Has fan backlash ever forced UFC to change?

[Söze Aldo]

I actually posted in that thread that the next step is to try to get people to boycott 1 PPV. Just one. If fans can drive down PPV buys and attendance in protest of the whole JJ thing, I promise you the situation would be dealt with within days.

Hitting the UFC the only place they care about (their precious money) will get some action.

Getting UFC fans to not pay for a PPV is a momentous task. I can't imagine anyone here not paying for a UFC ppv.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

We got Lawler vs Hendricks 3 canceled then blessed with Lawler vs MacDonald in its place.

They acted on the backlash of Lawler-Hendricks 3 being the first announcement, IIRC.

True. There was a really weird timeline there that helped that change along:


Lawler-Hendricks 2 happened in Dec 2014 with Rory promised to fight the winner. And then the UFC immediately changed it's mind after the fight.

Lawler, Hendricks to complete UFC trilogy

Newly-crowned UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler's first title defense will be against Johny Hendricks.

www.espn.com

1/1/15 article (though most of this was also said/worked on in Dec)
-UFC president Dana White confirmed the planned bout Thursday. It will be the third meeting between the two welterweights.
White had previously announced Rory MacDonald would fight the winner of the last month's title bout, but the promotion decided to change course after a second close fight between the two.

-Later that same day, Tarec Saffiedine pulls out of his Feb fight with Matt Brown

1/10/15
-It was announced that Rory, instead of his promised title shot, was set to fight Lombard in April.

1/13/15 (Three days later)
-NSAC learns of Lombard's 1/3/15 positive test (not made public until March) and the UFC later cancels this fight in February because "both fighters (fucking lol) were expected to fight new opponents."

(So at this point, the UFC's prior plan of:
Lawler-Hendricks title; MacDonald-Lombard eliminator; and Brown-Saffiedine ranked fight isn't happening because Tarec is injured and Brown needs a new opponent, and the UFC knows Rory won't be fighting Lombard in a stay busy fight, and moving 'promised title fight' Rory really backwards to fight Brown made no sense..)

-So on this same day, Brown is pulled from the Feb event and instead booked against Hendricks in March.

Later on 2/10/15, the UFC gives the announcement I mentioned previously about Rory-Hector not happening. Then around 2/18, Robbie-Rory was announced

 

[Joshua Judd]

I’m really starting to believe this is one of the greatest marketing ploys ever. People are talking about this fight a lot lol and it’s getting marketed as a death sentence for Jones, Aspinall would rightly be the favorite but no one is walking through Jon Jones.
I couldn’t imagine Dana getting played this hard by Jones, but then again power slap has proven he really is willing to go down with a stupid idea.

 

[HavokHarmon]

Rich Franklin/Dan Henderson 2 was thankfully cancelled by UFC due to fan backlash, I assume.

Didn’t know that one. Came to say Lawler/Hendricks 3. They were geared up to do the rubber match after the razor thin decision left them 1-1 but ended up moving on after a lackluster fan response. Johnny was looking to get back to the belt ending Browns streak but then looked awful against Wonderboy and fell off a cliff entirely from there.

 

[Söze Aldo]

I’m really starting to believe this is one of the greatest marketing ploys ever. People are talking about this fight a lot lol and it’s getting marketed as a death sentence for Jones, Aspinall would rightly be the favorite but no one is walking through Jon Jones.
I couldn’t imagine Dana getting played this hard by Jones, but then again power slap has proven he really is willing to go down with a stupid idea.

Doubt it's intentional by the UFC. They've already wasted a year of Tom's prime and if he were to lose to Jon after all of this, the UFCs best/only hope to save the sorry state of the HW division is going to be tossed aside by fans.

 

[JoeRowe]

Shevchenko vs some random 125er was set for ufc 230 at MSG, later replaced by DC/Lewis and Shevy was moved to 231 vs JJ.

Can't remember her name I just remember she had dreads & was caught on camera in a lesbo domestic disbute.

 

[gentel]

I actually posted in that thread that the next step is to try to get people to boycott 1 PPV. Just one. If fans can drive down PPV buys and attendance in protest of the whole JJ thing, I promise you the situation would be dealt with within days.

Hitting the UFC the only place they care about (their precious money) will get some action.

