I hope PFL and BKFC get some traction

[Th3 Gr38 1]

They don't need to directly challenge the UFC, they just need to nip at its heels a bit. Because if the UFC has a viable contender maybe they will stop suppressing fights and killing hype. Maybe they'll actually book big fights and promote them like they used to do.

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

Corporations get lazy and complacent without competition. We've seen this first-hand for the last 8 years.

 

[AfroBanana]

I feel like I forget Bellator, ONE and PFL exist in 2024 now more than ever / than prior. They seem to be less discussed, less advertised and a smaller footprint in the media.

I’m not going to include RIZIN because I go out of my way to keep up with them. It’s my favorite org. It seems like UFC and Jake Paul are the most amplified.

 

[Royce Greasy]

The problem is that you have people that will only pay attention to UFC period, they aren't mma fans they're fans of a brand for example it wasn't too long ago that Ngannou was on the UFC roster now that he's in PFL and gonna fighting Ferreira not many people care yet only a little while ago he was the man.

 

[SokoudjouFanboy]

The problem is that you have people that will only pay attention to UFC period, they aren't mma fans they're fans of a brand for example it wasn't too long ago that Ngannou was on the UFC roster now that he's in PFL and gonna fighting Ferreira not many people care yet only a little while ago he was the man.

What's crazy about this that they're so insulated they will complain about the UFC's product getting worse but not look anywhere else, instead just throwing their hands up in defeat. PFLlator has an amazing roster of fighters, 1/3rd the size but of similar quality IMO to the UFC, despite being a fraction of the size of UFC. If people actually started giving a shit about it that would only improve and suddenly there is a viable competitor. And if all you're worried about is the UFC it would also make them stop resting on their laurels which would lead to them improving their product.

Instead you get people hating on PFL because it calls it's cage the smart cage and they interview celebrities or something. That or some vague "it just feels off" sentiment that is literally just bias from viewing it through a lens of inferiority. I'm not saying there's nothing to hate on them for, there is, but people throw out the baby with the bathwater in ways they simply don't with the UFC. It's still top tier MMA.

At the end of the day you can't police fandom, though.

 

[skylolow]

These orgs need to give fans a reason to watch and it is as simple as that.

The UFC gives fans so much MMA media on a monthly basis fans rarely look else where for their MMA fix.

PFL's of the world have to have more than just a tournament gimmick. They need named stars that fans will seek out the product to tune in. Which means the PFL has to be very on top of any named fighters who's contracts are coming up in the UFC and make it well known to those fighters that we will make you a very good offer that is worth listening to. Then the PFL has to understand they have to advertise the hell out of the product to get market share. It all cost a lot of money but you'll never get anywhere with signing a name here and there and doing very little to promote the PFL afterwards. It was Bellator's main issue for years.

 

[Royce Greasy]

These orgs need to give fans a reason to watch and it is as simple as that.

The UFC gives fans so much MMA media on a monthly basis fans rarely look else where for their MMA fix.

PFL's of the world have to have more than just a tournament gimmick. They need named stars that fans will seek out the product to tune in. Which means the PFL has to be very on top of any named fighters who's contracts are coming up in the UFC and make it well known to those fighters that we will make you a very good offer that is worth listening to. Then the PFL has to understand they have to advertise the hell out of the product to get market share. It all cost a lot of money but you'll never get anywhere with signing a name here and there and doing very little to promote the PFL afterwards. It was Bellator's main issue for years.

No amount of promoting is gonna attract brand lovers of UFC to anything else, that's a very silly idea again the problem is that the new modern fans people post 2010 don't want a competitor.

Its a fact that the recent UFC events have been subpar example one of the recent PPV with Belal beating Leon that was such a mediocre event yet the fans thought that shit was great, they've been marketed to simple as that.

Than at 303 they have Pereira who gets by on mostly fighting other kickboxers as the main event how about have him face a wrestler oh right that would spoil the aura that he's unbeatable, for crying out loud they had a HW fight with Buday who is supposed to be a up and comer barely scrape by Andrei fukking Arlovski what a joke.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

What's crazy about this that they're so insulated they will complain about the UFC's product getting worse but not look anywhere else, instead just throwing their hands up in defeat. PFLlator has an amazing roster of fighters, 1/3rd the size but of similar quality IMO to the UFC, despite being a fraction of the size of UFC. If people actually started giving a shit about it that would only improve and suddenly there is a viable competitor. And if all you're worried about is the UFC it would also make them stop resting on their laurels which would lead to them improving their product.

