85% of the roster had less than 3 fights in 2012

[Winston Wolf]

... and 37 fighters under contract didn't even enter the octagon.

Source: http://sportv.globo.com/site/evento...etas-fizeram-duas-lutas-ou-menos-em-2012.html

Dem injuries.

EDIT:

38.6% (164): 1 fight
37.6% (160): 2 fights
13.6% (58): 3 fights
8.7% (37): didn't fight
1.4% (6): 4 fights

 

[wowspare]

Oversaturation is a bitch

 

[orangecuse]

That's why Dana feels the sport is so much "safer" then other sports where they actually make good money for the sacrifices they make.

 

[Normy]

"UFC fighters fight the best 3 times a year." -Dana White

 

[SleepyBoy]

A lot of injuries for sure. My guess is there will be a lot less in the next 1-2 years.
I would bet that since the insurance plan took effect about a year ago, many fighters who really needed, or really should have got surgery are getting it now because the zuffa insurance makes it affordable to all zuffa fighters, not just the superstars.
In fact a lot of these injuries may be years old, but now they can finally fix them.

Hopefully we should have a lot of healed fighters coming back better than ever in the next year or so. And they should stay healthy for the most part now that they are taking care of the injuries correctly.

But I can't help but to think a lot of the reason only 15% of the roster fought three or more times is because of poor planning on fighters and UFC alike. Way too many healthy fighters waiting too long for a fight (or the right fight).

 

[ILikeDogging]

"UFC fighters fight the best 3 times a year." -Dana White

Not completely untrue. A lot of guys will fight once every 6 months. That means in a 12-14 month period they will fight 3 times but in a calender year from Jan-Dec they may only have 2 fights.

E.g. Jon Jones only fought twice in 2012 BUT from Sept 2011 - Sept 2012 he fought four times.

 

[Momentosis]

Does this account for guys debuting and stuff?

 

[Winston Wolf]

Does this account for guys debuting and stuff?

I don't think it does, but even if it did, we'd have guys like Bahadurzada, who debuted in April and ended up only fighting the once.

 

[Cosmahorio]

More weight divisions, less spots on cards.

 

[kaufman03]

More weight divisions, less spots on cards.

and there are more cards

 

[kaufman03]

which fighters had 4 fights in 2012

6?

 

[TheComebackKid]

They only cancelled one event this year so the open slots for all possible fights in 2012 still got filled(besides 151). That means even without those injuries there still would have been a bunch of guys sitting around inactive.

Maybe this whole ufc monopolizing the industry thing isnt so good afterall. And then they added women and little 125ers to the already crowded mix.

I don't think Zuffa can properly handle having every fighter and every division on thier roster. Not enough cards for everyone.

 

[Winston Wolf]

which fighters had 4 fights in 2012

6?

Guillard, Michael Johnson, Holloway, Matt Brown, Mike Pierce (ugh... he could've fought 0 times for all I care) and Pineda.

 

[UK_MMA]

Nothing surprising about it when you consider how many are on the roster.

 

[lockon]

injuries

 

[dieknowsore]

Nothing surprising about it when you consider how many are on the roster.

this, funny how people don't realize this.

 

[Andretti]

Hopefully there will be less injuries in the future but I also think they have too many on their roster than the fans can handle. They need to build more story behind the fighters so it's easy for the casuals to remember and recognize them.

 

[redtracker03]

and there are more cards

Execpt the one that got Jones didnt fight Sonnen at

 

[Dr Who]

If they phased out the smaller weight classes we could have more fights that people actually want to see instead of having them added to big drawing cards.

 

[Danespina]

and there are more cards

More cards means more opportunities for fighters to fight 3-4 times a year, this is why I think its a good thing. With WMMA starting up along with the strikeforce roster coming in, it may mean even more events need to be added just so that the roster can fight more then twice a year.