Can we really say UFC dead? Conor, Lesnar, Silva, now Bones

[Southpaw_27]

Just reminds you how bad WME is at repping fighters.

Come to think of it, I can’t really think of any fighters that have become a bonafied star since the purchase. Correct me if I’m wrong, but all the current ufc stars were already established before the buyout.

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

UFC is just perpetually "dying bro," it's never dead.

Same as boxing has been for hundreds of years.

 

[WinZip]

Jones will be back

In 2021

 

[theincognito]

What exactly is the deal with Jon Jones? His sentence shouldve been handed out a long time ago

 

[Newave]

will over-saturation eventually hurt the UFC? it could. maybe the 4th major US TV deal will suffer for it. or the 7th. but so far, the nay-sayers have a long and consistent history of being flat out wrong.

I don’t remember any talk of the UFC dying from 2006-2011. I remember some concern of ppv quality starting in 2011 and especially 2012 which reached an apex with UFC 147. For many of us that was the first ppv we had skipped in years, and nearly every year since then has had a larger number of those skip-worthy ppvs. Then the quality of other ppvs, even the ones we were buying, started to be questioned. I think a large overlooked factor is that the UFC wasn’t necessarily putting on worse events (besides the skip-worthies) but at the time there was an expectation of increasingly better events each year since the sport was growing so fast and the UFC was acquiring other orgs such as Pride, WEC and Strikeforce. But that never really happened, at least not consistently. Instead of making every card stacked they just spread out the talent made more cards, and I think hardcore fans were disappointed and casuals just weren’t able to keep up and felt disconnected. Things have continued to ebb and flow since 2012, with bigger ebbs and bigger flows each phase.


I think a definition of “dead” or “dying” needs to be established before we can say the naysayers will be wrong. Of course the UFC will never go bankrupt and completely shutdown, I don’t think that’s what the naysayers are saying. I think they are saying that the UFC will become much less significant as a sport and have much less average viewers and attendees per event if they continue on this path, possibly even to the extent that it becomes a niche sport like motocross. That hasn’t happened yet, and maybe never will, but we’ve seen some clear indicators that make it feasible. We have seen record low ppv buy numbers, record low tv viewer numbers, Standard & Poors downgraded their credit rating a few years ago during a slump, and as for anecdotal evidence, there are more fighters on main cards who don’t have a Wikipedia page, it appears there are less sports bars showing UFC fights than in years past, there seems to be less of a connection with the audience and less excitement for events, and there are very few of the “I watch every ppv” guys left. In that sense the UFC is already dying “as we know it.” The UFC will always make money but I think it’s a real possibility that the UFC could completely die as we’ve come to know it if they continue on the same path of quantity over quality.

 

[skysolo]

UFC is no where near dead. Legitimacy has been put in an unmarked grave.

 

[SeattleFightFan]

I think a definition of “dead” or “dying” needs to be established before we can say the naysayers will be wrong.

that's fair. i am very specifically defining the health of Zuffa by it's profitability.

i think it's a much better criteria than the one sherdoggers usually use. e.g. "i personally don't like what the UFC has done lately and think it will hurt them in the long term, not because i'm going to stop watching but because some other vague group of people out there might. i cannot exactly describe more, because it's just a 'gut feeling'". note that i'm not accusing you of this.

and when a TV deal ends and they take less on the next TV deal, that's when "dying" should be applied.

cheers.
~~~~~~~~~
EDIT: i'm going to answer your question another way, with a metaphor (or comparison or something).

in 2004, Fedor detractors were sure he'd lose to Nog. wrong.
in 2005, Fedor detractors were sure he'd lose to CC. wrong.
in 2008, Fedor detractors were sure he'd lose to Sylvia. wrong.
in 2009, Fedor detractors were sure he'd lose to AA. wrong.

eventually he lost. suddenly the guy who was wrong time and time and time again for almost a decade said to himself (and anyone else who would bother to listen) "ha! i always knew he sucked! i was right all along!!!"

some day, Zuffa will be less financially healthy than it is today. maybe for reasons no one is thinking about right now. and i gracefully suggest that Zuffa detractors will pat themselves on the back when it happens, thinking they were right all along and suffering from the same blindness as the Fedor detractors above.

By the way, I suggest Apple stock will go down in the future. Jobs conned us!

 

[Newave]

that's fair. i am very specifically defining the health of Zuffa by it's profitability.

i think it's a much better criteria than the one sherdoggers usually use. e.g. "i personally don't like what the UFC has done lately and think it will hurt them in the long term, not because i'm going to stop watching but because some other vague group of people out there might. i cannot exactly describe more, because it's just a 'gut feeling'". note that i'm not accusing you of this.

and when a TV deal ends and they take less on the next TV deal, that's when "dying" should be applied.

cheers.
~~~~~~~~~
EDIT: i'm going to answer your question another way, with a metaphor (or comparison or something).

in 2004, Fedor detractors were sure he'd lose to Nog. wrong.
in 2005, Fedor detractors were sure he'd lose to CC. wrong.
in 2008, Fedor detractors were sure he'd lose to Sylvia. wrong.
in 2009, Fedor detractors were sure he'd lose to AA. wrong.

eventually he lost. suddenly the guy who was wrong time and time and time again for almost a decade said to himself (and anyone else who would bother to listen) "ha! i always knew he sucked! i was right all along!!!"

some day, Zuffa will be less financially healthy than it is today. maybe for reasons no one is thinking about right now. and i gracefully suggest that Zuffa detractors will pat themselves on the back when it happens, thinking they were right all along and suffering from the same blindness as the Fedor detractors above.

By the way, I suggest Apple stock will go down in the future. Jobs conned us!

But that leaves room for more debate: the guy who correctly predicts an eventual stock crash but miscalculated the timing, was he right or wrong?

On another note, you mentioned the possibility of saturation catching up with them and them getting less on a tv deal in the future. What is the likelyhood of this happening? Is it avoidable? Is there a chance that UFC becomes much more profitable and popular than it is now or have we seen its limit? Management seems heavily disconnected from the fans at times, is this a potential business blunder or are they doing everything right to keep the company profitable in a changing tv market?

 

[Teila_Tuli]

UFC problem is they haven’t made any new stars since Connor