The moment the UFC started going downhill

No it was when they only allowed Art Jimmerson to wear one boxing glove at UFC 1

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Can't be hamstringing the boxers!!
 
UFC downfall...

Joe Son

Diaz killing Lawler.

Hughes battering Gracie.

Affliction.

James Toney.

Purchasing Pride, WEC & Strikeforce.

Forrest Griffin beating Rampage.

Bringing in Lesnar instead of Fedor.

Jon Jones battering a deaf guy, and entire life choices since.

The crushing of sponsors after having a TRIBUTE to MASK.

The sale to WME.

Merger with WWE.

Power Slap.
 
Greg House said:
Not sure if this means that the "UFC went downhill" but when they signed their FOX contract and left Spike their approach to the sport changed drastically, they incremented the amount of events made by a huge margin: Fight Nights, numbered events, fuel tv, fox cards, extra fights in events to show as facebook prelims (Used to be just 9 fights per event and now is 14), etc... ESPN has been more of the same but in different plattforms.

This meant a lot more events, a lot more fighters and a lot more fights. You think that is good, right? But what it really did was to dilute the events. We were used to having stacked cards once or twice per month, now suddenly we had 3 times the amount of fights overall and more than twice the amount of events.

The UFC tried to stop the watering down of events by adding midget divisions killing off WEC and then acquiring Strikeforce to add WMMA with the Ronda pitch. Then add more midgets with the 125, then more WMMA with 115, and then 145 for Cyborg and 125 because why not? Then the contender series made it possible for UFC to constantly renew their roster with a ridiculous amount of signings. Cheap contracts for regional fighters that can't cut it in the UFC and that can be easily replaced in the next season of the contender series by new blood.

Now we are at more than 40 events a year, 14 fights per event as an average, 600 fighters in the roster, 150 fighters getting cut each year and another 150 getting signed, fighters fighting only 1.5 per year because being active in social media help your image and your chances of a better contract a lot more than fighting often. All this makes it almost impossible to keep track of the sport, of the fighters in each event and getting excited about upcoming events. Not saying it's bad, but it's certainly different from the sport I fell in love 15 years ago...
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This

Back at the time I was on the side of the growth being a good thing, and in certain areas it still has been, but there's been a definite dilution overall.
 
Greg House said:
Not sure if this means that the "UFC went downhill" but when they signed their FOX contract and left Spike their approach to the sport changed drastically, they incremented the amount of events made by a huge margin: Fight Nights, numbered events, fuel tv, fox cards, extra fights in events to show as facebook prelims (Used to be just 9 fights per event and now is 14), etc... ESPN has been more of the same but in different plattforms.

This meant a lot more events, a lot more fighters and a lot more fights. You think that is good, right? But what it really did was to dilute the events. We were used to having stacked cards once or twice per month, now suddenly we had 3 times the amount of fights overall and more than twice the amount of events.

The UFC tried to stop the watering down of events by adding midget divisions killing off WEC and then acquiring Strikeforce to add WMMA with the Ronda pitch. Then add more midgets with the 125, then more WMMA with 115, and then 145 for Cyborg and 125 because why not? Then the contender series made it possible for UFC to constantly renew their roster with a ridiculous amount of signings. Cheap contracts for regional fighters that can't cut it in the UFC and that can be easily replaced in the next season of the contender series by new blood.

Now we are at more than 40 events a year, 14 fights per event as an average, 600 fighters in the roster, 150 fighters getting cut each year and another 150 getting signed, fighters fighting only 1.5 per year because being active in social media help your image and your chances of a better contract a lot more than fighting often. All this makes it almost impossible to keep track of the sport, of the fighters in each event and getting excited about upcoming events. Not saying it's bad, but it's certainly different from the sport I fell in love 15 years ago...
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The UFC on Fox deal definitely changed the UFC from what it was during the Spike days, which was a huge change from its PPV only early days. As much I can look back with fondness on some of those pre-TUF PPVs that were once every TWO to THREE months, it doesn't compare to how good it is now. Seriously, weekly UFC events vs a card every TWO months. How can a hardcore fan really prefer that?

While the UFC became something very different from what you liked 15 years before the Fox deal in 2011, by most measures, it actually went uphill significantly because of the deal. More events for fans to enjoy, bigger stars in Rousey, McGregor. Anderson Silva was at the height of his powers beating Sonnen and Bonnar in 2012. GSP in prime as well. Despite your dislike of women and midgets, Aldo, McGregor, Rousey, Nunes, Cruz, Dillashaw, Cejudo, Mighty Mouse delivered impressive performances. PPV buys were high, TV rating were good. Greater athlete pool attracted to UFC.

