Stacked UFC cards are dead?

[joy2day]

I do appreciate the improved situation with being able to watch the old fights and see all events by just paying for one streaming service rather than Fight Pass, ESPN + AND the cost of PPVs.

Nonetheless, it is hard to miss the obvious take on (what were previously) PPVs since the start of the year- the numbered events (that would have been PPVs) have dropped from usually having at least 2-3 top-draw fights to only having 1. This has been true of what we've had so far this year AND what is scheduled if you look through coming events.

With a similar number of events as last year paired with lower quality cards, similar low pay for MMA fighters, and the inclusion of boxing, it seems like a setup for slowing the growth of the sport- there will be fewer quality fighters as incentives disappear.

Are stacked cards extinct, or so rare that they are nearly irrelevant? How far will this go and what effect with the continued dilution of UFC cards have on the sport long-term? Is the lack of incentive for the UFC to put on big-buy PPV cards actually going to end up shrinking the sport in terms of quality?

While I like a lot of things about the new model, I am also unsure whether it will be a good thing for the sport or an inflection point to deeper degradation.

What do you all think? How will this play out?

 

[El Fernas]

If they make the same number of cards then the "stacking" will happen, unless those names turn into Chimaev and never fight, then yeah, stacked cards are dead now.

They still make money through gate, some cards will still have names so they sell an arena at their usual ticket prices.

 

[theincognito]

There's no noticeable recent change. What you describe happened sometime early in the ESPN era, if not even sooner.

 

[joy2day]

There's no noticeable recent change. What you describe happened sometime early in the ESPN era, if not even sooner.

I would agree that it went down from the old days of having a lot of stacked cards at the time of ESPN, but there was very often more than one marquee fight during the ESPN years, and there hasn't been even one yet this year (including the future schedule so far).

 

[brody_in_ga]

The poor quality of fight cards has more to do with the lack of stars, than anything else. This could change though, so Im hopeful. The key is to get new blood into the heavier divisions.

Lastly, getting rid of WMMA, or at least scaling it back, would help tremendously.

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

The poor quality of fight cards has more to do with the lack of stars, than anything else. This could change though, so Im hopeful. The key is to get new blood into the heavier divisions.

Lastly, getting rid of WMMA, or at least scaling it back, would help tremendously.

the problem with your solution is you have to spend money in order for those things to happen. TKO/UFC are into hoarding money, not spending it.

 

[joy2day]

the problem with your solution is you have to spend money in order for those things to happen. TKO/UFC are into hoarding money, not spending it.

I'm inclined to agree. The number of quality stars isn't what it was a while back, but PPVs have dried up quicker than star power. There are loads of matchups for example that could be made in the WW division.

 

[theincognito]

I would agree that it went down from the old days of having a lot of stacked cards at the time of ESPN, but there was very often more than one marquee fight during the ESPN years, and there hasn't been even one yet this year (including the future schedule so far).

What is marquee?

If you mean names (there's a general lack of big ones right now, but): Gaethje, Pimblett, O'Malley, Lewis, Jean Silva were all on the same card. They're probably all in the top 25 of most popular active fighters.

If you mean highly ranked: every numbered card so far has had multiple.

 

[koquerelle]

It's hardly a new trend. It's the price to pay to get many cards a year.

 

[joy2day]

What is marquee?

If you mean names (there's a general lack of big ones right now, but): Gaethje, Pimblett, O'Malley, Lewis, Jean Silva were all on the same card. They're probably all in the top 25 of most popular active fighters.

If you mean highly ranked: every numbered card so far has had multiple.

I mean fights that a lot of people care about.

 

[STAY GOLD]

I would agree that it went down from the old days of having a lot of stacked cards at the time of ESPN, but there was very often more than one marquee fight during the ESPN years, and there hasn't been even one yet this year (including the future schedule so far).

The drop in quality began when they went to ESPN. Now they’re just following their lead. Let’s not romanticize the ESPN as something it was not.

 

[theincognito]

I mean fights that a lot of people care about.

The aforementioned card had among the best viewership UFC has ever seen, so there you go.

 

[HuskySamoan]

Whats a stacked card look like to you guys?

UFC X
C Ilia Topuria vs Arman Tsarukyan
Michael Morales vs Kamaru Usman
Ateba Guatier vs Shara Bullet
Losene Keita vs Yair Rodriguez
Payton Talbott vs Farid Basharat

UFC Y
IC Cyril Gane vs Alex Peireira
C Volkanovski vs Movsar Evloev
Carlos Prates vs Jack Della
Pantoja vs Kyoji Horiguchi
Bo Nickal vs Ikram Aliskerov

Stuff like this?

 

[joy2day]

The aforementioned card had among the best viewership UFC has ever seen, so there you go.

Which is somewhat irrelevant- this is the honeymoon stage on a new platform. We will see if that continues.

 

[Kung Fu Kowboy]

At least I'm not having to pay for ESPN Unlimited and $79.99 to watch Max vs Poirier 3...

 

[Fedorgasm]

The more events you have, the less stacked cards you'll see. Why put an awesome matchup on a card that already has a good main and co-main event, when you can move it to a fight night where it can be the main event there.

Also, the big names seem to be wanting to fight less frequently, which compounds the problem.

 

[joy2day]

The drop in quality began when they went to ESPN. Now they’re just following their lead. Let’s not romanticize the ESPN as something it was not.

Romanticize? Saying it is lesser than the previous era and more than the current is hardly romanticizing it. That's pretty much the reality. It's not romantic to have few stacked cards but more than one typically.

 

[joy2day]

The more events you have, the less stacked cards you'll see. Why put an awesome matchup on a card that already has a good main and co-main event, when you can move it to a fight night where it can be the main event there.

Also, the big names seem to be wanting to fight less frequently, which compounds the problem.

The number of events is basically the same this year.

 

[jeff7b9]

Ufc has been dying for a long time.


The problem is stupid rich assholes keep paying them shit tons of money to suck ass.

 

[Fedorgasm]

The number of events is basically the same this year.

There are more events now than there were in the era of stacked cards, whatever year that was