Self Promotion

[I am the Walrus]

Self Promotion is a cornerstone of the UFC business model. UFC fighters are great athletes who put their bodies on the line for our entertainment.

But.....

Let's be honest though, many of them do not self promote well and can often be downright cringy....

Should the UFC play a more active role in shaping the image of fighters?

 

[JabToucher]

I wanted so bad for Cejudo to lose after that cringe worthy snake thing!!!

 

[dildos]

the ufc should play a more active role in shaping the threads you create.

 

[Nandez]

No. Already enough marketing/ wwe entertainment.

Just let them fight

 

[I am the Walrus]

No. Already enough marketing/ wwe entertainment.

Just let them fight

But the build up to fights is just so much damn fun

 

[GranNaniwa]

UFC is horrible at promoting their fighters. If they had their way Sage Northcutt and PVZ would be the biggest stars in the organization.

 

[I am the Walrus]

UFC is horrible at promoting their fighters. If they had their way Sage Northcutt and PVZ would be the biggest stars in the organization.

They promote just fine, but if a fighter doesn't win there is nothing the UFC can do.

 

[Genisys]

In hindsight the Cejudo snake thing was great. He beat the shit out of TJ just like he did the snake. It would have been horrible if he lost but he didn't.

 

[Cat Biscuits]

UFC no longer promotes fighters, they promote trending celebrity status fighters who can pull in big twitter/IG follower numbers.

 

[San Griente]

I'm with you on this. I would rather just have fighter fight and keep their mouths shut. But right now, we have the worst of both worlds. UFC obliges the fighters to work a gimmick, but apparently leaves the writing and costuming up to the fighters themselves. The result is unwatchable.

If the fighters are going to have to gin up interest by adopting personae, the Performance Institute needs to hire acting coaches, writers, and wardrobe to support them.

 

[AP_RESURRECTION]

It seems like the UFC's new deal makes it so they dont really care much about building big stars as they get somehwat of a fixed payout on ppvs etc. They just kind of need to feed the beast and keep fighters under contract. No real upside to have huge PPVs as far as I know. I'm sure they make a ton of extra money off of a Conor Mcgregor with merchandise etc, but he's an anomaly.

 

[I am the Walrus]

I'm with you on this. I would rather just have fighter fight and keep their mouths shut. But right now, we have the worst of both worlds. UFC obliges the fighters to work a gimmick, but apparently leaves the writing and costuming up to the fighters themselves. The result is unwatchable.

If the fighters are going to have to gin up interest by adopting personae, the Performance Institute needs to hire acting coaches, writers, and wardrobe to support them.

Agree 100% - how often is a person blessed with athletic ability who is also great in front of the camera.

Connor is rare in this sense. And Chuck Liddell had a cool hair cut.

A marketing "Advisor" could go a long way for some of these fighters without losing authenticity

 

[Protagoras]

It’s literally the UFC’s top job to create and promote stars. But they seem to really suck at this.

Old UFC took a fairly boring guy like Randy Couture (met him several times and he is pretty dull) and made him into a mythological, all-American type of guy.

New UFC can’t figure out how to do shit and actively craps on fighters that are actually doing kind of well.

It’s like they basically expect these guys to do about 90% of the promotion work, and then profit off the last 10% by actually promoting what the fighter is doing.

If every company worked this way they wouldn’t make shit for money.

The reality is that most companies actively try to advertise their product and convince you to buy it, but the UFC waits until a product appears to be something people are willing to buy, before they are willing to put any money behind it.

It’s totally fucking nuts and doesn’t make any sense.

 

[Nightwish]

 

[jsbx45]

...is what it takes to succeed in many sports disciplines these days. It's typically more annoying than entertaining, but it seems necessary nonetheless. I think modern athletes NEED to do it, especially in individualized sports. *sighs*

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

In hindsight the Cejudo snake thing was great. He beat the shit out of TJ just like he did the snake. It would have been horrible if he lost but he didn't.

Just goes to show if you win you can do whatever you want (within reason).

 

[KingRyan]

I just wish the masses didn't respond to drama and conflict more then people being good role models and acting like true martial artist.