Is the UFC slowly dying, in a lull, or neither?

[JonesBones]

Yeah, and I don't see them coming back this time. They pulled their last card, with WMMA. Before, they used TUF for a shot in the arm. Then Lesnar. Now Rousey. But that is barely letting them hold on. They played all their cards. Ferttitas will be looking to sell soon. Mark my words.

 

[FatMoiMoi]

It's definitely growing and getting bigger. It's coming to New Zealand of all places this year for fucks sake!

 

[MuayThaiBX]

In the US, interest has regressed to where it will probably be for many, many years to come. The novelty and "cool factor" wore off. It retained it's hard core fan base but many casuals don't give a shit about the UFC like they did from 2005-2010 or 11. Back then everybody was talking about the fights at the water cooler, etc. Nobody asks me about the UFC now and when I mention that it's a big fight night to many of the same people that were interested before - I get shrugs or an uninterested "Is there?"

On the contrary, in other countries - where the UFC is starting to hold events for the first time - it is growing and in its prime as far as fan interest goes.

 

[Kingfarthur]

Yep

Each passing year since it's fallen a little bit, at least in North America.

UFC will never get back to what it was in 2009.

Not true, its flat lined at 4 million ppv buys for the last 3 years. The UFC peaked largely because of Lesnar, and when he left he took his fans with him.

 

[mma2013]

i still enjoy the ufc after all these years. my enthusiasm for ufc fights haven't diminished as new fighters emerged and old favorites retired or left for other fighting promotions.

i'll always enjoy a good ufc fight regardless of who is fighting and i believe that's why i still enjoy the ufc to this day. my interest in the ufc isn't attached to any specific fighter or person. if uncle dana retires tomorrow and anderson silva decides to quit, i would still be interested in watching ufc fights. it makes no difference to me.

it's no different with any sport, you'll get an underwhelming fight or game, it happens and it's the reality of any sporting event. however, i'm a lifelong ufc fan and i don't ever see this changing.

 

[spid3yo]

It's always the same gripes with everyone

-Not enough "celebrity"
-I want to watch all of it but it costs too much, but then it's watered down anyways
-Claims of Dana White making you so upset you don't want to watch the sport


The truth....there is more MMA than ever before, and it's burning out fans who come from a time when you could in fact keep up with every event. The quality of fights across the board has gone up, global expansion has gone up, reverting back to smaller roster because fans cry about having too many choices isn't the way to go.

 

[adamsilva]

MMA is one of my passions in life. That being said, I find myself unenthused with many of the match ups being sold as headliners. I hope we see some better talent development and some changes to the sport to encourage more enthusiasm from fans.

 

[VictorCosta]

From what I've read from guys in the UK on sherdog, MMA has fallen over there too. Same as Australia.

Here in Brazil too less and less ppl talking about mma and UFC.:icon_sad:

 

[jakeharris74]

They expanded and there are too many events and not enough stars.

To build stars, they need to build them off of other stars. You put a card with a bunch of semi unknowns fighting each other, even if they are skilled, a lot of people won't be tuning in because they don't know who these guys are, especially at 50+ bucks.

People watch MMA for different reasons, those that watch for familiar faces have less reason to watch these days as there are a crap load of fighters and events and the familiar faces are spread too thin among too many events. This in turn gets them less in tune with the next generation of fighters and they become more and more out of touch like a guy that misses a few episodes of a tv series and then just starts blowing it off completely.

Anyways, even if fans are getting bored, maybe it is still popular/profitable enough to keep up the current pace. If that is the case, I don't think the UFC gives a shit if we are getting jaded, and will only pay attention if that lull becomes too great.

 

[Kingfarthur]

How do you post polls with threads?

BTW the UFC isn't dying.

 

[Bubson Bubba]

Yeah, and I don't see them coming back this time. They pulled their last card, with WMMA. Before, they used TUF for a shot in the arm. Then Lesnar. Now Rousey. But that is barely letting them hold on. They played all their cards. Ferttitas will be looking to sell soon. Mark my words.

Holy Crap! That escalated quickly. I assume you are just joking. But just in case you are not, you are so wrong.

 

[KakutouPunk]

It's in a lull but that can definitely change. Right now, there's 3 problems.

1) The fight judges
2) The rules need tweaking
3) Lack of interesting stories/personalities

 

[610man]

UFC is very stale and most americans have got bored with it. its peak was 2008 and 2009. the ppv numbers prove this. it had its explosion and now its stale

that's just simply incorrect. the pay per view numbers may indicate a higher buy rate likely because of the star caliber. obviously they can't stack every pay-per view anymore. in order for them to continue to evolve global expansion is a necessity. it's stale to people like you because you're probably not a hardcore mma fan who enjoys fights because quality guys with good records. complaining because fighters like chuck liddell and GSP aren't around anymore and thus cause less money brought in is a weak argument. it takes time to build new stars.

 

[Bubson Bubba]

How do you post polls with threads?

BTW the UFC isn't dying.

I suppose it requires special privileges. We , the commoners, don't have it.

 

[woozle727]

"i stopped buying the ppv's and now i don't recognize any of the fighters!"

cause and effect. amazing how that works.

We have a winner

 

[Kingfarthur]

that's just simply incorrect. the pay per view numbers may indicate a higher buy rate likely because of the star caliber. obviously they can't stack every pay-per view anymore. in order for them to continue to evolve global expansion is a necessity. it's stale to people like you because you're probably not a hardcore mma fan who enjoys fights because quality guys with good records. complaining because fighters like chuck liddell and GSP aren't around anymore and thus cause less money brought in is a weak argument. it takes time to build new stars.

This. Watch Barao, Pettis, Lombard, Woodley, Bones, Gus, Cain, or any other of the elite fighters of today, go back and watch Tito and Randy, and then come back to me and tell me the UFC is stale.

 

[pclanadmin2]

UFC^

or this

 

[ancientcurrent]

yeah remember when they used to allow grappling - them were the days

 

[LordBarnaby**]

Neither, it was never big to begin with. More cards=less people buying every card since it's watered down. The numbers probably remain exactly the same.

 

[sp00k]

But seriously, I think it's just in a lull. It may take a while but some fighter will come along and ignite more interest. I would guess that a sport like tennis has seen some peaks and valleys in interest over the years depending on if they have interesting dominant players.