UFC is about to blow UP because of ESPN

West Linn

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I'm starting to see MMA videos in the ESPN Youtube channel.

Joe Rogan has said it before that MMA is the greatest sport and that all other sports pale in comparison. Why watch a bunch of guys try to get a ball into a goal or a hoop when you can see two dudes headkicking each other.

I tend to agree with him because there is just something about one on one combat that is incredibly compelling. It gets to the root of all competition, whether or not one man can beat another man's ass.

The FOX deal was a huge step, but the ESPN deal will be that much bigger. ESPN is the channel for sports and ESPN covering and showing events finally and ultimately legitimizes MMA as a popular sport in America, on par with the NFL and the NBA.

I doubted WME, but they clearly had an end goal in mind, to broaden the audience of MMA and make it as much a mainstream sport in the States as American football or basketball.

ESPN coverage is probably the biggest step MMA could have taken in that direction.

We are going to see sports fans of all types getting into MMA. Even if they aren't interested, MMA will be getting covered on the biggest sports channel, and they will be forced to deal with it.

Thinking about it this has to be the biggest thing that has happened in the history of MMA to bring it into the mainstream platform.

Fighters that transcended the sport into the mainstream like Ronda and Conor clearly deserve some credit for the way things are headed. GSP probably deserves a mention as well. And obviously MMA was always more mainstream in Brazil than it is in the USA.

Sometimes when you tell people that you are into MMA they give you this weird look because you like to watch half nekkid men roll around in a cage, but no more. We can hold our heads up high with our superior knowledge and understanding of the sport and proudly say that we are hardcore MMA fans. There will be many new fans and we will be here to teach them the ropes. It will be glorious.
 
So basically the Conor/Khabib fight and then the mainstream goes back to not caring.
 
UFC is (not?) dying
 
ugh I hate the new fans, but I guess it's worth it in the long run. Or is it? Not like I'm getting paid for any of this :oops:
 
It’s been cool to see. The new deal is definitely good.
 
Some people just don't like watching something as violent as 2 people beating each other up. That's why no matter how well the sport is promoted, it will never be on the same level as Football, Soccer, Hockey etc..

But the ESPN thing will surely give the sport even more exposure and bring in some new fans.
 
Some people just don't like watching something as violent as 2 people beating each other up. That's why no matter how well the sport is promoted, it will never be on the same level as Football, Soccer, Hockey etc..

Ok, Debbie Downer.
 
I'm starting to see MMA videos in the ESPN Youtube channel.

Joe Rogan has said it before that MMA is the greatest sport and that all other sports pale in comparison. Why watch a bunch of guys try to get a ball into a goal or a hoop when you can see two dudes headkicking each other.

I tend to agree with him because there is just something about one on one combat that is incredibly compelling. It gets to the root of all competition, whether or not one man can beat another man's ass.

The FOX deal was a huge step, but the ESPN deal will be that much bigger. ESPN is the channel for sports and ESPN covering and showing events finally and ultimately legitimizes MMA as a popular sport in America, on par with the NFL and the NBA.

I doubted WME, but they clearly had an end goal in mind, to broaden the audience of MMA and make it as much a mainstream sport in the States as American football or basketball.

ESPN coverage is probably the biggest step MMA could have taken in that direction.

We are going to see sports fans of all types getting into MMA. Even if they aren't interested, MMA will be getting covered on the biggest sports channel, and they will be forced to deal with it.

Thinking about it this has to be the biggest thing that has happened in the history of MMA to bring it into the mainstream platform.

Fighters that transcended the sport into the mainstream like Ronda and Conor clearly deserve some credit for the way things are headed. GSP probably deserves a mention as well. And obviously MMA was always more mainstream in Brazil than it is in the USA.

Sometimes when you tell people that you are into MMA they give you this weird look because you like to watch half nekkid men roll around in a cage, but no more. We can hold our heads up high with our superior knowledge and understanding of the sport and proudly say that we are hardcore MMA fans. There will be many new fans and we will be here to teach them the ropes. It will be glorious.

What about Hockey? You can watch guys crush eachother into the boards while trying to put a puck in the net at an extremely high pace and while there are no highkicks you do get to watch fist fights during the game, great fucking sport really, lol
 
I cant imagine how far the UFC would go if they were able to sign some WWE superstar. The UFC would be more popular than soccer.
 
What about Hockey? You can watch guys crush eachother into the boards while trying to put a puck in the net at an extremely high pace and while there are no highkicks you do get to watch fist fights during the game, great fucking sport really, lol

Meh. I'm not from Canada.
 
even people with no cable around here still get fox channels, and never gave a shit about mma fights lol. bastards
 
The one thing ESPN does well is cover minutiae of a sport ad nauseam -- whether that translates to an increase of fan support is yet to be seen but the UFC will have greater reach and more coverage, so who knows.

That being said, FS2 played the shit out of UFC content on a daily basis, I don't think ESPN will
 
I suspect that the success or failure will depend largely on the cards they put on the network. The library won’t be enough.
 
I believe that unless UFC adapts it will get netflix’ed just like blockbuster. PPV is very old and has existed since the early 80s. A competitor will leverage social media a much more nimble, lean web based delivery platform and pay fighters more. Next 2 years it will start. Then UFC will have to decide. It will start as relative shit show but once fighters start getting paid some young talent will defect or start there.
 
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