How is the UFC planning to get their overseas fans to pay for flights and tickets if they give them only horrible cards? I understand to create interest in the sport from former non-fans and casuals in new markets it doesn't matter who fights. But for those who already follow the UFC and watch the big events a card with a main event that would normally not even be the co main but at best the third fight on an American card (Gus-Manuwa, Munoz-Mousasi, Conor-Miller, Maia-Shields etc) and then a lot of guys who aren't even ranked is notz really hot shit. They say they wanna build regional stars and that's all good. But how can Gunnar Nelson or Luke Barnatt become regional stars if they never fight ranked opponents? The point is, as a fan you know they aren't getting close to a title shot, their fight are meaningless rankingwise. And yes, ofc fans pay because of the meaning of fights for the rankings.
I dont actually think it matters, if I get my first ever chance to go see the UFC in my country, Im gonna go no matter whos fighting. Anything can happen when you put 2 guys in the cage you never know when the next Bigfoot/Hunt happens, and by the same token you can put 2 superstars in there and get a boring fight.
A lot of these shows are just testing the waters. How can they justify bringing a PPV over there, if they're unsure how well it will sell? Give them a few regional cards, get the interest up and it works for everyone. These countries aren't like America where you have an event somewhere near you every few months. That's why they attract a crowd.
I went to UFC 99,(back in 2009) in Cologne,Germany, and they had a great card: Marcus Davis vs. Dan Hardy Spencer Fisher vs. Caol Uno Mike Swick vs. Ben Saunders Mirko Filipović vs. Mostapha Al-turk Cain Velasquez vs. Cheick Kongo Rich Franklin vs. Wanderlei Silva The card that they are doing next week in Berlin isn't that interesting to me, ao im gonna skip this one.
I think they wanna bank the best profit with the least effort, and I hope is all in a prospect to rack up deals with TV channels and bring UFC everywhere on free TV channels worldwide. Good fighters or bad fighters, they know the attendance will be decent to good even with expensive tickets. Good fighters or bad fighters, they know nobody outside NA buy 50$ PPVs. Frankly, these days I prefer to watch M-1, KSW, CWFC or ONE instead of UFC FNs, and for the card in Dublin I would rather attend to Glory 18 in London despite the card is still not revealed.
What international fight cards are PPV? The UFC has TV deals in most countries so that are not PPV events internationally. I heard that they do black out around the event location to encourage ticket sales. I thought the PPV was primarily a business model in the USA and online.
