I haven't watched a full card in more than a year

[Bob Sapp]

Me too. Havent watched for a few years now tho. I just watch the important or exciting fights.

 

[Substance Abuse]

Good question. I mean let's just take Izzy's rise to the top as an example. That was a damn exciting thing to watch. You had the combination of skill, charisma with one exciting fight being made after another. That's a damn good story-line itself. Doesn't need much more. Now, contrary to that I'm seeing way more of the big names complaining about not getting paid which leads to them not fighting as often/trying to leave to look for other opportunities to get paid. Several divisions are stuck in the mud ( Volk Max 3 incoming, Moreno Fig 3 soon? Colby Usman 2, Kamaru Jorge 2 etc LHW is a division with almost no new great talent. Like who is excited about old man Glover as a champion?.)
Like damn maybe I'm just jaded but it also feels like the overall quality of the average signed fighter has dropped?

There's a lot more fighters. With a 600+ person roster, the average fighter may be worse than when there were 125 fighters years ago in theory, but in reality, fighters have never been more talented and well rounded.

The UFC has countless videos that bring attention to the quality of their fighters with YouTube, ESPN+ and Fight Pass with UFC Destined, Countdowns, the Run it Back series and the Thrill and the Agony, with some of then detailing their past, the rise and fall and bringing attention to them. You just need to look for them. They're there.

You're also complaining about fighter pay and don't really clarify what you mean by story lines, so in essence, your initial complaints ring a bit hollow to me.

As someone succinctly stated earlier: you get what you put into it.

There's never been more content whether it be about backstory or attention on fighters regardless of success or perceived skill level. So yes, you are jaded and your complaints don't seemingly have merit outside of fighter pay issues, but in all honesty, the UFC routinely gets the tough fights made. I don't see your point.

 

[PurpleStorm]

I'm good, hope you are too
Bored after work and just reading some threads

Haha, same here. I like drama as long as I'm not in the middle of it.

 

[Luthien]

Haha, same here. I like drama as long as I'm not in the middle of it.

TRUEEEE <45>
Waiting for this food to finish cooking is enough drama for me
(Hungry)

 

[MeatWagon06]

Your loss, dude. Last year had so many amazing events.

 

[13Seconds]

Good question. I mean let's just take Izzy's rise to the top as an example. That was a damn exciting thing to watch. You had the combination of skill, charisma with one exciting fight being made after another. That's a damn good story-line itself. Doesn't need much more. Now, contrary to that I'm seeing way more of the big names complaining about not getting paid which leads to them not fighting as often/trying to leave to look for other opportunities to get paid. Several divisions are stuck in the mud ( Volk Max 3 incoming, Moreno Fig 3 soon? Colby Usman 2, Kamaru Jorge 2 etc LHW is a division with almost no new great talent. Like who is excited about old man Glover as a champion?.)
Like damn maybe I'm just jaded but it also feels like the overall quality of the average signed fighter has dropped?

You mentioned all the negatives. There's more positives depending on your mindset. It's like your asking every card to be UFC 100 with them storylines....

Take this next PPV for example, if we're just gonna focus on "storylines":

Izzy/Rob 2: two of the greatest MW's of their generation. That's the story line.
Brunson/Cannonier: title eliminator, Blonde Brunson redemption arc, Cannonier a possible fresh challenger to the belt. This fight doesn't get you excited?
Lewis/Tuivasa two of the goofiest yet the more dangerous strikers in the division throwing down.

You mentioned the LHW division being stale, yet forget to mention the monster divisions that are BW (great "storyline" there with Aljo/Yan btw), FW, LW and WW. All these divisions have tons of talent coming up. I guess you don’t know who they are unless they already are up, but that's kinda your problem.

 

[SeattleFightFan]

Yes Pro Wrestling and MMA are promoted very much the same. The difference is I DO NOT NEED THAT to be interested in a fight. I dont need my hand held,I dont need to be babied. I would watch Ngannou vs Gane without all that shit. You wont hear me complaining about "lack of storylines" and ill sure shake my head at the CASUALS who do.

