Media Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn on the UFC "The problem is with UFC, I feel like they always want the brand to be bigger than that of the fighter"

[DoctorStoppage]

While this is true, boxing has the opposite problem where the sport is fragmented and top guys won't fight each other

Yeah, and the UFC certainly isn’t dealing with a situation where they can’t make their HW champ fight the interim champ

 

[Black0ut]

He isn’t wrong at all, the UFC (maybe Dana? Or all the powers that be? I dunno) have the mindset of “The UFC doesn’t need you, YOU need the UFC”

Which due to lack of competition, is sadly fairly true.

I don’t think there is a “superstar” in the UFC, that would be immune to this.

 

[SalvadorAllende]

But it works Eddie.

In Boxing they are all about cashcows and protected records. We never got Joshua vs Wilder or Fury.

In MMA we usually get all the fights we want and some more... except some cases like Jones vs Aspinall.

 

[laleggenda27]

It's obviously true. The UFC and Dana wants the UFC and Dana to be the biggest stars. In what other sport does the commissioner hold a press conference after every event? They literally put his name in the title of shows (i.e., Dana White: Lookin' for a Fight; Dana White's Contender Series).

Whether it's good or bad for business is up for debate. Putting the brand above the athlete has certainly worked for the NFL. But putting the commissioner above the athlete is unprecedented, so time will tell.

 

[krelianx]

That's the thing that makes them successful continuously. Brand loyalty. Right now they have a really underwhelming roster of champions yet they still keep the fans coming.

 

[laleggenda27]

But it works Eddie.

In Boxing they are all about cashcows and protected records. We never got Joshua vs Wilder or Fury.

In MMA we usually get all the fights we want and some more... except some cases like Jones vs Aspinall.

Many fights in boxing never happen because the boxers are under different promoters. The same thing happens in MMA because the UFC refuses to cross-promote; there are a TON of fights we missed out on over the years because of this. Hell, there are a bunch of highly anticipated fights that failed to materialize within the UFC.

Is boxing worse? Of course. But boxing has been around much longer, so obviously it has more warts. But MMA has followed suit on many of the same problems that boxing has.

 

[CieloLuce]

He is not wrong. I think UFC/Dana don't want to do the superstars thing anymore is because it's easy to rely on the brand. You can control it better than a superstar who might be erratic or unreliable.

For example, the NBA has a bunch of superstars to carry the product but at the same time viewership is going down because the same superstars are acting entitled and flopping to get foul called in favor for them.

In boxing you need lots of money to get the top guys to fight each other. Dana in his bubble can armstrong these fighters to fight or he shelves them.

 

[Oscar Madison]

Eddie "The Problem" Hearn --

last fight promoter on earth to wake up and realize the UFC business model...

 

[SamuraiBro]

The UFC will never allow another Conor McGregor to happen again.

 

[Spiderbite]

his sport's best fights of the last 5 years have all been bankrolled by the saudis.
come @ me when you have a business to keep running without oil money handouts

So, what you're saying is, the top guys won't fight unless they get a boatload of cash.... Yeah, it's a good thing that doesn't happen in MMA.

 

[sonhow]

Well no shit...
It should be pretty obvious by now?

Funny thing was Dana in wrestlemania crowd introduced TWICE to the cameras. Well shit who the biggest star might be?

 

[evergreenrider]

They're trying to model after the NFL way. Nothing is bigger than the shield.

 

[Legendary]

his sport's best fights of the last 5 years have all been bankrolled by the saudis.
come @ me when you have a business to keep running without oil money handouts

Retarded comment when the UFC is in SA or UAE like every other month and has been doing the Abu Dhabi cards long before Riyadh Season was even a thing.

Quit parroting what Dana says when you clearly don't know what you are talking about.

 

[Clark Rogers]

You mean a American billionaire company only cares about it growth at the expenseof its emoyees.... Nuhh ahh.. u don't say

P.S. Izzy, Alex Pereira, Sean O'Malley, Islam, Dustin P, Max Holloway, Jon Jones ( took me this long to name him sorry), Tom Aspinall,

My bad that's 8 went 2 over

Idk what an emoyee is but in this context there are no employees, only independent contractors.

 

[Ube]

Well duh. One of the Fertittas said something along the lines of, the UFC sells the UFC production, not fighters. Wish I could remember that article. But it’s not a secret that their theory is: UFC over fighters.

 

[flektarn]

Retarded comment when the UFC is in SA or UAE like every other month and has been doing the Abu Dhabi cards long before Riyadh Season was even a thing.


Quit parroting what Dana says when you clearly don't know what you are talking about.

Every other month? Every 3 months is more accurate. you can look it up yourself. and your picture is just lol. It was 4 years until they held another event in abu dhabi. And then 5 years after that where we got into covid years and then they got a lot of events for obvious reasons.

 

[tasticles]

It's true, Dana is building a company. He couldn't care less about the fighters. That's why they make peanuts and have short careers with no pensions or benefits when they retire. It's a smart way to do business.

Boxing has it's own set of problems.

If you're dumb enough to sign up for a professional fight for 2k, that's on you. They would have to pay more if the fighters or managers weren't so stupid.

 

[pick999]

Can he name 6 current active boxing superstars?

 

[chinarice]

He'll get hate because he's from the boxing world but I think he's absolutely correct.

This has been said by myself already and several others over the years. Many, many years.

Dana has already said on video he doesn't want to pay fighters a lot of money because they won't fight once they make the money.

They aren't going to really push people like they pushed Conor. He probably ruined it for everyone else.

 

[Söze Aldo]

This has been said by myself already and several others over the years. Many, many years.

Dana has already said on video he doesn't want to pay fighters a lot of money because they won't fight once they make the money.

They aren't going to really push people like they pushed Conor. He probably ruined it for everyone else.

Hasn't Pereira now proved Dana wrong with that? and before him Israel was also a very active and assumedly high paid champ. That's just another Dana excuse to keep payments even lower, which was actually a selling point of the UFC to buyers.

Mark Hunt was making more 10 years ago than a lot of the champs make today. They just want to convince fans that the Dana White fight contenders are the elite of the elite MMA fighter, when most certainly aren't and the fans are finally starting to not fall for it.