Is Championship Volatility Good Or Bad For The UFC?

[Concrete Whale]

WRT my highly influential Churn thread which many read and started their own copycat threads from but no one replied to
http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/the-churn-welcome-to-ufc-3-0.3303359/

http://www.lowkickmma.com/polls/is-championship-volatility-good-or-bad-for-the-ufc/

It’s Sunday morning, and the MMA world is collectively left to sit and chew on yet another shocking upset in a UFC title fight.

Today, it comes in the form of Tyron Woodley’s first-round knockout of Robbie Lawler in the main event of last night’s (Sat., July 30, 2016) UFC 201 from Philips Arena in Atlanta, and while we probably shouldn’t be all that surprised due to “T-Wood’s” power and Lawler’s propensity for getting hit, it’s simply the latest in a long line of touted champions who just can’t hold onto their belts for all that long in today’s evolving MMA landscape.

All in all, seven champions have been dethroned already in 2016 after Dominick Cruz, Miesha Tate, Stipe Miocic, Michael Bisping, Eddie Alvarez, Amanda Nunes, and now Woodley unseated relatively new champions in their own right. Gone are the days of dominant champions like Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre. Jon Jones is still here, technically, but his own actions have put a serious halt to his otherwise dominant career that is now on hold for an undetermined amount of time.

To put it in a stark kind of perspective, since Woodley last fought and beat Kelvin Gastelum by split decision at UFC 182, the only champ from that time to still have the belt is Demetrious Johnson after Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Rafael dos Anjos, Daniel Cormier, Fabricio Werdum, Holly Holm, Luke Rockhold, and Conor McGregor all won their respective titles in 2015. That’s 14 new champs in a year-and-a-half, folks, and that’s the kind of shakeup that can only be seen in mixed martial arts.

 

[Vulcan]

don't worry about it bro they are just keeping the belts warm while the legit dominant champions come up

 

[welcometohavoc]

In my opinion championship stability is always preferable, without it, it makes it seem as if anyone with a little toughness and training can be champion

 

[Hazuki Ryo]

Good : Bringing up new prospects and possibly more marketable fighters to the top.

Bad : When you have a dominant champion, it brings more big fights and more money in the cashier

Sooo undecided.

 

[JDragon]

Imo mainly bad. It diminishes the value of the title. Consider what the WW title meant during GSP's reign and compare to today. Or consider Anderson's reign and compare to today.

I feel it is increasingly like 'yeah he won the title but it means little because the next challenger will likely beat him anyway'.

 

[CassiusJacare]

Good for us fans. Exciting fights and belts continually changing hands means a really competitive era in almost every weight-class.

Bad for the UFC, and us to less extent, in regards to not having dominant 'superstars' or fighters with an 'aura of invincibility '(Andy, GSP, Fedor, Jones, Aldo etc...)

 

[Irishwhiskey119]

Doesn't matter if it's good or not because it's reality.

That's what makes this sport better than any other. You can be amazing at one thing but someone else is gonna beat you being amazing at something else.

Paper, Rock, Scissors unless someone becomes great at everything.

 

[The Accuser]

Good and bad.

It makes for more excitement pre fight because you know anything can happen, unlike during GSP's reign for example.

On the other hand it makes for less dominant champions and less "larger than life" figures around whom a whole weight class can be built. As somebody else said, the belt means a little bit less now.

So for me it's bittersweet, really.

 

[blazerkor]

I love it personally but if you are the UFC you want well established superstars and the only way to get those outside of striking gold with a great personality, is having a longstanding champ.

 

[Goatenstein]

The stars are all dying out. Soon all that exists is darkness. The UFC is a $4 billion dying company.

 

[BomberMan]

Mostly bad. It delegitimizes the sport to a certain degree, that's why IMO champs like GSP, JBJ and Anderson (during their respective title reigns obviously) are so impressive.

 

[EGarrett]

Good question. The constant changing of the title creates interest, but without one champion to connect to, we don't form any of the other emotional connections that we get (like the champion representing the gold standard, or being a likable or admirable person, where we have an emotional stake in him or her winning), so ultimately I think the volatility is a bad thing.

 

[BLACKWOLF]

It makes the dominant champs look better, never has DJ looked better

 

[SSgt Dickweed]

I think there should be at least two weight classes where there champions that dominate and have 5+ defenses. As long as you have that, the rest can be as volatile as they get. This would be good for business. But then again, non-draws like Mighty Mouse are simply non-draws.

 

[Substance Abuse]

In reality or on Sure Dawg?

Here, the posters don't appreciate legends, let alone champions. Here it's all irrelevant and just hate. So here, it doesn't really matter.

 

[IndyCovaHart]

as long as the fights stay exciting I could give two shits about hot potato belts.

 

[Clippy]

People get way too invested in lengthy winning streaks. And lately nobody can hold on to the fucking belt

 

[spinitch]

Shows Champs are defending vs evading. Champs get to much time to avoid defending. +6 months should have interim then +1 yr stripped

 

[qw3rty]

Good for us fans. Exciting fights and belts continually changing hands means a really competitive era in almost every weight-class.

Bad for the UFC, and us to less extent, in regards to not having dominant 'superstars' or fighters with an 'aura of invincibility '(Andy, GSP, Fedor, Jones, Aldo etc...)

I agree with that
Rogan can't talk about some current champion who is gonna fight is "the best p4p eva" when the belt is changing hands so much

 

[awymore]

That’s 14 new champs in a year-and-a-half, folks, and that’s the kind of shakeup that can only be seen in mixed martial arts.

Really? So you can't think of any other sport that had a new champ this year? Golf, tennis, NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, all of these had repeat champs?