Anyone else not excited about fight cards like they used to be?

[BFoe]

I used to know every fighter in every weight class. The entire card. I was so pumped for Liddell vs Couture II, with Hughes vs Trigg III as the co main event. The card created buzz everywhere during a time when MMA was absolutely exploding.

Now, there are so many fighters, so many fight cards, everyone is trying to outdue the next guy on the microphone. It almost feels, just watered down. I dont even care about half the cards anymore. People dont talk about the fights like they used to.

Now, I look at a card and see yababa nakumrarala vs laffi taffi sakie dakie , and I think to myself "who in the fuck are these guys?" I google them to see they started fighting in like 2016.

Meh, I dont know. The sport feels so watered down these days. Not like it used to be. I dont think it will ever be as good as it was. If any of you say it's better, you weren't following back then.

Don’t sleep on Laffi Taffi Sakie Dakie.
Could be champ in 2020 IMO.

 

[RogerD]

I skipped Conor & Jones' fights.. I was super into Ben Askren's fights, watched them all, enjoyed BAMF Sheenigans.. then I think just got busy with life.

 

[Babaganoosh]

I have lost touch with what is going on with MMA. It is more a reality TV show than anything else.

 

[IndyCovaHart]

I had the love, lost the love, rekindled the love and now I lost it again.

 

[SuperDiazBros]

I think people need to understand that with the major acquisition of Pride, Strikeforce, WEC, and to an extent Invicta, UFC received a major shot in the arm of already established world talent. If you had followed these other promotions like a true hardcore, then watching their best compete with the UFC's was must see tv even outside of a top ten matchup. PPV quality fighters make PPV quality cards regardless of the brand 'UFC'.

Now Dana and co can't buy the competition. Instead we're seeing UFC and Bellator in an arms race to sign green regional prospects and instagram models instead of paying top talent what they're worth. Cya Mighty Mouse. Hello Tracy Cortez.

 

[CheapMetaKnight]

Take the plunge and jump into kickboxing and boxing. You wont regret it.

 

[Taric]

I think people need to understand that with the major acquisition of Pride, Strikeforce, WEC, and to an extent Invicta, UFC received a major shot in the arm of already established world talent. If you had followed these other promotions like a true hardcore, then watching their best compete with the UFC's was must see tv even outside of a top ten matchup. PPV quality fighters make PPV quality cards regardless of the brand 'UFC'.

There is a lot of truth in what you're saying here. The UFC is always at it's strongest talent wise after it absorbs another organizations fighters.

• PRIDE folding in 2007
• WEC folding in 2010
• Strikeforce folding in 2013

Now that we're in 2020 the UFC hasn't had a new crop of fighters from defunct organizations in 7 years.
2007-2016 is definitely what I would call the UFC's prime.

 

[KIDS-SEE-DOPES]

Cmon, at least a half chub for 248

 

[Deleted member 499399]

I do t see how they continue to .ake money with the ppv model. Is all the money coming from bars? I just can't see that many people spending 65$ for a card with one gifht they want to see.

 

[Oliver Clothesoff]

I'm still a big fan, but I'll admit, it has become a lot more predictable for me. I still have a lot of "sitting on the edge of my seat" moments (Jones v. Reyes for instance), but I also have a lot more "using the skip button on my remote" moments these days too.

I'm still all in, but yeah, my enthusiasm for the Sport has waned. There's even been some events where I never bothered to watch the early Prelims or even the Prelims until the next day. That never happened before 2019. Don't get me wrong, I'll still buy every PPV. The UFC still has the best fighters and fights, but it's changed. I suppose they are trying to rally more interest in other countries and they want to develop new Talent, but for various reasons I'm just not as into it as I was.

 

[Liverkick-king56]

There's been lots of fun card.

The UFC is just doing a shit job marketing their non-superstars.
Guys without wiki pages are coming out and blowing the doors open showing high level skill and fun styles
Mario Bautista is certainly a name to watch out for with a fun, high paced style but I doubt we'll hear his name much unless he strings together 3 or 4 wins

The UFC is signing legit fighters, they just need to start marketing everybody again.

Guys like Erick Silva and Jimy Hettes didn't live up to what the UFC hyped up but it was sure fun tuning into those guys because of the hype and promise the UFC pushed. It made it feel like they couldn't lose and added an aura to these prospects.



