Are GSP vs Diaz and Jones vs Sonnen signs.........

rikibobby

rikibobby

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that the UFC is in financial trouble?

The Jones vs Sonnen fight is especially mind-boggling as Sonnen doesn't even get a warm-up fight at 205. Obviously he will sell the fight and the card should do good PPV numbers.
Same goes for the GSP Diaz fight. Diaz is a more legitimate opponent than Sonnen but still not the #1 contender.

Could the UFC be in financial trouble and need these PPV numbers to stay in the black? Their numbers have been pretty weak for the past couple of years. I don't mean tits-up trouble, but concerning trouble none-the-less.

I know this topic has been done to death, but not sure if from this angle.
 
rikibobby said:
that the UFC is in financial trouble?

The Jones vs Sonnen fight is especially mind-boggling as Sonnen doesn't even get a warm-up fight at 205. Obviously he will sell the fight and the card should do good PPV numbers.
Same goes for the GSP Diaz fight. Diaz is a more legitimate opponent than Sonnen but still not the #1 contender.

Could the UFC be in financial trouble and need these PPV numbers to stay in the black? Their numbers have been pretty weak for the past couple of years. I don't mean tits-up trouble, but concerning trouble none-the-less.

I know this topic has been done to death, but not sure if from this angle.
Click to expand...


Its still been done to death.

I think its just a matter of trying to get the most money possible anyway.
 
Neither were their first ideas (Silva vs GSP and Sonnen vs Rampage) so no. It's just about trying to maximize what they have now.
 
In trouble?
money.jpg
 
GusBrooks said:
If you're trying to show you have mad stacks why would you band anything under 20's? Especially 5's...
Click to expand...

Obviously to have more stacks?

Cmon son...

Pacman can give you a lesson on how to make it rain.
 
financial trouble with successful PPVs, network TV deals, and expansion into various international markets? I doubt they would be investing in expansion if the core business was in trouble, since expansion tends to burn through $$$ until the market is established.

UFC does not have a history of blowing the bank on payroll (like Affliction did, for e.g.).

There remains pressure to score ratings and PPV buys, to leverage future deals, I'm sure.

I would guess that the UFC is making these fights because of timing - Sonnen likely has no future in the LHW division as contender, so giving him even one tune-up fight could ruin the entire Jones-Sonnen fight if he were to lose a tune-up, and they would have needed other coaches for an already stale TUF series.

GSP-Diaz - same thing - Diaz lost to Condit, and there is certainly no guarantee he gets past the likes of Ellenberger, Hendricks, Rory, Kampmann, Fitch, or Condit in a rematch...so they either capitalize on the Diaz-GSP "feud" now, while it remains fresh in the minds of fans, and still a "reasonable" fight, or they let Diaz fight someone else, perhaps lose, and then there is no Diaz-GSP. This leaves them with the unenviable task of matching GSP against someone else, who won't sell nearly the PPVs as Diaz.

Add to this the fact that injuries force cards to be shuffled all the time, and it is kind of easy to see (from UFC's perspective) why these fights are being made in the first place, and why they are being made right away. That they have three WW fights on the same card is *clearly* insurance against injuries or Diaz not cooperating again. Pretty much any of the other guys could step in and face GSP, since they'll be prepping for a fight anyway.

just my opinion...but I highly doubt UFC is in financial trouble of any kind, and PPV numbers are but a piece of the revenue puzzle at this point. As Dana said, the future for UFC making it big is through network TV, not PPV.
 
If the UFC was in any sort of financial trouble, it would be in the news. Even though it is a private company, financial issues of private companies have a way of being leaked to the public either by the people who own them as a way to try and get investors, or by people who have access to the books but wish to remain anonymous.

Other indicators would be that they would be scaling back the number of shows they do, and also where they hold their shows at would also be a sign. Smaller venues even for PPVs would be a sure fire way to tell if there was financial issues. Also, you would probably see the elimination of post fight bonuses, and less "guaranteed contracts". You'd also see the UFC start to shed fighters in a hurry save for the top guys and keep them under contract while bringing in others for a 1 fight non-exclusive deal.

So with that being said. None of that stuff is happening. The UFC is actually expanding into more and more countries and gaining more popularity globally. The fact that they're able to do TUF in multiple countries should be a sign that the UFC is in great financial shape as they have distributors in multiple countries that have not only picked up the US version of the show, but have contracted to have a country specific version made. Also the fact that the UFC is running more shows overseas is a huge indicator of how well they are doing. If they weren't doing well, the vast majority of their shows would not be outside of Las Vegas.
 
RenoBJJr said:
Obviously to have more stacks?

Cmon son...

Pacman can give you a lesson on how to make it rain.
Click to expand...

I don't think so. No one is raining 5's at the strip club. Only way I ever see myself with 25 5 dollar bills is a bender at the bar because they're easier to work with. Other than that keep you 5's and get your stacks up
 
They should try and cash i on there biggest fights while they can, I see no problem with it.
 
It's a money grab for Sonnen/Jones. They liked the amount of buys for Sonnen/Silva II, and TUF ratings have been down, so they're trying to make a splash on FX with them on TUF, which also allows them to hype up the PPV even more.

GSP/Diaz is because GSP asked for it and he never asks for anything blah blah blah.
 
Wasn't the point of the original gif because Lyoto was requesting "Anderson Silva money" -as quoted by Dana- to fight Rashad on short notice? Hence the 3 people featured.
 
The UFC is a business.. in the Entertainment business of course Dana is going to put his biggest pay per view draws together.

Dana isn't a pure MMA fanatic like us he's a very very rich businessman.

Its life money talks, theres a lot of WWE/ MMA fans who want to see these phoney fued's between fighters to help sell the fight.
 
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