Well put.

Of course fighters have figured out that drama sells. There was a time (in the 00s) when I truly thought that UFC would explode once people learned about it, because fighting is so awesome. It took me a decade to finally admit that for most fans it’s the spectacle and drama that keep ‘em coming back after they learned about it, not the awesomeness of fighting. I was wrong. Oh so wrong.

But it’s not my job to get TS to enjoy fights that aren’t sold like this. If he only wants to watch those fights, good on him.

 

[Substance Abuse]

You mentioned all the negatives. There's more positives depending on your mindset. It's like your asking every card to be UFC 100 with them storylines....

Take this next PPV for example, if we're just gonna focus on "storylines":

Izzy/Rob 2: two of the greatest MW's of their generation. That's the story line.
Brunson/Cannonier: title eliminator, Blonde Brunson redemption arc, Cannonier a possible fresh challenger to the belt. This fight doesn't get you excited?
Lewis/Tuivasa two of the goofiest yet the more dangerous strikers in the division throwing down.

You mentioned the LHW division being stale, yet forget to mention the monster divisions that are BW (great "storyline" there with Aljo/Yan btw), FW, LW and WW. All these divisions have tons of talent coming up. I guess you don’t know who they are unless they already are up, but that's kinda your problem.

What about Aldo's career resurgence after being considered past it at Featherweight, but at Bantamweight and over three top guys?!

There's so many storylines in MMA. You just need to look for them rather than be spoon fed them, and even then the UFC did the Run it Back video with Aldo before the Font fight which was one of my favorite Aldo videos of all time.

 

[Vegesus44]

Blood Diamond gonna fuck this guys world up.

 

[TheMaster]

There aren't any interesting story-lines anymore. No exciting up and coming prospects (the few there are, are getting unranked opponents one after another. Dana prefers to lowball the big names so the fights everybody wants to see don't get made or take years to get made when both parties are past their prime. Constant rematches for the belt. It's getting more and more boring. Wake me up when the sport gets exciting again

Don't think I have in more than a decade.
I watch the fights I'm interested in.

Only used to watch whole cards when MMA was a new thing and it was a spectacle.

 

[tehMoose]

I hope you didn't miss these epic fights, bro

Gane vs Rozenstruik
Yoel vs Israel
Strickland vs Hermansson
Santos vs Walker
Ngannou vs Gane
Brunson vs Holland
Lewis vs Ngannou
Rakic vs Santos
Maximov vs Soriano
Blaydes vs Rozenstruik

 

[MGS]

I do find myself being more selective with the fights I want to watch and the one I'll keep watching. Now I keep it in the background while I'm cooking/gaming and I'll tune in when the good ones are up. I agree some cards are lackluster

 

[Sweater of AV]

If it weren't for @KazDibiase I would be lost these days.

 

[JustBleed69]

There aren't any interesting story-lines anymore. No exciting up and coming prospects (the few there are, are getting unranked opponents one after another. Dana prefers to lowball the big names so the fights everybody wants to see don't get made or take years to get made when both parties are past their prime. Constant rematches for the belt. It's getting more and more boring. Wake me up when the sport gets exciting again

I'm still waiting for the " ) "

Also MMA and UFC are the best they've ever been.
You're really missing out

 

[BFoe]

Well put.

Of course fighters have figured out that drama sells. There was a time (in the 00s) when I truly thought that UFC would explode once people learned about it, because fighting is so awesome. It took me a decade to finally admit that for most fans it’s the spectacle and drama that keep ‘em coming back after they learned about it, not the awesomeness of fighting. I was wrong. Oh so wrong.

But it’s not my job to get TS to enjoy fights that aren’t sold like this. If he only wants to watch those fights, good on him.

