Is MMA now a mainstream sport? | Are you impressed with the advancement of MMA?

[ALAN PARTRIDGE]

(Ladies) and Gentleman, we have come a long way from the days of No-holds-barred fighting, catch wrestling, Vale Tudo, Pancrase, Shooto and PRIDE.

During the Zuffa era, when Zuffa began to monopolise the small market of MMA and then eventually signed a deal with Fox, when A.Silva, GSP, Jones dominated their divisions, we were all urprised.


When high-profile celebrities started attending events regularly, and UFC started appearing on page 12 of B-level newspapers. We thought, this is the most attention this sport will ever receive. And then came the headlines of Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey, the WME sale, the ESPN deal and the integration of MMA in boxing gyms. Then we were all very surprised.

What's next? Can it get even bigger than this? Will there be new stars bigger than McGregor and Rousey?

Discuss... and get some karma, give this thread a like, comment and subscribe. And as always, may the force be with you. /mindsmash

Where in the UK are you from soft lad?

 

[executionermma]

UFC is mainstream nowadays, but the sport? Not yet, Bellator and PFL ratings haven't been exactly great

 

[Medulla Omoplata]

Use to be a sport.

 

[surrealworlds]

MMA and UFC have always been a balance between sport and spectacle, merit and entertainment. That pendulum has at times swung more toward sport (the reigns of GSP and A. Silva were good examples) and lately it has swung more toward spectacle. (Money fights, double champs, cherry picking,etc).
Soon the pendulum will swing back. Khabib is a good example of a champ that stands a good chance of taking on all contenders. I hope he does and pushes the pendulum back toward meritocracy. Unfortunately i think he wants to retire.

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

It's rapidly devolving into a "real" version of WWE, so I guess that's counts as mainstream.

 

[EVIL WAR GOD]

Give WMMA its own seperate events so I don't have to watch that crap and make the belts mean something again with big tournament style events like Bellator is doing and the UFC might start growing again. The way its trending most people will only want to watch one or two fights a year because the competition doesn't have a constant flow like other sports.

 

[An Uncertain Choice]

Reported

he could have just meant happy thread

 

[Crotalis]

No. It is not mainstream, and given the current strategy, it is more likely to dip in popularity (long-term) than go up. More people are aware of it "as a thing" than ever before, and it's probably safe to say more people follow it than ever before, but it's still not "mainstream" imo. For me, "mainstream" in the U.S. would be the NFL/NBA, etc. Outside the U.S., I'm guessing something football(soccer) related is probably a better mainstream example.

Most of the people in my life (outside of my training partners) are not sports fans of any type. Yet I can say "Ronaldo and (even in the U.S. where his sport isn't followed at all), people will at least know who I'm talking about. I can say "Peyton Manning" and a bunch of my friends who have never seen a NFL game in their lives know who I'm talking about. If I say "Conor", I get blank stares or, at best, "Oh yeah, that guy that fought that boxer that time", or "Oh yeah, the guy FLoyd beat up". Doesn't make a great case for "mainstream", and as soon as Conor is done, if they haven't found another star, even THAT recognition will be gone.

Which is my second point. WME WAY over-paid for the UFC. The Fertitas put on a masterclass in the art of the "pump-and-dump", and WME is in a tough spot. It's forced them to prioritize freakshow/circus/spectacle type fights and throw out the rankings and a lot of the other things that bring legitimacy to the sport in favor of bigger short-term earnings. This is because they need cash NOW. SO they're in a spot where the money isn't coming in like they wanted, and they need to risk sacrificing the future of the sport to make their nut THIS MONTH. any time you're in that position, major problems are right around the corner (and before anyone gets upset - this is not a "the sky is falling" kind of statement - I do not think the UFC will disappear. I do think it's got a better chance of severely shrinking, and returning to, say 2008/2009 status levels than it does of getting more popular) and the UFC hasn't reached that mainstream "too big to fail" status like the NFL. "But it's on ESPN now!" Yeah, so is curling ...

