The Decline in quality of UFC PPVs and events [POLL]

How would you rate UFC PPVs ?

  • Excellent

    Votes: 16 4.1%

  • Good

    Votes: 79 20.4%

  • Average

    Votes: 121 31.3%

  • Below Average

    Votes: 119 30.7%

  • Bad

    Votes: 52 13.4%
  • Total voters
    387
Cooliox

Cooliox

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A lot of the PPVs have been trash, ever since ESPN agreed to pay the UFC a fixed amount for the PPVs.

UFC 300 was mid AF on paper. It ended up delivering, but we didn’t even get 1 super fight.

The Sphere PPV is also lackluster.

During the Fox era we still had great ppvs, but this was because the UFC was making their revenue there.

Dana realized during ‘Fight Island’ that he just had to put up x number of cards per year to fulfill their contract. The quality made no difference to their revenue.

This is also why the UFC decided to do a lot of Apex events. Lowest costs possible to get that ESPN money.

I miss the days where every fight on a PPV card was must-see.

Now we have at least 1 fight we can skip for sure. Some PPVs you can get away with only watching the co-main and main event.

What say you SherBro?
 
If you can get 3 or 4 fights that interests you, it's a good event. Expecting a banger stacked card every time is unreasonable imo.

Most cards throughout history (As long as I remember) have been like that. Stacked cards have always been few and far between in relation to the UFC..

The card in question (Sphere) has 4 fights that interests me..

O'Malley vs Merab
Ortega vs Lopes
Rosas JR vs Aori
Grasso vs Valentina

(in that order)

Good enough. Look forward to it..
 
Last edited:
It's really tough when the starting position for this argument is that "300 was mid AF". Cause I thought that was a great card that would stand tall with the rest of the Fox era.

I think over time people often take the worst of one time period and compare it with the best of another. During the UFC on FOX days there was actually lots of negativity as we hit 170, 174, 177 etc. It could even be overwhelming. But today we might just bring up 189 or something to discuss how great it was.

Truthfully, I've really been enjoying 2024's PPVs, to the point that I would have guessed we're at another high point. You say 306 is lackluster, but I'm embracing the Wrestlemania of it all, and see nothing but a good time.
 
During the Fox era, the UFC was still owned by the Fertitta's/Zuffa.
It wasn't until the transfer of ownership is when the card quality started to change.
But card quality is based personal preferences. Fighters age and get replaced by new & upcoming fighters.
 
I think it depends alot about what your a fan of too ..

Are you a fan of certain fighters or are you a fan of the sport itself...


My thinking being if your viewership is only tied to certain fighters or era of fighters then your going feel like theirs a decline when they're gone...


Vs

If your a fan of the sport itself , your probably unlikely to feel a drop off as much.

I would say like all sports, MMA goes through peaks and valleys , i dont think they have gone downhill, just maybe their aren't as many stellar stand out fighters currently as the talent might be in more of a valley then a peak as the overall skill increases and the difference between fighters becomes smaller untill someone comes along and bumps the level again ( another Anderson,GSP, Randy, ETC) ..


In conclusion the UFC's are somewhere between Good and Excellent, on average i dont remember a truly bad card...but im a purist and a fan of the sport first and remember the days of 1 ppv per 2 months or even 3 months so i might be the wrong person to ask ...i watch all fights all the time..every card... I dont do smoke breaks for WMMA etc
 
My biggest complaint about PPV's is not just the quality of the card, but the constant price hikes by one of the greediest companies in the world, Disney. To charge $80, and then water down the fight card too, it's just to much! I bought EVERY PPV before Disney bought the rights to the UFC, now I never buy them. I hear that Kamala Harris has vowed to lower PPV prices, if elected President!
 
We have a Lot of shit cards in the First half of This year, excludind UFC 300.
Well, maybe we have so much bad cards cause 300 need to be extra stacked and Dana spend all his resources?
But seems like the latter PPVs of this year are becoming really good, 308 is super stacked.

My vote is Average
 
I'd argue that the meta of the sport is a more important determinant than the individual matchups or names on the card. Current meta is either smothering sub grappler, pressure fighting calf kicker, or power punching wrestle-boxers.

Previous meta had a higher mix of high-pace type fighters like sprawl and brawlers, pressure fighting counter punchers, and smeshers. Yes, even GNP can be exciting when it's effective.

The sport is more exciting to watch when even the undercard fighters are going for the finish. Position control first Grapplers and safety first calf kickers don't make for exciting fights. It's a copycat sport and the card winds up littered with these type of fighters. The only thing that will make this better is coaches coming up with game plans that render the less entertaining and safer styles ineffective. This will force the sport to evolve as it always does.
 
i feel like we are going through a weird transition phase where the ufc limiting fighter opportunity/win bonuses/promoting trash talk has created this loss in the talent we are seeing

every time i manage to catch some amateur card or one FC, i get reminded there are still some absolute killers out there

alex pereira is a breath of fresh air, there are still killers in the UFC don’t get me wrong, but the UFC would rather push fighters like strickland/colby/masvidal onto us…

so i would say the cards are terrible but mainly because as UFC becomes the place to be, people who are there fight to keep their job and get their pay cheques, resulting in them taking risks in their interviews and social media. Not in the cage
 
Cooliox said:
A lot of the PPVs have been trash, ever since ESPN agreed to pay the UFC a fixed amount for the PPVs.

UFC 300 was mid AF on paper. It ended up delivering, but we didn’t even get 1 super fight.

The Sphere PPV is also lackluster.

During the Fox era we still had great ppvs, but this was because the UFC was making their revenue there.

Dana realized during ‘Fight Island’ that he just had to put up x number of cards per year to fulfill their contract. The quality made no difference to their revenue.

This is also why the UFC decided to do a lot of Apex events. Lowest costs possible to get that ESPN money.

I miss the days where every fight on a PPV card was must-see.

Now we have at least 1 fight we can skip for sure. Some PPVs you can get away with only watching the co-main and main event.

What say you SherBro?
Click to expand...
It is time for a change or more specifically CHANGES….


UFC has gotten bland….here are some things that need to be addressed:

Buffer and his shreiking and jumping around in his clown suits needs to be replaced.

Rogan and his fried out/drug abused brain and legs kicks hyperbole needs to be replaced,

DC, weasel-Anik, Brenden the bland white guy and all knowing Manlet Dom need to go as well.

Megan Olivi-Benavidez is super annoying and cheesy with her same questions and persona.

Round Girls needs to be revamped. Brooklyn and Vanessa don't make the cut even in BKFC.

Bald Father/Pink Goof should have been gone years ago.

Felder, Sanko, Joel Martinez are good.

That is all. ✌️
 
I mean the quality varies to an insane degree but it's been like that for as long as I can remember. UFC 298, 299 and 300 were all great. For me I feel like ppv events should only be like 3 or 4x a year and should be stacked. Like this card isn't terrible but who wants to pay $90 for rainbow hair vs huggy mcgee?
 
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