Slate Magazine article on UFC: "Ultimate Fleecing"

[Oldie]

Interesting read http://www.slate.com/articles/sport...=tw&utm_medium=sm&utm_campaign=button_toolbar

 

[Deleted member 316645]

What a terribly written article.

 

[Sherm]

Yeah I don't know why it took two people to write that piece of shit. If they felt were getting fleeced by Fox, they would just start giving them shitty cards. I doubt the contract is foolproof enough to prevent them from doing that, since its all so subjective.

 

[Nova Q]

Tomas Rios wrote that...

 

[Babalinho]

Read the first paragraph, yawned and stopped.

 

[Ohioan]

Total hit piece. I wouldn't be surprised if the writer was paid off by the Culinary Union. For example, Zuffa doesn't even release its PPV numbers; hence, the writer is pulling numbers out of his ass. Moreover--even assuming the cited PPV numbers are true--the Fox revenues more than offset the alleged decline in PPV buys.

 

[ComicBookStyle**]

Slate magazine is not the mediocre, juvenille blog some of you may be used to. It's a reknowned and sophisticated source of commentary and journalism. You may disagree with something, but don't let your homerism also show how uneducated you are.

 

[LardAss**]

Aside from the predictable bullshit about the demise of the UFC and the public's not being ready for MMA as a primetime athletic event, can we maybe not put on our objectivity caps and see if there isn't a shred of truth to that?

The cards, as of late, have been beyond pathetic even when they do go off as scheduled.

The cardbusting/pre-fight injury issue has risen to epidemic proportions.

The UFC needs a hero, nobody doubts that.


There are some things that need improvement, some things that need to change. To sit around and pretend otherwise is Pollyannaish and retarded. Big effing deal. The UFC is where the NFL was at in the 1960's. Its mainstream, but it's nowhere near reached its saturation point...

White and Co need to sit down, figure it out and implement.

 

[Masakari-ken]

Slate magazine is not the mediocre, juvenille blog some of you may be used to. It's a reknowned and sophisticated source of commentary and journalism. You may disagree with something, but don't let your homerism also show how uneducated you are.

yeah, but the article was written by tim marchman and tomas rios, two shitty writers

 

[Sherm]

Slate magazine is not the mediocre, juvenille blog some of you may be used to. It's a reknowned and sophisticated source of commentary and journalism. You may disagree with something, but don't let your homerism also show how uneducated you are.

Slate is also notorious for going out of their way to be controversial and ultra-critical. Often their articles are only sophisticated in the sense of being highly advanced sophistry. I honestly think that about 20% of Sherdog could put together a more cogent argument about the UFC's struggles. It might not be as polished, but at least the points would be more grounded in reality. I just don't see this argument about Fox ripping the UFC off. Why would Zuffa give Fox such a great card if they felt they were getting nothing out of the deal?

 

[Jawth]

Total hit piece. I wouldn't be surprised if the writer was paid off by the Culinary Union. For example, Zuffa doesn't even release its PPV numbers; hence, the writer is pulling numbers out of his ass. Moreover--even assuming the cited PPV numbers are true--the Fox revenues more than offset the alleged decline in PPV buys.

Not to mention the massive ratings the UFC gets in Brazil.

Aside from the predictable bullshit about the demise of the UFC and the public's not being ready for MMA as a primetime athletic event, can we maybe not put on our objectivity caps and see if there isn't a shred of truth to that?

The cards, as of late, have been beyond pathetic even when they do go off as scheduled.

The cardbusting/pre-fight injury issue has risen to epidemic proportions.

The UFC needs a hero, nobody doubts that.


There are some things that need improvement, some things that need to change. To sit around and pretend otherwise is Pollyannaish and retarded. Big effing deal. The UFC is where the NFL was at in the 1960's. Its mainstream, but it's nowhere near reached its saturation point...

White and Co need to sit down, figure it out and implement.

The only thing that I agreed with in the article is that it's time for Dana to go.

