I wish the UFC went back to less fighters, less cards, more competition

[Cat Biscuits]

I get what you're saying, because these cards are nothing but watered down.

I typically only get interested in 3-4 fights on a card. Feels like 80% of the card is people i've never heard about before, like the UFC is running an amateur show.

And I really can't get behind WMMA, especially when they have 1-2 women fights on the main card. Aside from Nunes, Weili, and Rose I have no desire to see any other WMMA fighters.

UFC used to have stars and stacked cards. Now it's just bad.

 

[Post 2 Decision]

Absolutely not. There are less than 200 people in my company that see daily and I cant always remember who is who.

You'd have to be a savant about names and faces to remember 1100 fighters even if you'd seen them before. When they have the #87 LW vs the #92 LW none of us know who the hell they are.

Lol that is silly

If you watch other sports, you know that it's not hard to remember a lot of names and faces.

In MMA, you definitely recognize a lot of faces even if you don't remember their name right away.

 

[Domitian]

266, 267, and 268 are stacked I don't want to see anything changed. If you don't want to watch Smith vs Spann that's fine don't watch but these ppv's are strong.

 

[Tito Tapped]

Who the fuck are Dominic Waters, Alberto Mina, Cody Pfister, and Martin Day?

Of all the cards you could have cherry picked you really baffled with these choices. Bunch of mid-level fights all around.

 

[Post 2 Decision]

I'd agree if the product equaled the volume . Lol , it doesn't. Its funny how u call the guy a casual because of it. Msybe " maybe" someone needs some self reflection.

I also dont think its 1128. I don't know where that number comes from but it wasnt that long ago White was laboring on about rostering 700 fighters .

I didn't call anyone a casual specifically, just people who complain about 'name value'

 

[Franklin U.]

I didn't call anyone a casual specifically, just people who complain about 'name value'

That's how I read it.... sorry.

 

[MT5]

Speaking as what might be called an upper tier casual fan: One of the main reasons I moved to watching MMA (and UFC specifically) as my main sports viewing from boxing was weekly reliably decent* fights on a major viewing platform. Every Saturday my wife comes home from work, I come home from life's errands and we say "what are the UFC fights tonight"? We don't have to search stuff out or any of that, it's Saturday night UFC on ESPN+. If it's a fight night I get 10-15 fights, if it's a PPV night I get at least 5 or 6 prelims, more if I decide to buy it which I do about 50% of the time. This may mean I'm a poser, but I'm fine with that. I don't know how many like me there are but the UFC has won a reliable viewer with their current setup. That's value as a business.

*Decent meaning usually reasonably evenly matched, not endless mismatched setups like boxing. I don't care if I know their names and whole histories. I don't care if I'm watching the elite of the elite. I just want to see a good scrap where I don't know who's gonna win.

 

[ka pow]

MMA is the only thing I watch on TV, so more fights are better. I just wish they get rid of WMMA.

 

[scoobster]

i remember waiting for 3 months between ppv, i hated the wait but the card was that good i would stay up until 3am (i am in the uk) to watch it live, now i just check who wins and download the fight i wannna see..................lucky if its 2 per card

 

[bambammccoy]

Im going to show you a few free UFC fight nights from a few years ago.

UFC fight night 79:

Ben Henderson vs. Jorge Masvidal
Dong Hyun Kim vs. Dominic Waters
Sexyama vs. Alberto Mina

UFC Fight Night 80

Thug Rose Vs. Paige Vanzant
Jim Miller vs. Michael Chiesa
Sage Northcutt vs. Cody Pfister
Thiago Santos vs. Martin Day.

These were FREE cards.

My point being the roster is bloated, there are too many cards and the talent is being watered down.

They need to really cut this down to 12 PPV events and 12 fight nights a year. 24 High quality cards with the best fighters in the world fighting each other.

Chiesa, Rose, Thiago, Jorge weren't yet the fighters/stars that they are today.

Lots of cards look better in hindsight because lots of fighters go on to make names for themselves or already established fighters go on cement big legacies.

