Is Dana/UFC too overconfident?

MetaIIica

MetaIIica

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Dana and the UFC are aware of their monopoly on MMA, so they do things such as underpay fighters, special privileges for certain people, and now they are putting on mediocre cards constantly while overcharging fans.

I believe the ufc and Dana are too overconfident in their product and are sabotaging the company
 
How so? Time and time again they have come out on top against their competition. Pride was the only org to have ever given them a real run for their money, since then it's been a pretty damn smooth sailing for them.
 
"Putting out mediocre cards constantly", dude what? The PPV's are generally good, sometimes they will dip into great or mediocre but overall PPV's are quite consistent. I'll agree that fight nights are more mediocre than they are not, but something has to give in order to keep PPV's consistent. Ya can't have both great fight nights and stacked PPV's with how the current ESPN deal is set up. It's one or the other really. Yeah... I don't see anything wrong with special privileges if it's earned. Why should someone like Alex or Izzy for example be treated the same as the someone on prelims when they have been carrying the company on their backs for the past 4 years? Regarding fighting pay I won't even touch on that cause it's been done to death already..
 
The Sphere looks to be a big ass blunder

What some of us never saw coming was when ticket prices would outgrow us middle class/lower middle class hardcore fans. When the UFC 300s is attended MOSTLY by rich people that are in Vegas and are like "oh cool UFC is happening.. "

Look, me and my buddy went to 102 (Nog vs Couture) and decentish seats were well under $200 together. I doubt something like that is ever possible. If a PPV comes near me I'm sure decentish seats are just south of $1000.
.And if you're going to a signature card, Vegas, MSG etc.. Yeah you could be spending well over a grand for one ticket

After the pandemic and to ensure "profit" ufc say "UP THE TICKET PRICES!!!"
 
Nope because casual fans don't care about those things and hardcore boomers will watch it not matter how much they cry about Dana and the UFC

And i don't care about mediocre cards, it's impossible to have cards like 308 all the time
 
They are making more money than ever. It has become highly casual-friendly, which is how money is made.

When the UFC makes decisions, they aren't like," Gee, I really hope this is going to be OK with Sherdoggers."
 
There's a reason they're so confident: there's no real competition. And without competition, there's no incentive to provide a great product.

The Gracies were smart enough to break into the American market first, and Dana was lucky enough to have rich friends willing to invest. Right place, right time.

Obviously, hard work was put into this thing. But timing and luck were crucial. Now those 3 letters--UFC--have become synonymous with the sport. It would take something magical to unseat them, even if their product isn't the best.
 
Yes, the UFC needs to think outside the box by coming up with a season format where fighters get assigned points based on the round in which they finish their opponent.
 
Fighters had one chance to make a difference with the anti-trust lawsuit but they bent to the first offer so they could line their own pockets.
 
MetaIIica said:
Dana and the UFC are aware of their monopoly on MMA, so they do things such as underpay fighters, special privileges for certain people, and now they are putting on mediocre cards constantly while overcharging fans.

I believe the ufc and Dana are too overconfident in their product and are sabotaging the company
Click to expand...
I feel the same except I don't believe they care, the UFC gets paid the same by ESPN no matter how bad the product gets.
 
Last edited:
CroCopsLHK said:
The Sphere looks to be a big ass blunder

What some of us never saw coming was when ticket prices would outgrow us middle class/lower middle class hardcore fans. When the UFC 300s is attended MOSTLY by rich people that are in Vegas and are like "oh cool UFC is happening.. "

Look, me and my buddy went to 102 (Nog vs Couture) and decentish seats were well under $200 together. I doubt something like that is ever possible. If a PPV comes near me I'm sure decentish seats are just south of $1000.
.And if you're going to a signature card, Vegas, MSG etc.. Yeah you could be spending well over a grand for one ticket

After the pandemic and to ensure "profit" ufc say "UP THE TICKET PRICES!!!"
Click to expand...
That hurts in a few ways.

First, the big PPV crowds are probably like half celebrities/influencers/random rich people/etc and their hangers on, which hurts the energy of the event because they're just there to be there, not because they actually know the sport. (Compare Vegas big PPV crowds to overseas crowds or even smaller US markets - not even close.) High crowd energy simply makes better events.

Second, the sport is so expensive that it's not a common thing for the average person to be into even if they wanted to be. That stunts the growth potential.

Third, there are so many cards and they are so long and go so late that you'd nearly have to be a neckbeard shut-in MMAGURU type with no other hobbies to actually have time to truly follow it all, which is what most of the hardcore fans are these days and is not a good look.

I actually saw a kid and his dad in the crowd at one of the recent Fight Nights and it struck me how rare that is. That's how lifelong fans are made (i.e. reinvesting in the sport). That's a large part of what boxing was in its absolute heyday. When it stopped being easily accessible to average people is when it became mostly fringe and that is where MMA is today also.
 
I've lost interest in the sport and think things have gotten really stale lately, but revenue seems to keep going up and up year after year. So they're clearly doing something right.
 
MMA is super niche. The amount of money and time required to make it economically viable on a global scale isn't easy. You are going to need a big time investor to offload a huge percent of the risk towards and they may never see a return. Pride had the Yakuza/TV deal. Bellator had Viacom. EliteXC had Showtime.

Truth be told the only competition the UFC MIGHT have in the future is Saudi Arabia if Turki Alalshikh decides to spend billions into MMA or redirect more funds towards PFL. And even then it might take a while for it to catch on. The UFC branding is very strong. That's why they can get away with mediocre events
 
MetaIIica said:
Dana and the UFC are aware of their monopoly on MMA, so they do things such as underpay fighters, special privileges for certain people, and now they are putting on mediocre cards constantly while overcharging fans.

I believe the ufc and Dana are too overconfident in their product and are sabotaging the company
Click to expand...
The UFC doesn't decide how much PPV are. ESPN/Disney does. This isn't 2014 anymore. The UFC gets guaranteed money from ESPN and ESPN sells ppv and are left making or losing money. The UFC gets a guaranteed negotiated price for every show.
 
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