I don’t think that’s the point though—or at least it’s not the experience I’m having right now. It isn’t that anyone “needs” storylines to enjoy fights. Unlike TS, I still watch full cards (well, I gave the fuck up on that Strickland-Hermansson fight the other day and turned off the TV, but usually I do). But a bad storyline, when repeated by the UFC ad nauseum, hurts my anticipation for a fight or a card. But truth be told, something like Colby-Masvidal is a fight I don’t care about regardless of story. But the cringe storyline makes a meh fight kind of unlikable to me. And while I don’t watch cards for just one fight, you want your main event—especially a PPV main event— to be highly anticipated. It sucks to get to the main event and it’s a fight you don’t give a shit about.

 

[MGS]

I hope you didn't miss these epic fights, bro

Gane vs Rozenstruik
Yoel vs Israel
Strickland vs Hermansson
Santos vs Walker
Ngannou vs Gane
Brunson vs Holland
Lewis vs Ngannou
Rakic vs Santos
Maximov vs Soriano
Blaydes vs Rozenstruik

Put every Arlovski fights of the last 2 years in there.

 

[HHJ]

Dude, if everyone stopped making the threads you complain about the forum would be dead. <45>
The matchups have never been better? Ridiculous. Masvidal takes a short-notice TS, gets whooped, and somehow the fact that it was short notice is used as justification for him to get a rematch (lol!) of the TS he never earned in the first place. Ferguson gets an interim title, wins it, then has it stripped for no particular reason other than it suits the UFC to promote some other fight. Covington gets a TS without ever beating any top WW in prime whatsoever, then after losing gets one measly win against another shell in Woodley, and it’s right back into the TS for another boring rematch. Figgy-Moreno was booked 3 goddamn times in a row—and let’s not speak to soon, it could be 4. The UFC created such a silly money fight culture, and has devalued their titles so badly with needless interims, that fighters like Poirier would rather fight “money fights” than title fights. And of course against Conor, if you beat him then there has to be another rematch…
The matchmaking has gotten downright lazy.
That doesn’t mean we don’t get entertaining fights sometimes (Figgy-Moreno’s series were all good fights, just kind of needless). We even have great cards sometimes. But miss me with “the matchups have never been better.” That’s just straight up not true.

No goats no complaints. The only threads should be about Jiri amd Fedor tbh ngl imho

 

[DaRivv20]

UFCdying.jpg


I don’t know about y’all but I’m having a good time with the cards recently.


I mean I wasn’t there for the “golden age” of the UFC(2008-2013 apparently this is considered the golden age.) but things seem pretty good still.

 

[SeattleFightFan]

I don’t think that’s the point though—or at least it’s not the experience I’m having right now. It isn’t that anyone “needs” storylines to enjoy fights. Unlike TS, I still watch full cards (well, I gave the fuck up on that Strickland-Hermansson fight the other day and turned off the TV, but usually I do). But a bad storyline, when repeated by the UFC ad nauseum, hurts my anticipation for a fight or a card. But truth be told, something like Colby-Masvidal is a fight I don’t care about regardless of story. But the cringe storyline makes a meh fight kind of unlikable to me. And while I don’t watch cards for just one fight, you want your main event—especially a PPV main event— to be highly anticipated. It sucks to get to the main event and it’s a fight you don’t give a shit about.

Well sure. You’re just repeating the “I wish cards weren’t so watered down” trope. And hey, who doesn’t?

 

[BFoe]

Well sure. You’re just repeating the “I wish cards weren’t so watered down” trope. And hey, who doesn’t?

That is actually not what I’m saying at all. I’m literally talking about the matchmaking at the tops of cards, not complaining that there’s too many cards and talent is spread thin.
But it’s alright, forget it. From what I’m gathering in this thread, those posters who aren’t struggling with the sport feeling stale like some of us are, don’t seem to understand the points that are being made. Which I guess is understandable since they can’t relate.