Beginning of the end of the UFC?

[LiQuiD42]

I just got off the phone with Dana. He told me he isn't worried about the UFC dying nor this event because most of those Bellator Champs are ex-UFC guys.

 

[NicholasJBasile]

The UFC did okay

 

[Gamer2k4]

Along with many other people long time fans I’ve talked to have predicted this way of doing business would be short lived in the sense of decades to come.

Oh no! This is cause for concern over the next several decades?

If the UFC falters in the next 20 years, it'll either be because society has a whole has lost interest (in which case it's an MMA problem and not a UFC problem), or something else will have risen to take its place (in which case it's a UFC problem and not an MMA problem). Either way, people have been making "UFC is dying" posts for years, and somehow, it's always hung in there. I wouldn't worry.

 

[j18lee]

The concentration on the WWE theatrics such has Conor McGregor has been glorified since he launched the sport internationally at a main stream level and the UFC has been stuck on that formula since then while simultaneously rewarding fighters who simply win in a boring fashion instead of keeping fighters that don’t have the best records but simply put on a good show.

It doesn't seem like they are rewarding fighters who win in a boring fashion. Pereira had finishes in 4 of his last 5 fights and Hill had 6 out of last 7. Neither are remotely considered boring fighters. Gaethje and Holloway are two of the most exciting, Charles Oliveira probably has the among the highest finish (and finished) rates ever. O'Malley and Vera, both solid finishers. Poirier, BSD, Holland all have fights coming up on main cards. We just had Topuria crowned as the next big thing and he has 13 finishes in 15 wins. Whittaker and Costa put up a very exciting fight despite no finish. Anthony Hernandez is a star in the making who finishes almost everyone (or gets finished).

I think they do all they can to reward fighters who finish or, if they are big needle movers on social media.

 

[IndyCovaHart]

RIP UFC

 

[Blastbeat]

It's not the beginning of the end. It's the end of the beginning.

the middle is nowhere to be found

 

[don't ask]

I wish I would have worded it better. My point is that if a fighter is not exciting but still brings in PPV buys the UFC will keep them for example Colby Covington prime example.

That's because a fighter's performance in the cage is becoming less important to the UFC than ever before. Colby's performance outside the cage excited stupid people and that's even better than MMA!

 

[Tweak896]

I think we're in the phase where lots of UFC execs are cashing out short term to get their bonus and leave the company. It's going to take new management that care for the longevity of the sport to fix the issues going on now with the watered down cards. Most of the guys that have been there 20+ years don't care about the next 20+ years. Probably will need some wake up call when ESPN money dries up.

 

[CntgetPs5]

This is pure delusion on your part. 300 is the most stacked card ever made. And Pereira v Hill is clearly a bigger main event than Ferreira v Bader.

That is not worthy of UFC 300 but yes to a regular fight card. Dana White promised a super fight and couldn’t not deliver. And to show how much he doesn’t have his stuff together he literally called Hill the day before the UFC 300 announcement to ask if he wanted to fight Pierera.

 

[AfroBanana]

Your own perception and reality aren’t the same thing.

“I’m bored with the NFL because I don’t feel like I have a personal connection to the players names anymore” while the NFL is growing its revenue each year…….. doesn’t mean it’s dying.

It means you as an individual don’t care about it as much. So like some zoomer you assume everything revolves around your feelings and emotions so you make these conclusions. So the best thing you can do is search for confirmation bias somewhere to make it seem true……..

Sports will always give you things to complain about and the UFC will always do things that draw fan criticism. That doesn’t mean it’s dying though. UFC is a wildly successful brand in a sport that doesn’t see much success elsewhere.

 

[blaseblase]

That is not worthy of UFC 300 but yes to a regular fight card. Dana White promised a super fight and couldn’t not deliver. And to show how much he doesn’t have his stuff together he literally called Hill the day before the UFC 300 announcement to ask if he wanted to fight Pierera.

Lol at claiming it's not worthy while trying to talk up the PFL. Pereira v Hill is a bigger fight than anything on PFL's megacard.

 

[RightToBareKnuckles]

I think TS, and many others, are putting way too much focus on UFC 300. it's not like the UFC is actually low on cash (that I'm aware of) and they need 300 to sell 3 million PPVs or something to survive as a company. even if the event flops, the show goes on and there's other PPV and Fight Night events this year that'll earn money

 

[CntgetPs5]

I think TS, and many others, are putting way too much focus on UFC 300. it's not like the UFC is actually low on cash (that I'm aware of) and they need 300 to sell 3 million PPVs or something to survive as a company. even if the event flops, the show goes on and there's other PPV and Fight Night events this year that'll earn money

I understand. What I’m saying though is that I haven’t seen this much hype for another organization while the UFC is simultaneously catching this much from the fans. And the UFC fans that have been around for a while are sick of the bs increase in PPV prices and would love to have another organization to be excited about and now for the first time they actually do. I love One FC but they aren’t too popular in the west unfortunately.

 

[jx820]

There isn't as much interest in the entire PFL and all of Bellator combined as there is in just the single card of UFC 300.

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=now%201-d&geo=US&q=%2Fg%2F11vk03fn7l,PFL,Bellator&hl=en

UFC appears to generate somewhere betwee 25 and 50 times as much web search traffic as it's competitors do even while the competiion is announcing an event with 5 world champions.

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=now%201-d&geo=US&q=PFL,Bellator,ufc&hl=en

I wish the other orgs were doing better, but a realistic analysis is that they are just getting by.

 

[mmacrisis]

The UFC lost me when they went to having 2-3 cards a month. There isn't enough talent for that at all. The PPVs used to be 'MUST WATCH TV' but now it is let me catch highlights on ESPN/Youtube and that is it. The popularity is off the charts but it isn't worth watching for me anymore. Let me know when there is a big fight I will be sure to check my ESPN app to see what happens.

 

[Mammothman]

UFC DYING CONFIRMED

UFC did not did ok

 

[CntgetPs5]

The UFC lost me when they went to having 2-3 cards a month. There isn't enough talent for that at all. The PPVs used to be 'MUST WATCH TV' but now it is let me catch highlights on ESPN/Youtube and that is it. The popularity is off the charts but it isn't worth watching for me anymore. Let me know when there is a big fight I will be sure to check my ESPN app to see what happens.

I agree. Dana White said that the UFC gets like a 800 million dollar bonus from ESPN if they put on X amount of events per year. Apparently that’s why their doing it.

 

[gotBooched]

The UFC has grown into a repulsive, shit product but I don't think it's dying....at least I've never seen any support of that. Like any well oiled business it's probably doing better year after year if I had to guess.

 

[Skarsgard]

Far from dying but it has declined
Or at least stopped growing a while back

It will never be a mainstream sport and although it is currently ahead of boxing, I don't think it's to the degree of a few years ago and certainly not close to boxing years ago

Today's society is soft and care more about plant based diets than watching human cock fighting

Half this forum prefers wmma, that tells you everything

Too much soy

Y'all know this this isn't a thing, right?

 

[RightToBareKnuckles]

I understand. What I’m saying though is that I haven’t seen this much hype for another organization while the UFC is simultaneously catching this much from the fans. And the UFC fans that have been around for a while are sick of the bs increase in PPV prices and would love to have another organization to be excited about and now for the first time they actually do. I love One FC but they aren’t too popular in the west unfortunately.

agreed. I'm curious to see how the PFL buyout of Bellator goes in the long-term. if they can at least gradually take some market share away from UFC, then healthy competition between them and the UFC should be good for fans and fighters