I've been boycotting ever since they ran a promo reel glazing a certain politician on the jumbotron in the middle of a PPV

Before that I was tryna do the right thing and pay my way at the sports bar as long as the card was decent, now I'm mad for a bunch of reasons that belong in The War Room

Plus the biggest motivator to watch at the bar would be watching with friends, but there haven't been much of any cards I can ask friends to see. I think Topuria vs Holloway was the last S-tier card, though Islam-Tsarukyan would've been one too if it hadn't been canceled. I can only reasonably ask a casual friend to see an A-tier or S-tier card

 

[sonhow]

Rich Franklin/Dan Henderson 2 was thankfully cancelled by UFC due to fan backlash, I assume.

First thing that came to mind though Belfort being just signed played a very convinient role in that one.

 

[muaythaibeast]

Getting UFC fans to not pay for a PPV is a momentous task. I can't imagine anyone here not paying for a UFC ppv.

I thought most of us didn't pay for any of them?

 

[Dionysian]

Yeah it happens sometimes.

1. Right after the fight they floated/sandboxed the idea publicly Khabib should be stripped of the belt when he beat Conor (basically to give it back to Conor). Overwhelming fan and media backlash made them drop the idea.

2. Overwhelming fan and media backlash against Khamzat vs Nate (specifically that Nate became a martyr who was seen as being sacrificed by the UFC on his way out the company) made them tell a "UFC doctor" to tell Khamzat to rehydrate so they could blame him for canceling the fight. Magically the "worst brawl ever" happened to justify a replacement fight (Khamzat vs Holland) but don't look for any footage of it... there were several cell phones recording arguing right before the "brawl" happened but somehow an EMP shut off all the cell phones when the brawl started. And despite 20+ pro fighters supposedly involved in the brawl there were a grand total of 0 injuries, 0 marks on anyone's face, etc. Also, don't worry, literally everyone on the card still competed, just with different bouts. And to this day dumbass fans think it was all about Khamzat eating a burrito or whatever lol.

3. A few headliners were cancelled after fans shit on them enough. I don't recall the fights off the top of my head but it has happened.

Fans need to realize that their opinion does matter. So when PR accounts tell you on here to shutup and continue to enjoy the shit sandwhich they are feeding you... no... you don't have to accept joke cards, you don't have to accept corruption and fixed fights, and you don't have to settle for the status quo. Fan (and media) sentiment is the only thing that gets them to change course. Otherwise they will continue to force-feed you swill.

 

[ThaiSexPills]

Question is: How many of those 100.000 signatures are PPV-buyers in the first place?

Seems that PPV-buyers are more casual, low-information viewers.

The UFC doesn't care about hardcores because its the casuals who are the needle-movers. The hardcores they get "for free".

I don’t think it’s the casuals paying $80 to watch guys they never heard of fight tbh. It’s dudes like most of us who care about WMMA, manlets and nobodies. I mean I bought a UFC hotdog brander for crying outloud.

 

[Jackonfire]

...

-It is only speculated that the UFC may have had some hand convincing/pressuring NSAC to heavily reduce the Diaz suspension, but given the details, it was always likely to be reduced. 5 years to 18 months is quite a jump, but the fine was only reduced from 165k to 100k

Pretty sure that was Cher

 

[KungFuCow]

Getting UFC fans to not pay for a PPV is a momentous task. I can't imagine anyone here not paying for a UFC ppv.

Well, here, I get that

But somewhere, people do pay for these PPVs and they pay to attend them to. I cant imagine it would be that hard to get the word out. Look at how that petition caught on fire.

 

[RockyLockridge]

no it doesn't And it shouldn't.


In order to conduct a grand orchestra, you must first turn your back to the audience.



The UFC needs to behave in a manner that reflects they know how to run a fight promotion better than the average fan. Can they do that in reality? different question. But they should operate like their fans are a bunch of dumb fucks who don't know jack shit. Movies, videogames and literature should operate this way as well.

 

[Th3Sav4ge]

i think when ufc cut tim elliot way back fan support brought him back. Dude put on fun performances against dodson and joe b then the ufc cut him. mean while dodson and joe were killing everybody back then

 

[haj02]

Dana White is so damn stubborn that you'd be better off asking the opposite of what you want to get him to do it.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

The UFC needs to behave in a manor

I think the UFC can afford a mansion at this point to behave in

 

[RockyLockridge]

I think the UFC can afford a mansion at this point to behave in

homonyms are the bane of my existence

 

[Pequeño Corey]

They're find all the crying on sherdog about Jones hilarious, so they're letting it carry on a bit longer.

 

[KungFuCow]

Question is: How many of those 100.000 signatures are PPV-buyers in the first place?

Seems that PPV-buyers are more casual, low-information viewers.

The UFC doesn't care about hardcores because its the casuals who are the needle-movers. The hardcores they get "for free".

Good question. But its worth a try. Worked for Bud Light.