Some decline did occur after the ESPN deal (2019) I believe. Lower PPV sales, lack of big stars with McGregor, Rousey and now Ngannou gone. Too many rematches and I believe that is due to more control by ESPN in matchmaking with the guaranteed PPV $ from ESPN to UFC.

Typically there are ups and downs so I believe the UFC will have a resurgence again in the future.
 
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the exact instant.... right here
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the second it stopped being about being the best and became "All About Money fights"
 
j18lee said:
Seriously, weekly UFC events vs a card every TWO months. How can a hardcore fan really prefer that?
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It's wasn't once every 2 months, we went from 18 to 40+. So we went from twice a month (one ppv one fight night) to almost every week. And the reason was BECAUSE UFC IS NOT THE SAME AS MMA!!! Back then I would watch everything Strikeforce, Bellator, Dream, Sengoku, Affliction, Elite, WEC, KSW, etc... But only once a month you would get a stacked card that you anticipated for the entire month. That card was the numbered ppv event.

Now, it's impossible to keep up with all of them and having a life. You either watch every UFC, or you don't watch all of them to try to keep up with the other promotions. There was always MMA, dude. But UFC used to be regarded as elite, now it's not. Anybody can get in, there are no stacked events in this model. There hasn't been one for years...

And I don't "dislike" midgets and women, back then I loved watching the frantic and explosive fights in WEC and the different flavour that Invitca events provided, which were both once a month. Urijah Faber, Brian Bowles, Miguel Torres, Mike Brown, Gina Carano, Chris Cyborg, Zoila Frausto, Megumi Fuji, etc... I loved those fighters. But it was ONCE a month. Now, they are all over the place. Over 50% of each card is WMMA and midgets. I was conditioned to expect finishes in every event back then in most fights, now I have been conditioned to expect a considerable amount of decisions in each event because of it. And that's a different product.

All the other things you mentioned: Ratings, ppv, mainstream. Good for them, I don't get any money from it. I didn't say it was more profitable, hell I didn't even say the word better and clarified that I didn't considered it a "downhill". What I said was "different", and it is.
 
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Stan said:
At the point when the UFC granted Lesnar a title shot in only his 3rd UFC fight that along with giving Rousey a title belt before she even entered the cage to fight for that title the UFC turned into the WWE.
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^^This^^ Once Lesnar waltzed into a title fight I stopped paying as much attention. Freak show fights are fine, but you don't have them fight for the title immediately! That is entertainment and not sport.
 
Greg House said:
Not sure if this means that the "UFC went downhill" but when they signed their FOX contract and left Spike their approach to the sport changed drastically, they incremented the amount of events made by a huge margin: Fight Nights, numbered events, fuel tv, fox cards, extra fights in events to show as facebook prelims (Used to be just 9 fights per event and now is 14), etc... ESPN has been more of the same but in different plattforms.

This meant a lot more events, a lot more fighters and a lot more fights. You think that is good, right? But what it really did was to dilute the events. We were used to having stacked cards once or twice per month, now suddenly we had 3 times the amount of fights overall and more than twice the amount of events.

The UFC tried to stop the watering down of events by adding midget divisions killing off WEC and then acquiring Strikeforce to add WMMA with the Ronda pitch. Then add more midgets with the 125, then more WMMA with 115, and then 145 for Cyborg and 125 because why not? Then the contender series made it possible for UFC to constantly renew their roster with a ridiculous amount of signings. Cheap contracts for regional fighters that can't cut it in the UFC and that can be easily replaced in the next season of the contender series by new blood.

Now we are at more than 40 events a year, 14 fights per event as an average, 600 fighters in the roster, 150 fighters getting cut each year and another 150 getting signed, fighters fighting only 1.5 per year because being active in social media help your image and your chances of a better contract a lot more than fighting often. All this makes it almost impossible to keep track of the sport, of the fighters in each event and getting excited about upcoming events. Not saying it's bad, but it's certainly different from the sport I fell in love 15 years ago...
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Lol ur whole assessment is bad. You put it in a monthly context and we get way more fights and better fights within a month any given month.
Also stop being a bigot, you manlet.
 
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