Did Conor Ruin The Sport?

[Dirty Frank]

At the rate he's going he's actually ruining himself faster and more damagingly than he does the sport.

 

[Chillez]

Yes and no. The UFC to me peaked years ago def on down end to me anyway. I don't follow the sport religiously like I used too not many fights excite me.

 

[acannxr]

This begs the question; did Conor ruin the sport?

Couture vs. Lesnar
Jones vs. Sonnen
Rousey & WMMA

The UFC hasn't cared about the integrity of the sport for over 15 years, they were simply more obvious about it when McGregor came along.

 

[markg171]

Since Conor's precipitous rise, we have seen the overwhelming increase of superfights (when Dana was reluctant to make them in the past, see Silva-GSP) even though you could hardly call a fight between 2 champions who haven't defended yet "super".

BJ Penn getting the the living shit kicked out of him by GSP, to the point he quit despite infamously saying pre-fight "to the death Georges", is why Dana was so hesitant to ever do another champ vs champ fight as it made Penn and LW unmarketable when he had to go back to his division so obviously inferior. And Penn was a former WW champ and had previously given GSP a tough fight so it's not like they had the ready excuse that Penn just couldn't compete at WW, they knew he could.

It looked horrible, even if it was great for GSP's dominance and stardom to have that signature win to show just how far he'd come.

Conor successfully defeating Eddie made Dana willing to once again allow the "special" talents to attempt becoming dual champs precisely because Conor kicked the shit out of Eddie in a masterclass performance, proving that the "special" talents aren't as big of a risk to have what happened to Penn happen to them. And yes, Penn was also one of those special talents too. There is still a risk, but Conor showed it can be done.

Dana is still protecting the divisional interests by letting the seemingly once in a generation fighters try this rather than just every random champ who feels like it.

We have also seen the overwhelming increase of moneyfights (BMF belt, Conor likely getting a TS without a win at 155 in 6 years, etc) and immediate rematches w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶r̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶g̶u̶y̶ ̶w̶i̶n̶s̶ or w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶D̶a̶n̶a̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶d̶o̶e̶s̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶w̶a̶n̶t̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶b̶o̶d̶y̶ ̶e̶l̶s̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶g̶e̶t̶ ̶a̶ ̶t̶i̶t̶l̶e̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶t̶ or other completely justifiable reasons.

Actually, things have gotten far better than they used to as now pretty much every PPV requires a title fight. This upcoming Colby/Mas off the top of my head is the only recent one other than Conor's own PPVs against Dustin 2x and Cowboy weren't headlined by a title fight. We can all bitch and moan about some of the matchmaking, but by making PPVs (largely) require a title fight the champ is either always defending or we've at least got a made up interim with 1 or both of the top contenders.

Back in the day the UFC didn't force the PPVs to be headlined by title fights, which led to plenty of cards where they actually focused on just making the biggest fight they could, because they had to be worried about convincing people to buy a PPV without a title justifying it.

They've actually forced a standard of meritocracy nowadays.

Not to mention, he's become a scapegoat for Dana still not paying fighters fairly, always falling back on ol' reliable: "If you want to get paid, learn how to sell a fight like Conor McGregor". Although the UFC has always been somewhat crooked, it seems to have been multiplied with Dana bending over backwards to appease McGregor.

This isn't true though. Fighter pay has gone up significantly, to the point where we don't even bat eyes at fighters having guaranteed million dollar + purses. That used to be specifically reserved only for likes of Brock, Ronda, and Conor types. And it used to be that only big names were paid in the hundreds of thousands, now pretty much everybody in the top 15 is. I mean, the Ghost of Andrei Arlovski is getting paid like $400k to fight unranked bums 3-4x/year lol.

People will cite Ngannou being paid 600k recently, but even Ngannou himself said that's explicitly because he turned down the contract the UFC tried to offer him for Stipe, which because he didn't take in his own words has lost him $7M since then between Stipe and Gane. The UFC did try to dramatically increase his pay, he's the one who chose to stay on his old contract.

