My experience with not-even-casuals validates that the UFC is incredibly short-sighted

[ocfightfan]

I guess it depends on what you care about and how you understand the nature of the sport and the biggest promoter. Sporting excellence and legacy are cool, but who benefits and in what way. MMA is a niche and individual sport. Do top fighters even really benefit from it? If they can't promote themselves on social media then I don't think that much. Is there time to be a legendary badass in the gym and get yourself over on social media at the same time?

We are not talking about big team sports with large regional followings who can benefit from a superstar difference maker, and generally have a more positive relationship with them. The biggest promotion in the world has almost completely commodified the sport by flooding the zone with bland and mediocre cards and they have completely suppressed the fighters with all kinds of passive aggressive tactics.

You can't even really call them a sport or a fight promotion company anymore. They are a streaming content company. They don't even have to rely on superstars and celebrity fighters, much less talented champions at this point. They get a minimum of revenue no matter how an individual show does because they have content contracts with big streaming services. And they have little tricks like the BMF belt to juice their marketing. The fanbase is mostly transient and has been programmed to follow the brand and it's top spokesman, Dana White.

A sad state of affairs but I don't see it changing anytime soon. It looks like they even managed to sidestep the dangerous (to them) class action lawsuit and Muhammad Ali Act. Maybe when Dana dies in a few years of a stroke and the less capable Hunter Campbell takes over the fortress will start to crumble.

 

[blunttruth]

The machine that it is now, It's too big to fail.
UFC has completely come through on the promise to be the premier fighting organization.

So it doesn’t really need to evolve, it can afford to self sustain with or without having meaningful reigns and iconic periods that stand out even 2 months afterwards.
Their success has allowed them to run a profitable sports/spectacle promotion in perpetuity.

The need for bold creative ideas isn't being met

I think the UFC White House event will bring in a whole new and varied batch of potential UFC fans, from powerful world political and business leaders, to non sports fans of all political spectrums. Quite the definition of a bold and creative idea.