We got a blowaway response to UFC 71, both in terms of page views and the sheer number of blog comments to our main event post. Nearly all of the feedback about the show has been positive, and MMA fans have never been shy to express their opinions when they don't like what they see. The show was entertaining from top to bottom, there wasn't a boring match, there was a near-perfect mix of submissions, KOs, and the two fights that went to decisions were filled with action.

But never mind. Some people were simply going to latch on to something to pick apart no matter what. I've been around long enough to know how this works: Find an easy angle, spit out clichés for 20 minutes, hit "send," then head off to the bar for the night.

And they had a cheap angle ready-made in the fact the main event only went 1:38, as Quinton Jackson TKOd Chuck Liddell to capture the UFC light heavyweight title. There it is: How can UFC expect to maintain a fan base when the main event is so short? One gets the impression they would have called UFC too boring if the fight went the distance, and would have come up with something else had it gone three.

But let's give the argument casual fans won't pay for short main events a look. Here are the results of UFC's pay-per-view main events in 2006:

UFC 57: Liddell KOs Randy Couture, Round 2
UFC 58: Rich Franklin decisions David Loiseau after five rounds
UFC 59: Tim Sylvia TKOs Andrei Arlovski, Round 1
UFC 60: Matt Hughes TKOs Royce Gracie, Round 1
UFC 61: Sylvia decisions Andrei Arlovski after five rounds
UFC 62: Liddell TKO's Renato Sobral, Round 1
UFC 63: Hughes TKOs B.J. Penn, Round 3
UFC 64: Anderson Silva KOs Franklin, Round 1
UFC 65: Georges St. Pierre TKOs Hughes Round 2
UFC 66: Liddell TKOs Tito Ortiz, Round 3

Four of 10 pay-per-view main events finished in one round, six went less than 10 minutes. Going into 2006, UFC had never done 200K PPV buys for a show in the Zuffa LLC era. Liddell-Ortiz did 1,050,0000. I would say a more-than-500-percent increase in business in less than one year doesn't quite qualify as "turning off casual fans."

Further, one fight not listed there was Ortiz and Ken Shamrock, the semi-main event of UFC 61, which was stopped in less than two minutes. Fans hated the decision at the time. But that match was parlayed into the biggest TV rating in UFC history for Ortiz-Shamrock III, and helped build Ortiz and Liddell, both of whom were coming off first-round wins, into the biggest buy rate in UFC history.

If anything, the evidence suggests fans get into fighters with first-round stoppage power. But then, the opinion kings weren't looking to do any research before jumping to conclusions.

Just for kicks, let's stretch this out into 2007:

UFC 67: Silva TKOs Travis Lutter, Round 2
UFC 68: Couture decisions Sylvia, five rounds
UFC 69: Matt Serra TKOs St. Pierre, Round 1
UFC 70: Gabriel Gonzaga KOs Mirko Cro Cop, Round 1
UFC 71: Jackson TKOs Liddell, Round 1

UFC 70 was seen on Spike TV, meaning casual fans had the opportunity to sample the product on basic cable. And that they did: Among males aged 18-34, UFC 70 did better ratings than Red Sox-Yankees, the NBA playoffs, and NASCAR. They saw a first-round KO. And they still came back and helped make UFC 71 a show that will give UFC 66 a real run for the buy-rate record.

UFC has been roping in casual fans over the past 18 months without the approval of self-appointed opinion shapers. The people have voted with their dollars and will continue to do so whether or not the intelligentsia comes along for the ride.