Was Griffin Bonnar 1 really that important?

Before Tuf, no one really had much experience to go on with knowing about the UFC. This was the first time you got to hear the fighters talk, here Dana talk, see how things happened behind the scenes, and all that kind of stuff. You didn't get any of that from renting a videotape. It gathered interest. But when Forrest and Bonnar started that slugfest, the mild interest sort of became more to a lot of people. Two guys were beating the living shit out of each other live on TV. And nobody wants to miss two guys beating the shit out of each other. It was the fight that got the UFC into the mainstream.

So yeah, it was "the" fight.
 
Not sure if troll or just really stupid but yes... it was the most important fight in UFC history. 99.99999% of fans would not be watching today if that fight didn't happen whether you know that fact or not. Serious lol @ "it's only a 15 minute fight"; talk about being shortsighted
 
25 characters said:
That makes no sense.



I don't think so. It's just another Dana lie that he said. "People were watching this fight and calling other people up telling them to watch the fight And that saved the UFC!"

No. That's not how things work you bald asshole.
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Newb
 
mb23100 said:
Dana himself talks about that fight as if the UFC wouldn't be around without that fight. I didn't really follow MMA at the time but how could 1 fight have had that much of an impact? I remember Rogan talking about how much the viewership went up because people were calling each other telling others to watch. C'mon it's a 15 minute fight.
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It was a very important fight. It was an amateurish slugfest, completely devoid of skill, but that's what was needed. Two guys giving it their all on the main event of the 'Look at us now" event.
 
mb23100 said:
Dana himself talks about that fight as if the UFC wouldn't be around without that fight. I didn't really follow MMA at the time but how could 1 fight have had that much of an impact? I remember Rogan talking about how much the viewership went up because people were calling each other telling others to watch. C'mon it's a 15 minute fight.
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Only in terms of cultivating a much bigger fanbase.
It did do that.
 
mb23100 said:
Dana himself talks about that fight as if the UFC wouldn't be around without that fight. I didn't really follow MMA at the time but how could 1 fight have had that much of an impact? I remember Rogan talking about how much the viewership went up because people were calling each other telling others to watch. C'mon it's a 15 minute fight.
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Yes, it was a very important fight.

Zuffa was in the hole with over $40 million in debt, and that fight was the momentum change that brought the UFC into profitability rather than going bankrupt.

Prior to that, the only Zuffa UFC PPV event that was profitable was Ortiz VS Shamrock.
 
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sjon22 said:
It was an exciting fight for ppl who did not understand MMA.
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No, it was an exciting fight for everyone who watched it, reguardless of their knowledge of MMA.

Go ahead, find someone who called it boring.
 
ramair455 said:
Thats was 2005, the term social media hadnt been coined yet. Myspace had been around for a few years at the most.

It was because Spike TV had a mainstream audience and was free.
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When ufc was on Spike it was way better, fighters would fight, they didn't pull out fights all the time. The ppv was 100% worth buying every time they put one on.
 
It was the first UFC fight that I can remember EVERYBODY was talking about it, people who regularly didn't even know what MMA was were now bringing this up talking about this crazy cage fight they seen on TV, people at work, my dad, etc.

Also it was the first live MMA event on US tv, the fight could have very easily been a dud and things wouldn't have gotten as hot as they did, maybe later on they would have but I don't think it can be understated how big the fight really was for the sport, make no mistake about it.
 
Baywatch Bonnar, Chubby Chael & Forest-face Griffin brought in all the casuals.
 
i was a freshman in college at the time and my aim was blowiing up with people saying to watch the fight also facebook had people posting a bunch about it back when you needed a .edu email to be part of it. I think it really help capture the 18-25 male demographic
 
TUF 1 was the first time id ever heard random people talking about the UFC and MMA. Its culminated in that war. It was massively important. Anyone who doesnt realize that is either dumb as fuck or just wasnt around before
 
Wsb390 said:
i was a freshman in college at the time and my aim was blowiing up with people saying to watch the fight also facebook had people posting a bunch about it back when you needed a .edu email to be part of it. I think it really help capture the 18-25 male demographic
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That was my experience exactly hahah

It was massively important for the ufc no way that can be denied. It could have taken years for the ufc to recover if those fights had been duds
 
mb23100 said:
Dana himself talks about that fight as if the UFC wouldn't be around without that fight. I didn't really follow MMA at the time but how could 1 fight have had that much of an impact? I remember Rogan talking about how much the viewership went up because people were calling each other telling others to watch. C'mon it's a 15 minute fight.
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It was the first ufc event i watched knowing that i was watching ufc/mixed martial arts.. i had seen some fights before but never a full card and didnt take in the brand
 
Pretty much everyone privy to the financial details of the UFC at that time has said the importance of that fight in turning the UFC around was substantial.

If you are asking how good of a fight it was, I think many fans would agree that in retrospect, it was overrated.
 
It gave viewers the opportunity to really get to know the fighters through the reality tv show, so you rooted for a cheered for the guys you liked the most it wasn't fighting for just the pure entertainment spectacle. At the time, the ultimate fighter got people invested emotionally. It created more than people who just wanted to watch to guys fight, you cared about the guy whose personality you liked most. you wanted to see Forrest or, Diego win because they were cool people and the reality TV show gave you insight to that. It changed mma fanhood a great deal from my understanding.
 
At the time, absolutely. The UFC was hemorrhaging money before that TUF season.
 
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