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

Beginning Wednesday, June 4th, VERSUS turns up the heat with an all new episode of WEC™ WREKCAGE.  Don’t miss a second of the action at 9pm on June 4th or at midnight on June 5th as Damacio Page takes on Scott Jorgensen, Ian McCall battles Ox Wheeler, and Micah Miller squares off against Chance Farrar.  Both airings of this hard-hitting edition of WEC™ WREKCAGE are followed by the rebroadcast of last Sunday’s epic war between Urijah Faber and Jens Pulver and the Fight of The Year candidate between Miguel Torres and Yoshiro Maeda.

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.