Instead you get people hating on PFL because it calls it's cage the smart cage and they interview celebrities or something. That or some vague "it just feels off" sentiment that is literally just bias from viewing it through a lens of inferiority. I'm not saying there's nothing to hate on them for, there is, but people throw out the baby with the bathwater in ways they simply don't with the UFC. It's still top tier MMA.

At the end of the day you can't police fandom, though.

PFL is it's own worst enemy, it's barely watchable live.

 

[CC27]

Dont think people really understand what it would take for an org like that to actually nip at the UFC's heels as you say.

 

[TorontoTO]

PFL is it's own worst enemy, it's barely watchable live.

I'll give them credit, the pacing this year is way better. The only big issue is WHY DOES IT TAKE SO LONG TO ANNOUNCE THE DECISION SCORECARDS! It's always like 5 minutes of just nothing

 

[skylolow]

No amount of promoting is gonna attract brand lovers of UFC to anything else, that's a very silly idea again the problem is that the new modern fans people post 2010 don't want a competitor.

Its a fact that the recent UFC events have been subpar example one of the recent PPV with Belal beating Leon that was such a mediocre event yet the fans thought that shit was great, they've been marketed to simple as that.

Than at 303 they have Pereira who gets by on mostly fighting other kickboxers as the main event how about have him face a wrestler oh right that would spoil the aura that he's unbeatable, for crying out loud they had a HW fight with Buday who is supposed to be a up and comer barely scrape by Andrei fukking Arlovski what a joke.

The point is many of these orgs do zero in advertising department. They have events fans of MMA don't even know is taking place and that is big problem. Bellator is perfect example of an org that had a decent roster but nobody knew when anything was going on hardly and the ratings showed that. You can have a great product but if no one knows about it, good luck. I'm not saying any of these orgs ever have a chance to be even at the distance heels of the UFC. But it would be nice if they could be a real player in every free agent that comes available and be a sustainable org at that level for years. Eventually all these orgs have to be self sustainable and not rely on raising money to stay afloat and the one thing these orgs are pissed poor in doing is advertising/building their brand in the eyes of the consumers. The best decision the UFC ever made was to build the UFC brand over individual fighters. From the start they had spent more money on the UFC branding than fighter pay on many events. Fast forward today and they can put on a shit card and people tune in.

 

[Royce Greasy]

The point is many of these orgs do zero in advertising department. They have events fans of MMA don't even know is taking place and that is big problem. Bellator is perfect example of an org that had a decent roster but nobody knew when anything was going on hardly and the ratings showed that. You can have a great product but if no one knows about it, good luck. I'm not saying any of these orgs ever have a chance to be even at the distance heels of the UFC. But it would be nice if they could be a real player in every free agent that comes available and be a sustainable org at that level for years. Eventually all these orgs have to be self sustainable and not rely on raising money to stay afloat and the one thing these orgs are pissed poor in doing is advertising/building their brand in the eyes of the consumers. The best decision the UFC ever made was to build the UFC brand over individual fighters. From the start they had spent more money on the UFC branding than fighter pay on many events. Fast forward today and they can put on a shit card and people tune in.

Dude you're making my point in that the fans don't want a competitor you might but the vast majority don't, could PFL market their events better absolutely however no one would care either way they'll just say oh screw PFL that's the B leagues and Bellator events were easy to find they had a schedule that was easy to follow it was advertised on CBS but again people looked at Bellator like it was the B leagues and shunned it simple as that.

Are you really gonna tell me that the Ngannou vs Ferreira card isn't being marketed properly because its all over espn you can't miss it, people don't care about it even though its a bigger fight than anything UFC has coming up, no excuse to not have hype for that event it is gonna be stacked but no one will care has nothing to do with marketing.

 

[jko1355]

It's not that hard to see that the PFL has such little talent when a 5 ft 11 big welterweight or small MW is their best 205 lber.... what talent do they have? An old pit bull and Eblin.... its pretty bad

And I'm a big Olivier fan but he wasn't even a guy who could become ranked in the ufc and destroyed pfl and retired from boredom

 

[David R]

Both need better ownership. Till then I hope they do not get better traction. ONE Championship too. Hope they get the help they need.

Triller/BKFC's new owner is supposly good at finances so have hope.

