Rousey becoming unmarketable?

[bambammccoy]

http://mmajunkie.com/2015/03/alone-...lsewhere-for-challenge-worthy-of-ticket-price

There's this article on MMAJunkie that made a point I haven't seen addressed much at all at this point, though the more time goes on the more relevant the issue may become.

We all know UFC has been hyping Ronda to be the real Jesus Christ and what not, trying to sell WMMA, trying to make a superstar out of Ronda. But will her constant less than 1 minute fights cause this hype job to backfire?

If everybody is fairly certain Ronda will win because she's "the greatest fighter on the planet" and considering she has so many less than half of a round fights, why is $59.99 per PPV still worth roughly 30 seconds? Especially when her fights are so short the video highlights released the next day are a lot of the time her entire fight. It makes me ask myself, why bother?

Thoughts?


p.s. when i say hype or hype job im not implying thats all Ronda is. I just can't classify the things said about her as anything but hype.

 

[BigMuffler]

People will still be interested to see who turns out to be 'the one' since every great champion falls someday, well pretty much.

I think it's Rin Nakai... right guys?

 

[Ashenthorn]

Greatness is never unmarketable. There is a huge disconnect between how hardcore MMA fans are reacting to Rousey's fights and how regular fans are.

 

[Hank30]

Same reason I watch Jones fight. To see him lose. I like ronda but her armbaring someone is no longer as exciting as the moment she cant.

Every time Jones fights i am sure its going to be boring. But i keep watching hoping someone hits him so hard he can never fight again.

 

[SnitchInsider]

Because people will pay to witness history. Because people like the danger of finding out if she'll lose. Because she's fun to watch, even if just for a few seconds.

P.S. Rousey was sufficiently hyped before she ever joined the UFC. People, in fact, were complaining on Sherdog about how every story was about Rousey before she ever joined the UFC. That's why the UFC wanted her, because there was something already built there and they could push further.

The reality is casual fans don't buy every PPV. They don't care about every event. They don't even necessarily know when people they like are fighting. People know when Rousey is fighting, however, because she penetrates the mainstream media. Casual fans don't care (for the most part) if a fight is short provided it's finished in an exciting way. It's novel to them. It's really just hardcore fans that complain about these sort of things.

 

[Hank30]

Greatness is never unmarketable. There is a huge disconnect between how hardcore MMA fans are reacting to Rousey's fights and how regular fans are.

100% truth

Today in the office for the first time since the last Ronda fight i hear people talking about the UFC. I have never once over heard anyone talking about any MMA in any form unless it is about Ronda.

"Hardcore" fans are the only ones who dont get it... and lets face it... they aint really that hardcore to begin with.

 

[LongTermLurker]

Casuals on ESPN are loving Ronda. I imagine she will never be popular with hardcore fans but do well with casuals.

 

[TheComputerGuy]

People said the same thing about Tyson, but every time he fought everyone even non boxing fans wanted to watch it. No one wanted to miss the fight where someone actually beat him.

No one in sports was more fun to watch then Tyson.

 

[BigMuffler]

"Hardcore" fans are the only ones who dont get it... and lets face it... they aint really that hardcore to begin with.

People who feel a need to declare themselves hardcore or diehard fans are in fact, with rare exception, elitist whiners. It is known.

 

[OldWrestler]

That place is so busy, nobody goes there anymore. Yogi Berra.

 

[capnlarge]

I find dominance exciting. I believe casuals do as well.

 

[MilesAbove]

Theyre just playing devil's advocate to drum up a discussion. Leviathan champions brong in casual fans. Ali, Tyson, Liddell, Fedor, GSP, Silva.

When there isnt a dominant champ, Casual fans cant keep up. Ask a casual fan who the WW champion is right now. Most will say GSP or the guy who beaf GSP... Hendricks.

 

[TheComputerGuy]

Casuals on ESPN are loving Ronda. I imagine she will never be popular with hardcore fans but do well with casuals.

Sherdoggers are not hardcore fans. 90% don't even watch. They are fans of whining on the internet. Hardcore fans do like her. AKA, the reason the building is so loud when she comes out.

BTW, going to a live event makes you more of a fan then watching a low quality stream. Nothing is more casual then someone streaming.

 

[John Stockton]

Same reason I watch Jones fight. To see him lose. I like ronda but her armbaring someone is no longer as exciting as the moment she cant.

Every time Jones fights i am sure its going to be boring. But i keep watching hoping someone hits him so hard he can never fight again.

you must really hate the guy.

 

[Zanmato]

"time for Rousey to look elsewhere for challenge worthy of ticket price"

a very simple and instant solution would be to have her co-main rather than be the main event... though i think a lot of people would be quite happy to see her fight and dominate as long as it doesn't descend into rematch after rematch against hopeless opponents

 

[SupremeGuy]

Are you kidding me? She's becoming the biggest draw in MMA and is becoming bigger than her sport.

 

[Paynebringer]

Greatness is never unmarketable. There is a huge disconnect between how hardcore MMA fans are reacting to Rousey's fights and how regular fans are.

Even casual fans won't get excited about fights lasting under a minute, they may not understand all the technical factors that make a fight but they know a 14 second fight is not worth their wild.

 

[Ashenthorn]

Even casual fans won't get excited about fights lasting under a minute, they may not understand all the technical factors that make a fight but they know a 14 second fight is not worth their wild.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2382299-ufc-184-what-we-learned-loved-and-hated

 

[bigconan]

http://mmajunkie.com/2015/03/alone-...lsewhere-for-challenge-worthy-of-ticket-price

There's this article on MMAJunkie that made a point I haven't seen addressed much at all at this point, though the more time goes on the more relevant the issue may become.

We all know UFC has been hyping Ronda to be the real Jesus Christ and what not, trying to sell WMMA, trying to make a superstar out of Ronda. But will her constant less than 1 minute fights cause this hype job to backfire?

If everybody is fairly certain Ronda will win because she's "the greatest fighter on the planet" and considering she has so many less than half of a round fights, why is $59.99 per PPV still worth roughly 30 seconds? Especially when her fights are so short the video highlights released the next day are a lot of the time her entire fight. It makes me ask myself, why bother?

Thoughts?


p.s. when i say hype or hype job im not implying thats all Ronda is. I just can't classify the things said about her as anything but hype.

Many here may not have been around when tyson was actually fighting. But he was ko'ing guys before you even got your snacks ready. I can't count how many times that happened. You blink and it's over. Just like that. But, soon, Tyson's one dimensional style became obvious and fighters learned how to beat him. This started way back. First we saw an old dude named bone crusher smith. Though bonecrusher couldn't do squat and tyson beat him fairly easily, he was taken the distance. Much of the fight, bonecrusher hugged and held on, nuetrualizing much of tysons offense. Then, tyson fought Tony Tucker. To unify the belts. This time, tucker put up a little bit tougher fight. Though tyson won, and won pretty easy, he was taken the distance and we were starting to see some holes in tysons game.. Then with buster douglas, we saw him exposed. even more so with holyfield 2x.

This going to happen with rousey. Like it or not, she is very one dimensional. She relies almost always on her ground game...yes, her stand up has gotten better. But the moment a girl actually fights smart, and doesn't clinch with ronda and is tough to take down and has good standup, we will see ronda in trouble. Mark my words.

 

[Chomsky Honk]

I'd always tune in to watch her fight for free but I'm not gonna pay for a PPV with her on it.