Genuinely what is stopping some of you from stop watching the sport?

[Killer Kadoogan]

I don't see how ANYONE can objectively say that the sport is in a good era. Look at the top 10 in every division and count the number of fighters on huge losing streaks... this would NEVER happen a decade ago but the roster is so thin that even a list of the "elite" is padded out.

It's no surprise what happened... fighter pay was never that great but when the UFC decided to prevent fighters from obtaining their own sponsors? Pffft it was all downhill from there.

What incentive is there to be a professional fighter when you have to pay all of your own expenses, train in a variety of different sports just to be competitive at 1, take a lot of physical damage with no income if you don't compete, and even the very elite are making a fraction of what other professional athletes make? lol

At least wannabe football players go to college and get free education. Hell, even they're getting paid now before going "pro". Even if their dream doesn't happen, they are getting something for their efforts and have some sort of fallback plan whereas in MMA, the only thing you can do with the skills you've developed is become a coach and teach other wannabe fighters the same "useless" skills which basically means the sport is a pyramid scheme lol.

It was a fad. The company is still making money off of the gullible marks who sign up to get their faces smashed in and the gullible marks who will tune in to watch despite the actual quality of the "competition" being embarrassingly low but it will not last long term. Even veterans like Minotauro and Wanderlei aren't even 50 yet so we haven't even begun to see the CTE effects that will no doubt lead to the banning of the sport eventually. It ws a fun ride but for many who were here in the early days, it has long since ended IMHO

yup, no personal fight shorts is crazy for MMA. no sponsors is crazy for MMA. corporate blue, green, red fight shorts every fucking broadcast. they dont follow a ranking system anymore for matchups. it makes no sense.

 

[MEAN357]

I think a lot of people on this forum would benefit from stopping watching this sport altogether. Burnout happens, and this is not a great era of UFC. If you don’t feel like watching any of the cards, don’t know who’s who anymore, and just wait for the results to get posted, you’re burnt out. Take a break or stop watching because unfortunately the product is not getting any better.

I already did lol doesnt feel like enough worth watching let alone worth paying for.

I'll tune in for Topuria vs Islam, everyone is ducking eachother or putting on shitty fights and there are zero prospects on the horizon.

MMA has reached one of boxings many lulls

 

[goOb]

The UFC should have just stuck with Fight Pass and made that more robust. They wouldn’t have had to water down their product with tons of fighters and charge $85 a card. They should have increased the price of it per year and simply included the PPVs in that price. They could have had exclusive rights to it all, continued to consume feeder orgs and provide their content just like they do today. Soccer kicks, knees to the head of a grounded opponent etc… would have never had to have been banned to appease a prime time viewing audience. The list goes on…

 

[TriangleMonkey]

Im not being forced to watch it

I started watching it in the mid-90’s as a teenager until I joined *a gym and fell off for the mext 10+ years

Started casually again around TUF 1 as I was training MMA also at the time and followed that season closely

Kinda been watching ever since but haven’t been forced to pay for god knows how long

Hell, I may even get Paramount once it kicks off there we’ll see how the transition goes


*edit

 

[Hymen Crusher]

Did you say neck and neck with soccer. Basketball is about 50x more popular around the world and soccer i think is 100. Shit I think f1 is more popular then mma

 

[Hymen Crusher]

I honestly still love watching and will when its some right wing mouthpiece again. Politics fucked uo basketball for a couple years for me and now mma is doing the same thing. Different president Different party just as fucking stupid

 

[Strychnine]

Money.

That's what's stopping me. I'm not eating baloney sandwiches every night, but I'm not paying $120 a year for ESPN+ and $80 on top of that for a PPV.

 

[TryggeTryggvar]

Hard to stop watching when its free

 

[L0ki]

Getting older and more peaceful.

I've hung out with the fighters, seen their families and it's rough because the longer you watch, you'll get to a crossroads where your fav is KTFO.

 

[Benoitthegr8]

Seriously guys…

The main issue is how you can train UFC, without watching the UFC…?

 

[Slapjit]

Haanji plenty more dangal showing to consume no need always watching UFC

Few years back maybe I watch every fight. Next year maybe missing some cards. Now only exciting main card I see prelim is just passing glance

Still when I do watch I enjoy fully gif give to me what I miss

Today mostly now I follow slap dangal, also carJJ, bare-fisted, thappad kabbadi et cetera

Waheguru give variety in sport for reason haanji I pray those in thread overcome this addiction and find shanti

 

[Rapa]

Lol you are just not fight fan u are casual

 

[bng]

Im watching few fights, only which I'm interested in. That keeps me going nowadays I guess.
I genuinely cant understand how people can watch full cards, where lots of C/B-tier fighters just do friendly sparring, cant fight or atleast entertain. The only card I watched everything was UFC 300.

