UFC social media scores first-round knockout in UFC’s heavyweight championship

VANCOUVER — Even before heavyweight champions Shane Carwin and Brock Lesnar square off in the ring Saturday, the UFC has scored its own first-round knockout with a social media campaign that has fans marketing the match to their Twitter and Facebook friends.

A first for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, 116.UFC.com is an interactive site where fans can create their own virtual fighters, stacking up against heavyweights Carwin and Lesnar and making predictions for the fight’s outcome. So far, more than 17,000 people have stepped into the virtual ring to create avatars based on their own size and weight, predicting results of the event.