Dana was correct to tell the randoms to fuck off for trying to get the $5M guaranteed purse Conor does, which doesn't even touch PPV points + Proper Twelve ads, because yeah that's still ridiculous. If you want that then absolutely you need to go out and sell like Conor does. Conor didn't make fighter pay worse at all, he proved that the UFC will indeed reward those who are worth it, and in new ways like his ad deal, and can also prove they are. People ignore that Conor was really the first to counter the UFC by coming to them with his own data on how many views his videos were getting, his social media followers, tickets sold/how fast, how his other ventures did, etc.

 

[jsbx45]

As one poster pointed out, the UFC has coddled Conor trying to milk his star power at the expense of other athletes and the legitimacy of the "Sport" side of the UFC. Another beef I have with the whole Conor phenomenon is that Conor was a good, arguably great shit talker who talked the talk but also walked the walk. What has followed in the wake of Conor's successful campaign is a wave of young guys trying to talk shit - believing that it will take them places - who actually suck at it and will never be as good as Conor was either.

So did Conor ruin the sport? Nah, he didn't help it though. The UFC is ruining MMA as a sport though and replacing it with a UFC/WWE hybrid model that rewards twitter followers more than wins in the octagon. I'll still watch, but with full knowledge that it isn't "AS REAL AS IT GETS" anymore.

 

[TheRassler]

UFC buying out PrideFC ruined the sport.

UFC selling for 4 billion dollars ruined the sport.

Conor did not ruin the sport.

 

[kibz]

As much I rag on him, objectively it not Conor’s fault. The UFC allowed this clown show for the $

 

[jsbx45]

BJ Penn getting the the living shit kicked out of him by GSP, to the point he quit despite infamously saying pre-fight "to the death Georges", is why Dana was so hesitant to ever do another champ vs champ fight as it made Penn and LW unmarketable when he had to go back to his division so obviously inferior. And Penn was a former WW champ and had previously given GSP a tough fight so it's not like they had the ready excuse that Penn just couldn't compete at WW, they knew he could.

It looked horrible, even if it was great for GSP's dominance and stardom to have that signature win to show just how far he'd come.

Conor successfully defeating Eddie made Dana willing to once again allow the "special" talents to attempt becoming dual champs precisely because Conor kicked the shit out of Eddie in a masterclass performance, proving that the "special" talents aren't as big of a risk to have what happened to Penn happen to them. And yes, Penn was also one of those special talents too. There is still a risk, but Conor showed it can be done.

Dana is still protecting the divisional interests by letting the seemingly once in a generation fighters try this rather than just every random champ who feels like it.



Actually, things have gotten far better than they used to as now pretty much every PPV requires a title fight. This upcoming Colby/Mas off the top of my head is the only recent one other than Conor's own PPVs against Dustin 2x and Cowboy weren't headlined by a title fight. We can all bitch and moan about some of the matchmaking, but by making PPVs (largely) require a title fight the champ is either always defending or we've at least got a made up interim with 1 or both of the top contenders.

Back in the day the UFC didn't force the PPVs to be headlined by title fights, which led to plenty of cards where they actually focused on just making the biggest fight they could, because they had to be worried about convincing people to buy a PPV without a title justifying it.

They've actually forced a standard of meritocracy nowadays.



This isn't true though. Fighter pay has gone up significantly, to the point where we don't even bat eyes at fighters having guaranteed million dollar + purses. That used to be specifically reserved only for likes of Brock, Ronda, and Conor types. And it used to be that only big names were paid in the hundreds of thousands, now pretty much everybody in the top 15 is. I mean, the Ghost of Andrei Arlovski is getting paid like $400k to fight unranked bums 3-4x/year lol.

People will cite Ngannou being paid 600k recently, but even Ngannou himself said that's explicitly because he turned down the contract the UFC tried to offer him for Stipe, which because he didn't take in his own words has lost him $7M since then between Stipe and Gane. The UFC did try to dramatically increase his pay, he's the one who chose to stay on his old contract.

Dana was correct to tell the randoms to fuck off for trying to get the $5M guaranteed purse Conor does, which doesn't even touch PPV points + Proper Twelve ads, because yeah that's still ridiculous. If you want that then absolutely you need to go out and sell like Conor does. Conor didn't make fighter pay worse at all, he proved that the UFC will indeed reward those who are worth it, and in new ways like his ad deal, and can also prove they are. People ignore that Conor was really the first to counter the UFC by coming to them with his own data on how many views his videos were getting, his social media followers, tickets sold/how fast, how his other ventures did, etc.

