First time since 2003 that the UFC decreased its schedule

[Hans Gercmiov]

It isn't as simple as that though because that would mean skipping entire cards. The problem is people caring about only 1 or 2 fights on a particular card, and not giving a shit about the rest. That fan can't skip the event because he cares about those 1-2 fights, but he's not interested in sitting through lower skilled fights featuring lesser known fighters as well as loads of ads. It's better when all the fights a fan cares about are compiled together for viewing over a few-hour time period.

Look at UFC 189 as an example. It had 5 great fights in a row, uninterrupted by ads. Every fight that happened added to the fight that came after it. Events like that wouldn't be possible if they spread those 5 main card fights across 5 different events.

Well, idk. I guess that just sucks for them. I like MMA, and they don't seem to be slowing down. And I'm all for it. If it's off-putting to a few casuals, so be it.

 

[HaulParris]

It baffles me that MMA fans prefer less MMA. I wish the shit was on everyday.

Yeah, but watching all that MMA and caring about the up-and-coming fighters would require attention and dedication. It's easier to just complain about everything, and when all else fails, fall back on "Pride neva die".

 

[Oedad]

And at this very moment in the worldwide forum bellator fans are crying about a lack of cards. You fucks would be absolutely lost with 12-16 cards a year.

Do you guys know how stupid you sound?

We need new stars! We need less cards!

But how do the new stars get fights when we only have 200 fights a year and 500 fighters on the roster?

.......

 

[johncola]

I notice that it's the number of Fight Pass events that have been reduced. Maybe this was their original intention; they wanted to hold a particularly high amount of Fight Pass events in 2014 to build a good initial subscriber base? Or, maybe Fight Pass wasn't as successful as intended, so they're already scaling down? 2015 will feature a similar number of PPV, Fox, and Fox Sports events as 2014.

Edit: Also, it isn't like they held fewer foreign events in 2015 than they did in 2014: 2015 will have 10 events in EMEA and Asia; 2014 had 11 events in EMEA and Asia. Of those 11, all of them were on Fight Pass. For 2015, of the 6 EMEA/Asia events held so far, only 3 were on Fight Pass; the Stockholm stadium show was on Fox, and the Glasgow and Manila events were on FS1.

There's an indicator that there will be fewer PPV events in 2016, with there only being 4 PPV's inbetween New Year (UFC 195) and Independence Day (UFC 200). That's the lowest amount of PPV's held in that time frame since before 2006. 196 will probably be Super Bowl, 199 will probably be Memorial Day, and 197 and 198 will probably be inbetween. They held 6 PPV's between New Year and Independence Day every year going back to 2008, except 2010 where they held 7 with the Abu Dhabi event. In 2007 they had 5 in that time period, and in 2006 they held 4 in that time period.

 

[Barge]

Sounds good, I prefer quality>quantity when it comes to the #1 mma org.