .7) in which Urijah Faber choked out Jeff Curran in the second round in a title defense fight and Jens Pulver made his WEC debut.

In Sacramento, Faber’s hometown and the fight’s location, the telecast garnered a 2.7 HH rating, making VERSUS the #1 ranked cable network in the market for the 9-11:45 p.m. ET time period.

Main Event – WEC Featherweight Championship
Jens Pulver (145) vs Urijah Faber (144.5)

WEC Bantamweight Championship
Yoshiro Maeda (135) vs Miguel Torres (135)

Kenneth Alexander (155.5) vs Rob McCullough (155.5)
Chuck Grigsby (204.5) vs Mark Munoz (205.5)

Donald Cerrone (155.5) vs Danny Castillo (155)
Mike Brown (145) vs Jeff Curran (144.5)
Will Ribeiro (135) vs Chase Beebe (136)
Jeremy Lang (183.5) vs Tim McKenzie (184.5)
Luis Sapo (170) vs Alex Serdyukov (169.5)
Alexandre Nogueira (145.5) vs Jose Aldo (145.5)
Dominick Cruz (135) vs Charlie Valencia (135.5)

By Michael DiSanto

On Wednesday afternoon, I was speaking with a venture capitalist about an investment in a privately held technology company in Silicon Valley, when he suddenly asked an unexpected question.

“Who do you think will win the big fight this weekend?”

The question threw me for a bit of a loop. I had never before discussed any type of sport fighting with him, so I didn’t know where he was going with the question. The first assumption, of course, was that he was referring to a boxing match, since that sport has a vast and storied history in America.

Yet, there is no major boxing event this weekend, so that couldn’t be it. I assumed, therefore, that he was referring to the UFC event that had occurred the prior weekend, so I informed him that the fights already occurred and that BJ Penn dominated Sean Sherk, Wanderlei Silva “axe murdered” Keith Jardine, and Tito Ortiz dropped what most believe was his final bout in the UFC.

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