They've actually forced a standard of meritocracy nowadays

Are you fooking kidding me? <Lmaoo>Even Dana would laugh at this statement.

Fighter pay has gone up significantly, to the point where we don't even bat eyes at fighters having guaranteed million dollar + purses

Besides Conor, who exactly is making this kind of money?

 

[Kabzie]

No, the sport is better than ever

The double champ shit got outta hand for a minute, but it hasn't "ruined the sport"

Also, Dana never said Conor is getting the shot, all you guys freaking out about it should actually watch the interview

The sport is not better than ever. It's like the magic is gone. It's hard to describe, it's just too clinical now.

The vibe is much different to how it used to be. Memorable characters like Liddell, Couture, Rampage, GSP, Lesnar, Mir, Griffen, Guillard, Silva etc.. are so hard to find now. There is nobody in the current ranks that I want to root for, that I feel a connection to. The cards are also much worse on average than they used to be..

I'd say UFC 2006-2014 was the golden era.

 

[Jin Akutsu]

Conor has helped keep the sport relevant. He may have saved it at least during his legendary Aldo/Alvarez title runs.

 

[do a moniker]

Conor didn’t ruin the sport. Dana’s complete inability to capture the wave of popularity Conor caused is what did. Sure, he made a mockery of match ups and rankings when it came to Conor. The problem is that it leeched into the rest of the sport. And he’s more worried about finding the next conor than he is about properly building the sport to the casual fans. He relies on random big PPVs to keep the thing afloat

 

[Iroh]

If you think it's ruined why are you still watching?

 

[SuperAlly]

Mma is not a sport. It’s fighting for money.

Cool. It’s still a sport.

 

[SuperAlly]

Conor didn't ruin the sport, his die hard fans ruined sherdog.

100%

He hasn’t been relevant for more than half a decade and they’re still doing it

 

[SuperAlly]

Nah he changed the game and brought more eyes to mma. He's the reason why fighters are getting paid more currently with more attention than before. He partially responsible for the new deals and new owners purchasing UFC. All of this came after his popularity and mma got their first real mainstream cross over star. The purchase of UFC, the ESPN deal, etc was piggy backed off the hype generated by Conor's fights. MMA fighters can thank him for a lot of that but probably won't because a lot won't want to admit it, and a lot probably hate that it was Conor that did all that for the sport of mma. But just look at the numbers, and deals made before and after his UFC run. Look at the top PPVs, and look at how fighters fight purses started increasing after Conor's fight purses also increased. Fighters started demanding more money because they knew how much Conor was getting paid.

Conor helped make mma mainstream which benefits all mma fighters.

He wasn’t the first crossover star, so not sure what else you made up

 

[SuperAlly]

I mean the UFC is now partnered and on ESPN, not sure how that constitutes "ruining a sport". The doubt belt champ champ thing is pretty rare: DC, Nunes, Cejudo, and GSP all doing it successfully, and Izzy failing at it. Aside from Conor, none of the other double champs held up the divisions like he did. Nunes defended both belts. Cejudo vacated them, GSP vacated quickly and even DC vacated LHW when he won the HW belt. Nothing really terrible came of any of that.

Only because Nunes only had one division really

 

[Szwok]

No he exposed the sport for what it really was! It was always about money and he laid out the blueprint how to get it!

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

I think the main damage he did is now everyone wants Conor money and Conor power over the UFC.

 

[Tornikidou]

The sport peaked years ago. Sure the UFC still makes a lot of money due to the crazy tv contracts they have but no one else is really even a player. I've never been less interested in what the UFC is doing than I am now. I've been around since UFC 1 and when the sport was called no holds barred. I've seen it all.

But that's because you're and old head. Sport is growing more and more and more people is interested every day.

 

[do a moniker]

But that's because you're and old head. Sport is growing more and more and more people is interested every day.

This may be true. But the amount of points that have been left on the table by Danas terrible business tactics to properly build the sport means that it will never grow to the place it should have. He was given a gift in conor and quite frankly he did little to capitalize on the captive audience conor brought