For example, upcoming UFC events, for me look like: fights I would most certainly watch; fights I would like to watch, but Im fine if I would know only the result; "dont care"-fights

UFC FN Imavov - Boralha:
Imavov - Borralho
BDSM - Ruffy
Rest of the fights

UFC FN Lopes - Silva:
Lopes - Silva
Rest of the fights

UFC FN Ulberg - Reyes:
Ulberg - Reyes
Rest of the fights

UFC 320:
UncleAEW - Poatan
Me-rub - Sandhugger
Prochazka - Squaredbush
Rest of the fights

UFC FN Oliviera - Fiziev:
Oliviera - Fiziev
Rest of the fights

So in span of 2 months, I would watch 4 fights. I would look at the result of Ulberg - Reyes. Most likely would watch Lopes-Silva. If people say that Imavov - Borralho and BDSM - Ruffy are good fights I would consider watching them as well.

 

[GrantB13]

There's less to get excited about than there used to be for me but I still enjoy it enough to watch. Although I won't force myself to sit through the truly awful free cards full of guys I don't know unless in feeling in the mood to get to know them bur rarely come away with support for a new fighter.

 

[Gamer007]

I'll always be a fan and I definitely watch more than most, but it's undeniable the quality has dropped.

It's absolutely not worth wasting your time watching most cards, I'd wager 95% of fans can't name 10 WMMA fighters under the age of 30. A big part of what kept the UFC interesting was the successful TUF shows, the stars from Pride, and the abundance of homegrown stars like Couture, BJ Penn, Chuck, etc.

The UFC doesn't have that edge anymore, the majority of fans don't care about the auxiliary content anymore, and they shouldn't it sucks. That's the biggest difference today versus the past. Back in the day I could watch a WEC or Strikeforce card and it'd be more interesting and exciting than 90% of the content we get today.


The UFC needs to add roster restrictions; we don't need anything more than 35 fighters per division. List those 35 ranked fighters on the UFC site and promote the hell out of them. If you can't make the cut you're put into a developmental organization owned by the UFC. The best fighters in that developmental organization get a chance in the UFC to crack into the rankings. The UFC needs more structure and a "Win or go home" aspect to some of the fights. The way things are now, most fights just aren't even close to compelling. Anytime we get a young star the UFC waste copious years giving them cans and cab drivers to fight, guys who shouldn't even be on the roster. If the young talent could be placed in a developmental org, the young guys could have storylines that develop there, and you wouldn't have dudes who are barely regional getting onto UFC main cards because the UFC wants to push BO Nickal.


The UFC failed at promotion, auxiliary viewership has dropped massively, the only thing left is to impart some structure if you want to keep the viewers engaged. A fan should never look at a MAIN CARD and see dudes he's never heard of, fight night or not.

 

[Caio]

Nah. Fighters are so complete nowadays, I'm loving it. People really don't want to see Aspinall, Topuria, JDM, Jean Silva, etc because of DDP x Chimaev? lol

This is the new breed. I can't wait to see the next generation after this one.

 

[Ibm]

Poor matchups most of the itme, some are very worth it but then there are some poor cards.

 

[cheesus]

Too many champions, too many events, lack of super fight & too many fighters on the roster. Doesn't help that there's no interesting second tier promotions, there are things the UFC doesn't do that I use to enjoy...open weight tournaments, freakshows & random athletes competing in MMA, there's barely even prospect hype jobs in the UFC anymore. I might buy a couple of PPV's a year when I'm home and hungover, otherwise I've got other shit to do.

 

[Thepaintbucket]

Back in the day I used to go to my local bar, Buffalo wild wings or friends house to watch UFC events. Those days are over because none of my friends want to watch it anymore. They have legitimately said MMA is boring as hell now and quite frankly I don't blame them. I don't know what it is or if I'm getting older but it's not the same anymore.

The enthusiasm for the sport has really died down and I'll say the same about boxing. Meanwhile they are still big into NBA and college football

 

[Danespina]

Was anyone in the last card's PBP bored? Walker vs. Zhang?
I felt like everyone in that thread was having a good time, which is the best reason to keep watching.