Deadspin: Whatever Happened To The UFC?

The same Mark Cuban who runs D-Level MMA fights on his TV network... If there is an audience for the C&D-level fights HDnet puts on then there is definitely an audience for the B&A level fights UFC puts on.

Does he even own axs tv anymore?
 
It takes a time for a person as dumb as that author to actually see the big picture. UFC is correcting it's failings of the past.. There are few stars now because UFC were unable to build them a few years ago that is changing now.

UFC is finally doing exactly what it needs to. Dumbasses like to talk about watered down events but in bast years UFC would run PPVs headlined by non title fights... This year every single UFC PPV has been a title fight and some of the Fox cards have been absolutely PPV level of a few years back.

I agree with this, but they have gone so far past what they needed to correct. They've gone from one extreme to the other.

Eventually they'll find a middle ground with some success, like in the article the author says:
It's born; it struggles; it captures public interest; and now, it reaches beyond its grasp. The actual sport, as such, has grown incredibly quickly, so that the best fights the UFC can now offer are as far beyond what they could promote a decade or so ago

It seems to me like a natural growing pain, while some hardcore fans might see quantity over quality as a positive, some don't, and it certainly isn't a good formula to get casual fans more engaged.
 
but there is also something so stagnant and uninspired about the current presentation of UFC, the politics, and the focus on pay and other such BS. I liked it better when these guys were considered fighters and not athletes and the president of the company did not think he was the main attraction.

The UFC doesn't focus on politics and fighter pay....sherdog does. If you don't want to focus on that, stop coming here and just watch the fights.

If you don't want to perceive Dana as the main attraction...don't watch scrums.

If all you do is watch main event of a ppv....you won't ever even see dana.

If you watch the prelims you can see his "hype spot" before the ppv starts....but if you're getting overloaded with dana....then you're seeking out videos that he's in.
 
Yeah, but does he try to pretend it isn't D level? UFC is the top tier. It is the big leagues. So, when you expand, you are now adding people to the org, who were previously not good enough.

And there is really no point of trying to convince you last few holdouts. The majority of this forum, and fans, are losing interest. It is in the numbers, in the polls. It is all around us.

So go, then.

I don't mean to be rude, but if you're losing interest, why stick around to tell everyone? You (and the people who are saying what you're saying) sound like an unpopular girl who talks about how lame a party is but won't leave.

I love all the MMA that's available these days, it's awesome. There are probably more top quality fights available than we've ever had in the past, but now instead of having to wait a month or two for more, it's a few days. If we go a week or two without an event it's a big deal, and so much of it is free.
 
Whoever wrote this article sounds like an ignorant tool. The analogy with basketball is ridiculous. He should compare MMA to other combat sports like Boxing which has way more weight classes than UFC.
.

The analogy does work. Any league that expands ends up being forced to bring in competitors who wouldn't have made it to the big leagues otherwise. It hurts the overall quality because the talent level standard drops.

NHL fans talk all the time about how much better the league would be if 4-5 teams were dropped from the league and the more talented players were distributed to the remaining teams. You wouldn't have as many teams or as many games, but the talent level on each team would rise and the games would be more competitive.

The UFC would be better of focusing on a development promotion to develop talent and reducing the number of shows to increase the anticipation for shows and increase the card quality.
 
So go, then.

I don't mean to be rude, but if you're losing interest, why stick around to tell everyone? You (and the people who are saying what you're saying) sound like an unpopular girl who talks about how lame a party is but won't leave.

I love all the MMA that's available these days, it's awesome. There are probably more top quality fights available than we've ever had in the past, but now instead of having to wait a month or two for more, it's a few days. If we go a week or two without an event it's a big deal, and so much of it is free.

I see you come from the Emjay school of debate, where every answer to every question is "leave", or "don't watch". Why waste time even responding? If you don't like the thread, leave. How's that? It obviously is giving a message that offends your sensibilities.
 
I see you come from the Emjay school of debate, where every answer to every question is "leave", or "don't watch". Why waste time even responding? If you don't like the thread, leave. How's that? It obviously is giving a message that offends your sensibilities.

Do you even have fight pass?

If not, then you're talking crap about a card you can't even watch....that's not even made for north America.

People seem to forget that you couldn't even watch prelims before. Now all the fights are on fight pass or fs1 or fs2 and people just complain that they don't know the fighters. We used to only get 4-5 fights 6-9 times a year. And it was easy to keep track of cause you didn't even have to see the undercard fighers. You only knew them once they were ppv level.

If you want to feel like you did before...just watch the main card of a ppv and skip everything else. Cause everything else is not going to feature the top fighters. they are going to feature up and comers.
 
I would like less watered down cards and for Dana to talk less.
 
Yeah, but does he try to pretend it isn't D level? UFC is the top tier. It is the big leagues. So, when you expand, you are now adding people to the org, who were previously not good enough.

And there is really no point of trying to convince you last few holdouts. The majority of this forum, and fans, are losing interest. It is in the numbers, in the polls. It is all around us.

UFC doesn't pretend anything with the level of it's fighters.

I'm going to us small numbers to explain this to you so you maybe understand.

Lets say Pre TUF and early spike years there are a total of 100 fighters globally. UFC houses the top 10% that's 10 fighters from a small pool.

During the growing years due to the increased popularity of the sport there are now 250 fighters. UFC take the top 10% and now has 25 fighters. But these 25 are actually more elite than the previous 10 and the UFC is actually more exclusive despite adding 15 more fighters they have excluded now 225 instead of just 90.

Today lets say there are 500 fighters globally and UFC houses the top 10% which is now 50. These 50 are again even more talented because the total pool of fighters is so much deeper. UFC still is showing just the top 10% of fighters there is just more fighters in the world now.