 

[BEATDOWNS]

The UFC roster currently has a whopping 1128 fighters on it.

https://www.ufc.com/athletes/all

It’s been bloated to level never seen before.

A lot of these guys should be fighting in regional shows or in other promotions. The UFC is supposed to be the major leagues of MMA.

Im going to show you a few free UFC fight nights from a few years ago.

UFC fight night 79:

Ben Henderson vs. Jorge Masvidal
Dong Hyun Kim vs. Dominic Waters
Sexyama vs. Alberto Mina

UFC Fight Night 80

Thug Rose Vs. Paige Vanzant
Jim Miller vs. Michael Chiesa
Sage Northcutt vs. Cody Pfister
Thiago Santos vs. Martin Day.

These were FREE cards.

My point being the roster is bloated, there are too many cards and the talent is being watered down.

They need to really cut this down to 12 PPV events and 12 fight nights a year. 24 High quality cards with the best fighters in the world fighting each other.

 

[DizzyYeahYeah]

More money for who? Certainly not fighters

For the UFC and their partnerships. If there are more shows, then the sponsors get seen more and the networks get their agreed upon amount of shows.

 

[Kinku]

Maybe your burn out? I was burn out several years ago watching mma and took a break. As in I did not follow as closely to anything related to mma.

What brought me back was the contender series and new fights UFC has, it's like watching junior league in hockey and see who going to be the next big thing.

 

[kyunghee]

I could see this trend being a problem but so far I don't think we can complain about the quality of the competition and the entertainment value of the fights

 

[Kryptt]

Na keep bloating - tired of folks dodging. Lose yer shine and set the next fight up. I don't cage for modern gamesmanship. It's crap. Plus I get to see bodies shuffle round various Orgs. more oft. That is the best part imo...

 

[Super Grover]

Yeah, that's an odd argument. The NFL has almost 1700 players, and the average fan (call them a "casual" if you will) probably can't name more than a dozen - a few quarterbacks, a few receivers, and a few running backs. I bet most people can't name all 53 players on their own home team, and might not even be able to name the starting 22.

The avg NFL fan could definitely name more than a dozen NFL players. Don't be ridiculous.

 

[Jarvan]

Easy now…

I do skip them and costs me nothing whether I watch or not

My question is related to the thread topic - and perhaps a reflection on my sports viewing habits. I used to sit through full NFL Sundays almost every week - but can’t do that anymore it seems

Back on topic - having fewer fights per card COULD be a way to improve quality of cards

Care to answer the question though - do you enjoy 12-15 fights per card? Would you care if there were only 9 or 10?

I don't mind 15 fights, and I don't mind 10

If it's a fight I'm not interested in, I ignore it. If it's a fight I wanna see, I tune in.

If it doesn't fit my schedule, tough luck, the world moves on. I'll watch the replay.

Again, my question is why is this so difficult?

 

[You Will Vote For Dreyga]

Serious question - does anyone really enjoy having 12+ fights on a card? They could easily do 9 or 10 fights and trim some fat off the roster

EDIT- the next fight night has 15 scraps listed on the card including 2 match-ups with an “unknown fighter”

I like watching fights. The more the merrier. I wish cards were longer.

If you don't want to watch all the fights just skip the Prelims and just watch the main card. I don't understand the issue

 

[el feo]

I don't mind 15 fights, and I don't mind 10

If it's a fight I'm not interested in, I ignore it. If it's a fight I wanna see, I tune in.

If it doesn't fit my schedule, tough luck, the world moves on. I'll watch the replay.

Again, my question is why is this so difficult?

It’s not difficult … and I don’t recall saying it was.

As I answered earlier I skip the fights I don’t care to watch. Just like I do with other sports, TV, movies, whatever.

 

[el feo]

I like watching fights. The more the merrier. I wish cards were longer.

If you don't want to watch all the fights just skip the Prelims and just watch the main card. I don't understand the issue

There is no issue

For me personally the cards are too long - so yeah I’ll skip quite a few fights/cards as a result

For those that want the 12+ fights per card - good on ya. Clearly there’s quite a number of fans that do - and that’s what I was curious about with my initial post