UFC business model of paying fighters peanuts has hurt their ability to find new talent.
Cejudo wanted to fight Yan but they wouldn't pay him so he left.
Jones wanted to fight Ngannou but they wouldn't pay him so he left.
Ngannou wants to get paid and if they don't freeze him he's trying to to leave.
This is why the LHW division has a dinosauric fossil as Champion who took the belt from a 39 year old journeyman. This is why a journeyman with 19 losses like Anthony Smith is still a top 5 title contender.
This is why the next best fight at HW is Derrick Lewis vs Tuivasa. Two guys who wouldn't he top 10 in 2005.
This is why champions like Moreno put on epic fights and sell out arenas and still make 120k a fight.
UFC knows their brand is so strong and their fans are so dumb that they can slap the Coca cola (ufc) brand on any fight and the fans will drink it up and love it.
10B company but can't muster any real talent in the bigger divisions where the REAL ATHLETES are.
UFC= U FIGHT CHEAP and they will continue to profit as the price of cards goes up while the talent goes down.
This. Dana is riding around in Lambo's fucking 5 figure coke whores living the dream while a good chunk of fighters cant even afford to pay their coaches for a fight camp and literally live upstairs because they can't afford their own place. And their in the damn UFC. On top of that bullshit you got "they signed the contract brah" jackasses knowing Dana is going to lowball every single fighter on the roster including McGregor. The ambitions of the average MMA fighter is not going to negotiate and resist Dana's offer cus it's literally the only way into getting your foot in the door to the most promotion and fame your likely ever going to get in the MMA scene, but sure as shit wont get paid what your actually worth whatsoever.
Too many fights and too many fighters. I think the ESPN deal really fucked it all up. Now the ufc just puts on cards to fill their obligation. No depth, no names. I still watch most of the cards, but i will pass on some which is new to me.
Yeah, I'd say the ESPN deal was a point in the UFC's lifespan where things went to shit. It went from attempting to be a legitimate MMA sports organization to a straight up circus act literally only caring about ratings, draws, and who (or what) could make them the most money. Sad really, and I thought the Lesnar era was a fucking WWE wannabe joke I'd give my left nut to go back to that era comparatively.
I've only been watching since UFC 115 so I don't think I qualify as an OG, but sometimes I do feel a little disinterested because of all the diva shit and political manipulation. I want the best fights and the ones who deserve it to make it. I like who I like and I don't need to be told by the media that any popular fighter is the best fighter or future goat or whatever bullshit.
Enough price hikes, rematches, diluting the roster, top heavy cards, inactivity, politics, fake rankings, money chasing, and fuckery.
Other than that I guess it's alright.
I agree, but it's definitely not "alright." Dana foolishly believes diva shit sells due to McGregor's antics, but not everyone is a McGregor. Negativity may or may not sell well, but I'd say at this point the UFC is actively contributing to the fall of society and only feeds the wealthy elite profits while taking from the fighters who are the moneymakers. From Joe Rogan's repetitive ass cliche' commentary, to the abysmal matchmaking that fails the job and only succeeds in making super obvious necessary matchups, Dana White privilege hand picked undeserved title shots clogging up multiple divisions, signing younger undeveloped inexperienced fighters thru his shit-tier Contender Series (which btw, is one of the worst things to happen to the UFC and fighters with actual success from that show are very few compared to all that have been signed) and paying them the least amount possible, watering down cards with unexciting unproven unknowns as filler especially during big title fight cards, waaaaaay too much blatant Right wing bias that Dana privately agrees completely and does nothing to keep neutral whatsoever, biased ass bullshit ranking system slobbering all over the "next big thing" or popular draws, prices rising every year for absolutely no viable reason, refusal to properly hold controversial top fighters accountable when they do terrible shit (i.e. Jon Jones) but quick to cut lesser known fighters for the same mistakes, and finally cutting quality and/or experienced fighters off of small losing streaks because they're finally making 6 figures in their contract after being a company man for the UFC for several years.
They buy out popular MMA organisations such as Pride, Strikeforce, and the WEC (which I fucking MISS), create a monopoly and except for the very best of their talent, completely waste their new acquisitions and basically just fumble the bag instead of keeping the ball rolling on those and have them be separate entities independent of the UFC (the WEC never had to get absorbed IMO, for example). If the UFC didn't have a complete and utter monopoly on the sport of MMA I swear before God I would never support them at all. Dana White is a pathological lying narcisscist sociopath capitalist thief who thinks he is a "tough guy" who's ultra sensitive about his money and plays obvious favorites, they booted Mike Goldberg but kept Joe Rogan's dusty ass (why? I dontt fucking know) and replaced Goldberg with biased, sucking off Dana White UFC stan former fighters, and the list goes on and on.
I'd say somewhere between the Fox partnership in there main attempt to go mainstream and the Endeavor/ESPN deal made the UFC go fully to shit and it cannot recover. They could maybe save their hide by replacing Dana, paying their fighters more, and picking up talent the right way thru free agency, but we all know none of the above will ever happen. I pretty much hope the company collapses, ill never pay for a PPV for the rest of my life, and only really watch cus they hold all the cards. The UFC (and especially Dana ) can eat my dick.