Cards have been ravaged by injuries this year, but to pretend like the actual quality of the fights have been bad is idiotic. People bring up 147 (which had a awesome fight as the main event and a quick Heavyweight knockout), 149, Maynard/Guida, and the cancellation of UFC 151 but forget all of the great fights and events that have been put on this year.

UFC 144, 146, 148, FOX 3, FOX 4, and 154 have all been great. There's also been some great events on FX and FUEL like Zombie vs. Poirier and Guillard vs. Miller.

If the PPV numbers were down, it was because GSP was gone for 19 months and Lesnar retired. However, I believe the deals with FOX and Globo more than offset that number.

 

[Nova Q]

Slate magazine is not the mediocre, juvenille blog some of you may be used to. It's a reknowned and sophisticated source of commentary and journalism. You may disagree with something, but don't let your homerism also show how uneducated you are.

We all know what Slate magazine is and it is not some world renowned news source. We are not talking about BBC or Time here. Slate just another online outlet known for its irrational biased pieces and attention-grabbing commentators/journalists (like Rios). Acting like you are more enlightened than us "uneducated" folk about a quite popular website makes you look like a fool. Stop trying to paint yourself as more intelligent than you are.

 

[PabloZed]

Brutal but makes some vital points. Some fans here have asked why UFC created new divisions and this article makes the point that Fox is demanding more content.

Where the article fails is in offering solutions. For example, the article talks about all the injuries that have ruined cards this year without suggesting that there be either a fighter union or greater oversight of training. Also, given the emphasis on the expanded number of fights on different Fox platforms the obvious answer may be to shrink instead of expand the number of UFC events. Putting "Millionaire" on every night is what killed it.

 

[neosatus]

I actually felt that article was pretty accurate--though probably written by someone who doesn't really like MMA.

For the most part I like Dana, so I wasn't even offended by the low blows regarding his comments about Americans being pussies etc. lol He's right--most people are pussies, and most people are morons.

The article does correctly describe that we have too damn many PPV events and that they're terribly diluted. I hope that changes in the future.

 

[neosatus]

Slate is also notorious for going out of their way to be controversial and ultra-critical. Often their articles are only sophisticated in the sense of being highly advanced sophistry. I honestly think that about 20% of Sherdog could put together a more cogent argument about the UFC's struggles. It might not be as polished, but at least the points would be more grounded in reality. I just don't see this argument about Fox ripping the UFC off. Why would Zuffa give Fox such a great card if they felt they were getting nothing out of the deal?

I also didn't get the part of the UFC/Fox deal not being good for the UFC. If all they're looking at is the decline in number I'd say that's a very shallow assessment.
Though, I do agree with part of it--we all know the cards are rather weak and all of the cancellations and injuries are a big problem.

 

[DeathIsHere]

The cards, as of late, have been beyond pathetic even when they do go off as scheduled.

I'm sorry, not gonna touch anything else you said but have you even watched any of the cards as of late? UFC 154 was great, UFC 153 was an amazing show (and was stacked with big names and interesting fights despite your feelings on the main event, which was also entertaining). The past few FX shows have been great. UFC 152 was good. UFC on Fox 4 was amazing and had a Fight of the Year candidate on it. Do I need to go on? These are just the recent ones, not counting Fox 3, UFC 144 and 146, etc.

Of the events that have happened this year, only a few I can think of off hand were "bad" and they most certainly did not go off as planned (149, 147). The rest were good cards, definitely not "beyond pathetic" unless you expect a Shogun/Henderson fight for every single fight on every single card.

 

[neosatus]

Not to mention the massive ratings the UFC gets in Brazil.




The only thing that I agreed with in the article is that it's time for Dana to go.

Cards have been ravaged by injuries this year, but to pretend like the actual quality of the fights have been bad is idiotic. People bring up 147 (which had a awesome fight as the main event and a quick Heavyweight knockout), 149, Maynard/Guida, and the cancellation of UFC 151 but forget all of the great fights and events that have been put on this year.