BYB needs do better promoting their events, shocked they make money to buy other promotions.

PFL's need to focus on good fights not million dollar tourneys of no elbow bullsht.

ONE Championship no finance news yet so worried.

Rizin is good as is.

 

[TorontoTO]

Dude you're making my point in that the fans don't want a competitor you might but the vast majority don't, could PFL market their events better absolutely however no one would care either way they'll just say oh screw PFL that's the B leagues and Bellator events were easy to find they had a schedule that was easy to follow it was advertised on CBS but again people looked at Bellator like it was the B leagues and shunned it simple as that.

Are you really gonna tell me that the Ngannou vs Ferreira card isn't being marketed properly because its all over espn you can't miss it, people don't care about it even though its a bigger fight than anything UFC has coming up, no excuse to not have hype for that event it is gonna be stacked but no one will care has nothing to do with marketing.

Ngannou is arguably the #1 HW in the World, people should care about that. They won't tho since it's not UFC. Jones vs. Stipe will sell more and be more talked about even tho Jones's whole HW reign is beating guys that Ngannou already beat. Larissa vs. Cyborg is already a much bigger WMMA bout then anything UFC has put on and it's two girls with a fan friendly style with power. And add AJ McKee, it's already more stacked then vast majority of UFC PPVs

 

[TorontoTO]

Both need better ownership. Till then I hope they do not get better traction. ONE Championship too. Hope they get the help they need.

Triller/BKFC's new owner is supposly good at finances so have hope.

BYB needs do better promoting their events, shocked they make money to buy other promotions.

PFL's need to focus on good fights not million dollar tourneys of no elbow bullsht.

ONE Championship no finance news yet so worried.

Rizin is good as is.

ONE Championship will be fine, they hooked up with one of the most politically powerful families in Thailand and got the military junta on their side.

They won't be getting the 100s of millions they did before, but they have enough to put on consistent Muay Thai events in Thailand

 

[Royce Greasy]

Ngannou is arguably the #1 HW in the World, people should care about that. They won't tho since it's not UFC. Jones vs. Stipe will sell more and be more talked about even tho Jones's whole HW reign is beating guys that Ngannou already beat. Larissa vs. Cyborg is already a much bigger WMMA bout then anything UFC has put on and it's two girls with a fan friendly style with power. And add AJ McKee, it's already more stacked then vast majority of UFC PPVs

You're correct unfortunately most people are attracted to the brand these days rather than the competition the UFC marketing machine is good, I wish people would put that aside and just enjoy top level mma and things for what they are.

As for the event it isn't even fully completed yet but its already giving hints that its gonna be a hugely stacked card, if you're truly a fan you wouldn't want to miss this over something as trivial as brand loyalty ridiculous.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Ngannou is arguably the #1 HW in the World, people should care about that. They won't tho since it's not UFC. Jones vs. Stipe will sell more and be more talked about even tho Jones's whole HW reign is beating guys that Ngannou already beat. Larissa vs. Cyborg is already a much bigger WMMA bout then anything UFC has put on and it's two girls with a fan friendly style with power. And add AJ McKee, it's already more stacked then vast majority of UFC PPVs

I think a fair few people will watch that who wouldn't normally watch PFL so it's important they don't fuck it up

 

[STAY GOLD]

I personally don’t like BKFC or follow PFL or the UFC closely.

BKFC doesn’t do it for me as it comes across like mindless violence which isn’t my thing (even though I loved VT back in the day and still watch the occasional bareknuckle MMA event Masvidal puts on).

PFL just bores me for the most part and some of the cards have fighters I’m not really a fan of so I just skip those. That’s mainly why I skipped this past Friday’s card and watched the LUX card on Fight Pass instead.

I skip a lot of the UFC FN cards or put them on as background noise as I’m working on things. Same as the PFL, they usually feature fighters I’m not a fan of.

Not trying to come across like a hipster or anything, but I’d rather watch a LUX or ACA card than most PFL or UFC cards, but I’m not going to start threads on how fans should start watching those and not the UFC because I don’t see a reason for it. I just enjoy what I enjoy regardless of what everyone else thinks.

 

[CC27]

I think a fair few people will watch that who wouldn't normally watch PFL so it's important they don't fuck it up

This will be probably most interest in a PFL event from hardcore fans and media will cover it. I just dont think the buying public will pay for it.