Fight orders sorted?

tornado362

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Every now and then I see fans and fighters complaining about the order of fights on events. This week has highlighted it with the injustice of Joaquin Buckley and Stephen Thompson being on the prelims.

I thought maybe there could be a systematic way of sorting out which fight goes where. My idea was to use popularity based off of social media numbers of the combined two fighters in each fight. It's a fair way of viewing fan popularity, and can't really cause reason for dispute.

Here's what UFC 307 would look like if this were the criteria used (I've personally used instagram followers):

Main card:
- Alex Pereira vs. Khalil Rountree Jr. (5,213,000 followers)
- Jose Aldo vs. Mario Bautista (2,915,100 followers)
- Stephen Thompson vs. Joaquin Buckley (1,241,000 followers)
- Roman Dolidze vs. Kevin Holland (820,000 followers)
- Raquel Pennington vs. Julianna Pena (678,000 followers)

Prelims:
- Carla Esparza vs. Tecia Pennington (431,000 followers)
- Kayla Harrison vs. Ketlen Vieira (398,000 followers)
- Tim Means vs. Court McGee (124,500 followers)
- Ihor Potieira vs. Cesar Almeida (121,800 followers)

Early prelims:
- Marina Rodriguez vs. Iasmin Lucindo (102,494 followers)
- Ovince St. Preux vs. Ryan Spann (81,800 followers)
- Alexander Hernandez vs. Austin Hubbard (59,800 followers)


What do you guys think of this bout order, as opposed to the official one?

I personally think it's a much better flowing card, with deserved spots for each fight. I know there's the issue of a title fight opening the main card, but I kinda like that? Breaks up the potential for two 5-rounders back-to-back (although we know Alex ain't going the full 5). Sort of highlights the women's title fight, like when they opened the main card with Gaethje/chandler.

Let me know your opinions, may do this for most cards, if not just the PPVs
 
Every now and then I see fans and fighters complaining about the order of fights on events. This week has highlighted it with the injustice of Joaquin Buckley and Stephen Thompson being on the prelims.

I thought maybe there could be a systematic way of sorting out which fight goes where. My idea was to use popularity based off of social media numbers of the combined two fighters in each fight. It's a fair way of viewing fan popularity, and can't really cause reason for dispute.

Here's what UFC 307 would look like if this were the criteria used (I've personally used instagram followers):

Main card:
- Alex Pereira vs. Khalil Rountree Jr. (5,213,000 followers)
- Jose Aldo vs. Mario Bautista (2,915,100 followers)
- Stephen Thompson vs. Joaquin Buckley (1,241,000 followers)
- Roman Dolidze vs. Kevin Holland (820,000 followers)
- Raquel Pennington vs. Julianna Pena (678,000 followers)

Prelims:
- Carla Esparza vs. Tecia Pennington (431,000 followers)
- Kayla Harrison vs. Ketlen Vieira (398,000 followers)
- Tim Means vs. Court McGee (124,500 followers)
- Ihor Potieira vs. Cesar Almeida (121,800 followers)

Early prelims:
- Marina Rodriguez vs. Iasmin Lucindo (102,494 followers)
- Ovince St. Preux vs. Ryan Spann (81,800 followers)
- Alexander Hernandez vs. Austin Hubbard (59,800 followers)


What do you guys think of this bout order, as opposed to the official one?

I personally think it's a much better flowing card, with deserved spots for each fight. I know there's the issue of a title fight opening the main card, but I kinda like that? Breaks up the potential for two 5-rounders back-to-back (although we know Alex ain't going the full 5). Sort of highlights the women's title fight, like when they opened the main card with Gaethje/chandler.

Let me know your opinions, may do this for most cards, if not just the PPVs


Retarded idea is retarded when you can buy followers and the vast majority of insta Etc would never attend an event.
 
I mean, yeah, this one looks decent, but I can think of cases where it may not. Maybe keep pulling the data and make more like you said. It's interesting.

Also another issue is the 3 WMMA fights in a row, all featuring fighters that could go the distance. Then again I can see two of them having finishes.
 
Retarded idea is retarded when you can buy followers and the vast majority of insta Etc would never attend an event.
You raise a valid point and definitely something I didn't consider.

Just thought it would be interesting to see how different cards would look :)
 
Seems to work well for this case. It's easy to tell when accounts have mostly fake followers as the engagement rate is very small. They could use the engagement rate as an additional parameter (number of posts by fans.)
 
"My idea was to use popularity based off of social media num-"

Seriously what the fuck is wrong with you people? No, just no.


p.s. The current card order does suck, but having three back-to-back-to-back WMMA fights, which are also "ranked" above several fights I actually want to see, is pointlessly lame. And doing it because "social media follower numbers" say so is. . . . just kill me now.
 
"My idea was to use popularity based off of social media num-"

Seriously what the fuck is wrong with you people? No, just no.


p.s. The current card order does suck, but having three back-to-back-to-back WMMA fights, which are also "ranked" above several fights I actually want to see, is pointlessly lame. And doing it because "social media follower numbers" say so is. . . . just kill me now.
I mean, that's just how the world is now? Social media rules.

Fighters make a name for themselves via social media engagement and advertising their fights etc.

I mean, if you think about it, Sherdog is technically a form of social media aha
 
In some cases it works out, but in too many cases it does not. We just saw Ailin Perez has more followers than Moicano for example, but he is clearly the bigger name fighter in relevance to the ufc.
 