 

[Jonny Ninja]

(Ladies) and Gentleman, we have come a long way from the days of No-holds-barred fighting, catch wrestling, Vale Tudo, Pancrase, Shooto and PRIDE.

During the Zuffa era, when Zuffa began to monopolise the small market of MMA and then eventually signed a deal with Fox, when A.Silva, GSP, Jones dominated their divisions, we were all urprised.


When high-profile celebrities started attending events regularly, and UFC started appearing on page 12 of B-level newspapers. We thought, this is the most attention this sport will ever receive. And then came the headlines of Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey, the WME sale, the ESPN deal and the integration of MMA in boxing gyms. Then we were all very surprised.

What's next? Can it get even bigger than this? Will there be new stars bigger than McGregor and Rousey?

Discuss... and get some karma, give this thread a like, comment and subscribe. And as always, may the force be with you. /mindsmash

Its no where close to being mainstream over here. Most McGregor fans that I know only watch his fights and don't really care about the sport in general. In fact most of them like him for being a c**t rather than a good fighter.

I think the UFC has taken a backward step as a legitimate sport in many ways. Its good that they have finally got a better grip on Juicing, especially the fckin ridiculous TRT exemptions. But on the flip side title challenges seem to be dished on due to popularity and income/star power rather than on merit. And this is something that has long term MMA fans turning their back on the sport

 

[spilotes]

Oh yeah you know you made it when cm punk is on the main card.

 

[machidafan99]

Not quite but I don't like the way it's been represented lately.

 

[beastman]

Mainstream sport - no
Impressed with advancement- a little

MMA is behind NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, golf, tennis, soccer/futbol, Nascar, but are probably next after that. For me that doesn't qualify as mainstream.

Advancement....hmmmm....I think there were some spots where the UFC could really have broken through but it didn't happen. I think the Reebok deal didn't do anything for them in terms of making the sport more professional. All it really did was make fighters more generic when a huge sell for them is fighters having distinct personalities. I think their next TV deal should have been with ESPN and a streaming service like Netflix/Hulu/Amazon Prime to get into more households.

 

[JDizzy33]

I'm waiting to see what ESPN does with it. Will they put some Fight Night highlights on Sportscenter, will Stephen A Smith and Max Kellerman discuss UFC topics on First Take, etc.

That could be big. Many people (and restaurants, bars, banks, barbershops, etc) have ESPN on in the background all the time.

 

[JDizzy33]

UFC is mainstream nowadays, but the sport? Not yet, Bellator and PFL ratings haven't been exactly great

No other sport has two leagues that get good ratings....Arena Football, NBADL, and Minor League Baseball do terrible in ratings too.

 

[executionermma]

No other sport has two leagues that get good ratings....Arena Football, NBADL, and Minor League Baseball do terrible in ratings too.

correct me if i'm wrong because i'm not north american and not into ball sports, but these are mostly US-only sports, doesn't have much of a worldwide participatory significance.. with soccer for example, a global sport, many leagues get excellent ratings, and the same can be said about racing, but i get your point

 

[Milgrim]

(Ladies) and Gentleman, we have come a long way from the days of No-holds-barred fighting, catch wrestling, Vale Tudo, Pancrase, Shooto and PRIDE.

During the Zuffa era, when Zuffa began to monopolise the small market of MMA and then eventually signed a deal with Fox, when A.Silva, GSP, Jones dominated their divisions, we were all urprised.


When high-profile celebrities started attending events regularly, and UFC started appearing on page 12 of B-level newspapers. We thought, this is the most attention this sport will ever receive. And then came the headlines of Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey, the WME sale, the ESPN deal and the integration of MMA in boxing gyms. Then we were all very surprised.

What's next? Can it get even bigger than this? Will there be new stars bigger than McGregor and Rousey?

Discuss... and get some karma, give this thread a like, comment and subscribe. And as always, may the force be with you. /mindsmash

No. It successfully made the transition from freak show to fringe and fringe to bush league, but mainstream is has yet to be unlocked.