I think it’s gotten quite a lot worse. There’s issues with the matchmaking, champs refusing to fight (although I sympathise on the pay front), quality of cards, the new PPV system, and much more.
What’s really struck me, though, is that the UFC seems to have lost its spirit since WME came in. I’m not going to absolve Zuffa of any blame, because they did bring in the Reebok deal, and that certainly helped in taking away originality. I feel that the Reebok deal was done so they would have an easier time cashing out though. Same deal with USADA.
The commentary has gone down the drain. I really liked Goldberg. Anik just doesn’t get me excited. The Brendan guy is alright, but he doesn’t replace Goldberg for me.
Rogan’s commentary has clearly declined. He is so unprofessional now and when he’s with DC it can get super annoying as they influence the casuals and act like Holloway vs Volk 1 was close. Same deal with when they had Izzy ahead vs Jan.
I’m a fight fan first and foremost, but we don’t have many good personalities in the sport these days. There’s a lot of cookie cutter guys and then there’s a lot of guys who are just cringeworthy and annoying. Thanks Conor and thanks to the UFC and WME for rewarding these cringeworthy fighters with better spots on cards and better pay. It’s harder for me to connect with the new fighters. Out of the new guys, I like Kevin Holland because he seems authentic.
The music on cards is far worse these days. It’s just generic soft rock that doesn’t build any hype during the promos. Face the Pain may be associated with the dude bro era, but when it came on during the PPV opening it always got me hyped.
The tweets on screen are annoying. Half of them are from celebs who have connections to WME and they probably aren’t even watching the fights.
The fans are worse imo. The Brock fans could be annoying, but since Conor the quality of the fan base has declined. We have a bunch of casuals who aren’t fight fans and instead prefer the drama. These people then slander good fighters, read Wikipedia, and then come out with stupid statements. I do like drama sometimes and I’m cool with certain people wrestling elements being implemented occasionally, but I watch MMA because I like fighting.
The actual fighting may not really be worse, but there’s too many bums on cards. Fat heavyweights with no cardio and cardio kickboxers. I like good WMMA, but most of it is poor at best.
I just don’t get hyped like I used to. Part of that is probably because I’m older, but I do feel as though the UFC has declined. 2019 was quite a good year, but the past couple haven’t been consistently good imo. I liked MMA and more specifically the UFC because it was unique and cool back in the noughties. Most of what made it cool to me back then has now been lost.
The next few PPV cards do look quite good though. If I wanted to pick apart UFC 266 I easily could though. The main event is legitimately good, but Valentina is fighting somebody who is nowhere near her level. The biggest fight on the card is Diaz vs Lawler 2. Diaz hasn’t fought in over 6 years and began fighting 20 years ago. Robbie Lawler has looked shot for quite a while now as well. I still really want to see the fight because I’m a huge fan of Nick, but it could end up being sad.
267 is headlined by two fighters who shouldn’t be two of the best at 205 in the UFC. I like Jan and his improvements have been very impressive, but he’s nearly 40 years old now. Glover is a nice guy but he’s clearly declined; he’s just lucky the division has also declined and the likes of Corey Anderson and Phil Davis are no longer around.