I think you have to keep the title fights at the top, but after that I think this would be logically applicable.
 
Every now and then I see fans and fighters complaining about the order of fights on events. This week has highlighted it with the injustice of Joaquin Buckley and Stephen Thompson being on the prelims.

I thought maybe there could be a systematic way of sorting out which fight goes where. My idea was to use popularity based off of social media numbers of the combined two fighters in each fight. It's a fair way of viewing fan popularity, and can't really cause reason for dispute.

Here's what UFC 307 would look like if this were the criteria used (I've personally used instagram followers):

Main card:
- Alex Pereira vs. Khalil Rountree Jr. (5,213,000 followers)
- Jose Aldo vs. Mario Bautista (2,915,100 followers)
- Stephen Thompson vs. Joaquin Buckley (1,241,000 followers)
- Roman Dolidze vs. Kevin Holland (820,000 followers)
- Raquel Pennington vs. Julianna Pena (678,000 followers)

Prelims:
- Carla Esparza vs. Tecia Pennington (431,000 followers)
- Kayla Harrison vs. Ketlen Vieira (398,000 followers)
- Tim Means vs. Court McGee (124,500 followers)
- Ihor Potieira vs. Cesar Almeida (121,800 followers)

Early prelims:
- Marina Rodriguez vs. Iasmin Lucindo (102,494 followers)
- Ovince St. Preux vs. Ryan Spann (81,800 followers)
- Alexander Hernandez vs. Austin Hubbard (59,800 followers)


What do you guys think of this bout order, as opposed to the official one?

I personally think it's a much better flowing card, with deserved spots for each fight. I know there's the issue of a title fight opening the main card, but I kinda like that? Breaks up the potential for two 5-rounders back-to-back (although we know Alex ain't going the full 5). Sort of highlights the women's title fight, like when they opened the main card with Gaethje/chandler.

Let me know your opinions, may do this for most cards, if not just the PPVs

Get that instagram shit outta here
 
Not again!!! Being the "feature prelim" even when it says prelim, isnt exactly "a prelim" in the same way, its a fight millions will watch, if they are not co-main or 3rd fight down, then its the best spot on the card.

Pennington vs Pena should be the Main Event for the Early Prelims
This is obviously a digg at it, well deserved btw, but its not such a bad idea, making it the Feature prelim, a title fight to get the last few to buy the card, thing is...most likely sucks, killing the vibe, same as if they would had put Grasso vs Valentina as feature prelim instead, almost every PPV has a banger for a feature prelim.
 
Good Card for Ladies Fight Night at the Apex.

4 solid WMMA fights to build on.

Use it to empower more Soccer Moms to hit the gym and join the UFC.
 
Every now and then I see fans and fighters complaining about the order of fights on events. This week has highlighted it with the injustice of Joaquin Buckley and Stephen Thompson being on the prelims.

I thought maybe there could be a systematic way of sorting out which fight goes where. My idea was to use popularity based off of social media numbers of the combined two fighters in each fight. It's a fair way of viewing fan popularity, and can't really cause reason for dispute.

Here's what UFC 307 would look like if this were the criteria used (I've personally used instagram followers):

Main card:
- Alex Pereira vs. Khalil Rountree Jr. (5,213,000 followers)
- Jose Aldo vs. Mario Bautista (2,915,100 followers)
- Stephen Thompson vs. Joaquin Buckley (1,241,000 followers)
- Roman Dolidze vs. Kevin Holland (820,000 followers)
- Raquel Pennington vs. Julianna Pena (678,000 followers)

Prelims:
- Carla Esparza vs. Tecia Pennington (431,000 followers)
- Kayla Harrison vs. Ketlen Vieira (398,000 followers)
- Tim Means vs. Court McGee (124,500 followers)
- Ihor Potieira vs. Cesar Almeida (121,800 followers)

Early prelims:
- Marina Rodriguez vs. Iasmin Lucindo (102,494 followers)
- Ovince St. Preux vs. Ryan Spann (81,800 followers)
- Alexander Hernandez vs. Austin Hubbard (59,800 followers)


What do you guys think of this bout order, as opposed to the official one?

I personally think it's a much better flowing card, with deserved spots for each fight. I know there's the issue of a title fight opening the main card, but I kinda like that? Breaks up the potential for two 5-rounders back-to-back (although we know Alex ain't going the full 5). Sort of highlights the women's title fight, like when they opened the main card with Gaethje/chandler.

Let me know your opinions, may do this for most cards, if not just the PPVs

You've got an interesting angle on things -- may be best if it's part of a formula.
 
You raise a valid point and definitely something I didn't consider.

Just thought it would be interesting to see how different cards would look :)


Insta is a superficial shithole two circles of hell above reddit. Primarily used by 16-22 year olds who follow whoever the algorithm tells them to, it's certainly not a true reflection of popularity especially in a sport like MMA with so many variables.
 
I mean, that's just how the world is now? Social media rules.

Fighters make a name for themselves via social media engagement and advertising their fights etc.

I mean, if you think about it, Sherdog is technically a form of social media aha

??? I'm not saying social media is evil or has no benefits. Not sure where that's coming from. I AM saying that a fighter is judged above all else by their ability to fight/ranking, not social media followers. Making a fight card a popularity contest reflects poorly on the sport aspect of mma, which is what most people like about it. Despite the try-hards, most people (still) tune in for the fights, not the circus.
 
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