Worst UFC Business Decision

[Oldman1]

67k PPV buys

An entire world exists outside of the US.

 

[Substance Abuse]

Worldwide I can guarantee there is more interest in Ngannous next fight than anything Jon Jones has ever done

I can guarantee you that Sherdog is a small corner of the internet and it's opinions rarely mirror that of the audience at large. As far as paying for content? The Paul Brothers continue to do big numbers. Sadly. At $54.99, Paul/Danis did 1.3 million buys.

 

[BFoe]

Dollars and cents there was nothing bad about the ESPN deal. I think it was reported the UFC was getting 300 mil a year from ESPN. If you want to argue it tainted meritocracy and made it more entertainment than sport I’d hear that out for sure

I argued exactly that 2 posts above yours
But yeah—it would seem to me that there are groups of investors that Zuffa could’ve sold to, who wouldn’t destroy the meritocracy of the sport. I’m not so sure that selling to some pro wrestling affiliated entity was the best thing for the sport of MMA. It paid the Fertittas a lot of money, no doubt, so from their perspective it was a good deal.

It doesn’t seem like a good deal from the fans’ perspective though.

 

[Natural Order]

Reebok outfits.

 

[Gang Sign Luke]

Wasn't the purchase of Pride a really bad deal? A bunch of Fugazi fighter contracts and all that?

 

[DarthChen731]

Not sure US PPV sales was the main target considering where the fight was hosted and the nationality of the fighters

Sure, but you can't deny that US fans are going to make up a sizable chunk of buyers and be fairly indicative of overall interest. If this was cricket I'd concede but boxing is definitely still worth money in the US. IMO this first fight was mainly about promoting SA as a sports capital, essentially a propaganda move in line with their recent efforts, with the upside that if Francis does well it can be used as buzz towards bigger revenues for followup fights against any of the other notable top HW boxers. But they'd surely still want to sell PPVs for this first match -- selling PPVs is the whole point.

 

[pick999]

Usada hands down

 

[Eric Silva 2.0]

Is the UFC losing their HW champion to PFL who arguably just beat the best HW boxer of the last decade possibly the worst move the UFC have ever made? Quite possibly the worst any sporting promotion has even done?

Nope, the clues from the fight with Fury show why Dana continues to be steps ahead of everybody on the business side of MMA. His ESPN deal and DWCS to fill the roster up are moving the company in the right direction. The best HW in MMA just fought Fury and they couldn't sell any tickets. The PPV model is slowly dying so Dana has already pivoted away and doesn't waste his money on high-priced fighters that don't sell tickets. He's building the UFC brand and the fighters are interchangeable to what he's doing. You may not like it and sometimes I don't either but overpaying for Francis isn't in the best interests of UFC/WME or the shareholders.

 

[Trabaho]

Its in my top 3:

1. Francis lost to PFL
2. Loss of Goldberg
3. Reebok

Sorry but I'm glad they fired Goldberg. A good humble working man with a great sounding voice. But dude wasn't even into mma and repeated his lines. Epic voice yes. But he wasn't feeling it.

 

[svmr_db]

I'd say stopping production of the hot dog brander is one of their worst decisions, that thing was like a license to print money.

 

[Sean Ryan]

USADA by far.
View attachment 1010427

Yeah, you'd never believe that's the same person.

 

[Domitian]

Usada

 

[Fedorgasm]

Buying pride was a horrible business decision.

They didn't even do their due diligence to learn how they basically would be shut out of Japan before buying it.

All they got was old footage and existing contracts, which was great for fans but they paid way too much if that was all they were getting.

 

[Fedorgasm]

Sorry but I'm glad they fired Goldberg. A good humble working man with a great sounding voice. But dude wasn't even into mma and repeated his lines. Epic voice yes. But he wasn't feeling it.

I always thought it was good that he wasn't into MMA. He had to ask questions of Joe or a retired fighter and they got a chance to explain it. It was great for helping my casual friends become educated and enjoy the fights

 

[Ozze]

Not putting together fights like GSP - Anderson, Anderson - Jones, Fedor - Brock, whatever, left more money on the table than missing out on Ngannou's boxing fight.

 

[Thepaintbucket]

Reebok deal was a great business move. They added another revenue stream and more importantly stopped athletes from making too much money from sponsorships. Intentional and evil

So far the Francis drama is on the low end of the missed opportunity scale for them since they only lost out on Francis/Jones PPV potential imo.

 

[Vanzanto]

I don't think the UFC have done a bad enough deal to really rock them. However, the Power Slap league remains a very odd move at best. A "sport" that flies against the tide of other sports trying to minimise head damage.

 

[m249viking]

Not sure US PPV sales was the main target considering where the fight was hosted and the nationality of the fighters

He didn’t say anything about US PPV sales.

 

[Trabaho]

I always thought it was good that he wasn't into MMA. He had to ask questions of Joe or a retired fighter and they got a chance to explain it. It was great for helping my casual friends become educated and enjoy the fights

Good explanation. That was his job. And it's aaaaall over.

 

[djacobox372]

Disallowing 3rd party fighter sponsorship.

The NBA pushed back on sneaker sponsorships in the mid 80s, before they realized that they make their stars bigger stars.