The most hype we get for unknown talents now days is what Rogan preaches during fights.

 

[OneManOrgy]

I haven't watched a full event since Jones vs. Santos and thankfully I did because Mas gave us what we all needed. I usually just check the results in the morning, the last event I watched that I fully enjoyed was KG vs Izzy. Those are the fights that this sport needs to stay alive. Jones and Conor have really made it hard to support the UFC, and by that I mean you want your sport to be clean. Guys like Robert Whittaker, but he is alone in the sport as a professional.

 

[CasterMard]

It's called getting old. People born in 2003 when they hit their 30s or 40s will talk about MMA's golden times in 2018-2021..

 

[Pakman]

To me,it’s better than ever .I like the large roster,near weekly fight cards all over the globe and high churn rate at the bottom of the divisions .You still have your stars at the top,”middle class” of solid professional fighters and the opportunity to discover unknown talent any given week.I also like the ESPN deal and all that brings with it so maybe I’m in the minority in how it stands these days

this is how it should be.

 

[Pakman]

It's over-saturated. Too many cards, almost one every week. Once a month was great.

no it was not. Lol

were most of you even watching mma or on these forums back then? More mma is better, lol at one a month.

P.s. stacked cards are a myth.

 

[MrDoctor]

no it was not. Lol

were most of you even watching mma or on these forums back then? More mma is better, lol at one a month.

P.s. stacked cards are a myth.

I like watching MMA but I also like doing other things. I can't watch every event without missing out on everything else. One maybe two events per month is the right amount. Having two fighters you've never heard of on the main card of a pay per view is pretty shitty. There's a point of diminishing returns and UFC has reached that point.

 

[j18lee]

my interest has waned over the past few years. i imagine it's due to a combination of factors-

1. age. i hit 50 last year, and naturally my interests have changed over time. mma just isnt as important to me as it used to be.
2. time spent watching the sport. it's been over 20 years for me. as the saying goes- familiarity breeds contempt. mind you, i dont find mma contemptible, but i do find myself looking at other entertainment more frequently.
3. the current fighters' social media and other outside the cage/ring antics annoy me. i've never been a fan of a-holes, bullies, loud-mouths, or anyone being fake to drum up publicity, but it seems the fighters feel that is the best way to get recognized/placed in high-profile fights these days.

i'm sure there are more reasons, but those immediately came to mind for me.

I am also an old fart (43) and have been following MMA closely starting around 2003. I strongly agree with your #1 (got kids and wife among other sports and activities) and #2 (yeah, it was so new when I was in my 20's and training/fighting myself, I lived for those Sat PPVs at the bar), and somewhat agree with your #3 (some of the stupid Colby, Usman, McGregor stuff annoys me, but sometimes they entertain me).

I'll add one more reason that people haven't mentioned.

I think a big part that people don't recognize is that due to the large paychecks (and the promise of big money fights) once fighters win their titles (or become top contenders), they choose to sit on their title and thus end up fighting only once a year. Back in the mid 2000s, BJ Penn, GSP, Hughes, Anderson Silva almost always fought 2 to 3 times a year. Today, it's often once a year after they win the title (Khabib, Conor, Woodley, Usman, Whittaker, Stipe, Cejudo). Jones is an exception, well, except when he had legal problems.

When the title is only contested once a year, it has a ripple effect on the rest of the division. I think that's a big part of why MMA feels less exciting these days.

 

[Brueskie]

The Spike TV era will forever remain the golden age of the UFC for me. The roster was smaller, so it was much easier to be acquainted with every fighter on every card. The fighters themselves had more visual personality because of the unique looking gear they were allowed to wear. Rogan and Mike were still calling the fights (c'mon, Goldberg was a source of many a moment of unintentional hilarity), and Joe himself hadn't yet devolved into the melodramatic bad-calls dufus he is now. Then you had the UFC vs Pride thing happening, which was a source of wider entertainment, especially on these forums.

Global numbers aside, anecdotally no one I know follows MMA like they did in the Spike TV days, nor do any of the bars carry PPVs like they used to. So in my personal sphere, the sport has completely died, which certainly hurts my own enthusiasm for it.

WMMA.

TLDR: Nope, not excited.