UFC 144, 146, 148, FOX 3, FOX 4, and 154 have all been great. There's also been some great events on FX and FUEL like Zombie vs. Poirier and Guillard vs. Miller.

If the PPV numbers were down, it was because GSP was gone for 19 months and Lesnar retired. However, I believe the deals with FOX and Globo more than offset that number.

How many other big names can you cite? Because those fighters can't carry 16 PPVs per year without those cards being vastly filled with fights that aren't all that interesting or exciting.

PPVs should have a minimum of 2 title fights per card and the rest of the card should be top 5 contention fights for the next couple PPVs.

Some of the fights that have made the main card the last couple years are really ridiculous.

 

[neosatus]

I'm sorry, not gonna touch anything else you said but have you even watched any of the cards as of late? UFC 154 was great, UFC 153 was an amazing show (and was stacked with big names and interesting fights despite your feelings on the main event, which was also entertaining). The past few FX shows have been great. UFC 152 was good. UFC on Fox 4 was amazing and had a Fight of the Year candidate on it. Do I need to go on? These are just the recent ones, not counting Fox 3, UFC 144 and 146, etc.

Of the events that have happened this year, only a few I can think of off hand were "bad" and they most certainly did not go off as planned (149, 147). The rest were good cards, definitely not "beyond pathetic" unless you expect a Shogun/Henderson fight for every single fight on every single card.

I watch every single event there is and I agree with him.

 

[LardAss**]

I'm sorry, not gonna touch anything else you said but have you even watched any of the cards as of late? UFC 154 was great, UFC 153 was an amazing show (and was stacked with big names and interesting fights despite your feelings on the main event, which was also entertaining). The past few FX shows have been great. UFC 152 was good. UFC on Fox 4 was amazing and had a Fight of the Year candidate on it. Do I need to go on? These are just the recent ones, not counting Fox 3, UFC 144 and 146, etc.

Of the events that have happened this year, only a few I can think of off hand were "bad" and they most certainly did not go off as planned (149, 147). The rest were good cards, definitely not "beyond pathetic" unless you expect a Shogun/Henderson fight for every single fight on every single card.

It's mouthbreathing pointless to get into a YES THEY WERE, NO THEY WEREN'T argument. All I'll say is this.

MMA fans come in many different categories. There are the hard-core fans, there are the casuals. The UFC has a fine line to walk to please both, and they VERY MUCH HAVE TO PLEASE BOTH.

The old salesmans saying goes, "See John Smith through John Smith's eyes, you can sell John Smith what John Smith buys..." You can't try to sell the casual MMA fan on the UFC from the vantage of the hardcore MMA fan who sees damn near every fight as "great". A lot of the cards you cited were not engendering repeat PPV buys from John Q Casual. People cite tenuous reasons/rationales for a PPV decline, but the reasons are pretty obvious to anyone with their head not buried up their ass.

The upcoming Fox card is stacked and I'm thrilled. I hope it goes off well. Free cards like this have the potential to earn a lot of fans over the long term.

 

[Jawth]

How many other big names can you cite? Because those fighters can't carry 16 PPVs per year without those cards being vastly filled with fights that aren't all that interesting or exciting.

PPVs should have a minimum of 2 title fights per card and the rest of the card should be top 5 contention fights for the next couple PPVs.

Some of the fights that have made the main card the last couple years are really ridiculous.

If you really don't believe that 144, 146, 148, FOX 3, and 4 were great cards I don't know what to tell you. Those are some of my favorite events I've ever seen, and I got to see some of them live for free.

If the UFC puts together a awesome card that falls apart and the UFC fixes it the best it can (UFC 147 and 149) then people say "They're expecting me to pay for this shit?!? Fuck them!". If the card falls apart and Zuffa cuts their losses (UFC 151 and the two Strikeforce cards), people say "They're fucking over their fighters! There were still fights I wanted to see! Fuck them!".

The quality of fights hasn't been as good as 2011, but that was the best year in the history of the sport IMO.