If UFC failed to expand its roster at the same rate MMA has expanded globally it is failing to bring all the top fighters into 1 org.
 
The analogy does work. Any league that expands ends up being forced to bring in competitors who wouldn't have made it to the big leagues otherwise. It hurts the overall quality because the talent level standard drops.

NHL fans talk all the time about how much better the league would be if 4-5 teams were dropped from the league and the more talented players were distributed to the remaining teams. You wouldn't have as many teams or as many games, but the talent level on each team would rise and the games would be more competitive.

The UFC would be better of focusing on a development promotion to develop talent and reducing the number of shows to increase the anticipation for shows and increase the card quality.

Weight classes can't be compared to teams in my opinion and that is where the analogy fails. The fighters in the new weight classes will still be the best in the world and thus actually strengthen the roster talent wise. We would not have guys like Dillashaw, Bagautinov, Barao, Aldo, DJ etc. if UFC did not bring in the lighter weight classes.
 
So go, then.

I don't mean to be rude, but if you're losing interest, why stick around to tell everyone?

Because MMA and the UFC used to be more enjoyable - and could be again, with some fixes.

I wouldn't go to a board about Track & Field and tell them how boring it is, because it accomplishes nothing. I don't like it, never liked it, and never will, no matter how they might tweak it.
The UFC, OTOH, could improve dramatically, with some adjustments. And if enough public opinion gathers, they do have to react sometimes.
 
The analogy does work. Any league that expands ends up being forced to bring in competitors who wouldn't have made it to the big leagues otherwise. It hurts the overall quality because the talent level standard drops.

Lets say Basketball catches on really well globally and China, Indian, England, Brazil, Australia, and Japan all started leagues that has the same talent level comprable pay as the NBA. In response the NBA buys these international leagues and greates a true NBA world championship. The game play in no way has been diminished the players are on the same level there are just more of them from a larger talent pool. That is what the UFC has done. The number of talented fighters globally has not remained finite therefor the number of fighters in the UFC must not remain finite.

NHL fans talk all the time about how much better the league would be if 4-5 teams were dropped from the league and the more talented players were distributed to the remaining teams. You wouldn't have as many teams or as many games, but the talent level on each team would rise and the games would be more competitive.
Maybe there aren't enough good hockey players the same can't be said for MMA. Where there is an overabundance of high talent fighters across the globe and the number keeps growing as more and more MMA schools open in more and more countries and people learn from younger and younger ages.

The UFC would be better of focusing on a development promotion to develop talent and reducing the number of shows to increase the anticipation for shows and increase the card quality.
Why... UFC cuts it shows then these top talented fighters that absolutely UFC lebel are now available for Bellator, WSOF, Titan, RFA, etc... Giving the competition a leg up on developing future stars and spreading the talent across multiple orgs so no one winds up fighting each other. Why would UFC give that revenue to competitors.
 
Agree with everything that is said. I have no interest in Fight Pass until they offer a better option to view PPV cards. God give me a discount, not asking for them to be free if I subscribe like the WWE Network but you want me to pay monthly for shitty cards that are on at 5 AM where I live and to also pay full price for PPV events. I'll wait then.
 
The UFC doesn't focus on politics and fighter pay....sherdog does. If you don't want to focus on that, stop coming here and just watch the fights.

If you don't want to perceive Dana as the main attraction...don't watch scrums.

If all you do is watch main event of a ppv....you won't ever even see dana.

If you watch the prelims you can see his "hype spot" before the ppv starts....but if you're getting overloaded with dana....then you're seeking out videos that he's in.

Fair points, but your suggestion to not focus on politics is missing the point. Politics absolutely affect matchmaking. Whenever the best matchups are shelved in order to appeal to certain demographics, that's when it gets ridiculous. Boxing is awful, but because of the scope of that sport, there are still plenty of A level fighters to overcome the politics.

I agree that I should stop coming to Sherdog, and after my most recent ban in 2007, I swore I was done with this place. But not coming here would probably remedy most of what I hate about MMA. But who am I kidding, you'll see me in the next Jon Jones thread :cool:
 
Lets say Basketball catches on really well globally and China, Indian, England, Brazil, Australia, and Japan all started leagues that has the same talent level comprable pay as the NBA. In response the NBA buys these international leagues and greates a true NBA world championship. The game play in no way has been diminished the players are on the same level there are just more of them from a larger talent pool. That is what the UFC has done. The number of talented fighters globally has not remained finite therefor the number of fighters in the UFC must not remain finite.

That's not what it is though. If the NBA brought in shit level Roysteen Wee, Dave Galera and TUF china level teams nowhere near NBA level just for demographics or profits. That is the comparison. Those and some of these Aussie, Swedish, Polish, etc fighters are garbage and low level. And they sign more low level guys on top of that to face them.

BTW basketball has caught on well globally. If it hasn't I'd love to here what you think of how well MMA has caught on.
 
Fair points, but your suggestion to not focus on politics is missing the point. Politics absolutely affect matchmaking. Whenever the best matchups are shelved in order to appeal to certain demographics, that's when it gets ridiculous. Boxing is awful, but because of the scope of that sport, there are still plenty of A level fighters to overcome the politics.

I agree that I should stop coming to Sherdog, and after my most recent ban in 2007, I swore I was done with this place. But not coming here would probably remedy most of what I hate about MMA. But who am I kidding, you'll see me in the next Jon Jones thread :cool:

What matchups aren't being made? Really what matches are the UFC avoiding? People say that but it really isn't happening. That's one thing the UFC has tried to do, put on meaningful fights.
 
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