The reason Rousey/Carmouche and Dodson/JOhnson is headlining is....

[tdluxon]

That is exactly what i've been saying, FW is stacked and has amazing fights.

I don't know quite what it is but I just can't take those fights seriously. I honestly have tried, I want to enjoy them but I just can't, as soon as I see the ref towering over the fighters by like a foot the whole thing seems pointless.

I'd be more interested to see a top flyweight fight some random mediocre normal size fighter to see if they could be them.

 

[JJLong]

I'd say thriving is a bit of an overstatement. More like surviving. When was the last time there was any significant amount of hype over a Women's boxing match? Most people, even fans of fighting couldn't name 3 fighters and they're hardly ever on TV and never on PPV.

Boxing in general is pretty much in disarray with the exception of the very top stars. So I don't think it is a good comparison.

 

[tdluxon]

Boxing in general is pretty much in disarray with the exception of the very top stars. So I don't think it is a good comparison.

Yeah maybe. I wasn't saying they are necessarily comparable, just responding to another's comment that it is thriving, which it is definitely not. Even men's boxing isn't really thriving at the moment.

That said, even in the heyday of Boxing there wasn't a whole lot of interest in women's fights, just like the wnba doesn't draw a ton of fans either.

 

[JJLong]

Yeah maybe. I wasn't saying they are necessarily comparable, just responding to another's comment that it is thriving, which it is definitely not. Even men's boxing isn't really thriving at the moment.

That said, even in the heyday of Boxing there wasn't a whole lot of interest in women's fights, just like the wnba doesn't draw a ton of fans either.

I think the only really good comparison for what I believe that WMMA can model itself after is Women's Tennis, which is the most popular women's sport in the world and produces multimillionaires each year.

Heck, women's tennis tends to pull better ratings at times than the men's games, such as this year's US Open final, and that is even with Serena Williams completely dominating everyone else in the top 10.

That is because Women's Tennis is one-on-one and in a singular promotion essentially. The level of play isn't as good as the men's, but that doesn't stop it from generating millions of dollars and just as many viewers.

 

[stungunyaheard]

yes everyone knows this

^^^

 

[Goodfella86]

ufc 48, 50, and 51 had non-title headliners ahead of championship fights. doesnt make it right, but it has happened. mir-sylvia at 48, hughes-gsp at 50, and tanner/terrell with arlovski-sylvia 1 at ufc 51.

those 4 fights had more hype than rousey/carmouche and mightymouse/dodson. the ufc had few names back then, so they relied on ken shamrock and tito ortiz and needed those names on the poster. henderson and machida are not the biggest names, but they are both pretty big by now.

rousey, despite her perfect and unique record and her appearances in the mainstream, is not a name. they will need to heavily highlight the undercard during ads. this is one case in which the main event couldve been a non-title bout. hopefully the ufc's marketing of ronda and women will also succeed, but i'll be the first asshole to log on to my petty little account on our petty little forum and say "told ya so"

 

[Dr J]

ufc 48, 50, and 51 had non-title headliners ahead of championship fights. doesnt make it right, but it has happened. mir-sylvia at 48, hughes-gsp at 50, and tanner/terrell with arlovski-sylvia 1 at ufc 51.

those 4 fights had more hype than rousey/carmouche and mightymouse/dodson. the ufc had few names back then, so they relied on ken shamrock and tito ortiz and needed those names on the poster. henderson and machida are not the biggest names, but they are both pretty big by now.

rousey, despite her perfect and unique record and her appearances in the mainstream, is not a name. they will need to heavily highlight the undercard during ads. this is one case in which the main event couldve been a non-title bout. hopefully the ufc's marketing of ronda and women will also succeed, but i'll be the first asshole to log on to my petty little account on our petty little forum and say "told ya so"

I believe things changed for UFC 61. They were trying to make Ken/Tito II the main event, and Sylvia complained that he was getting shafted as the hw champ.

 

[tdluxon]

I think the only really good comparison for what I believe that WMMA can model itself after is Women's Tennis, which is the most popular women's sport in the world and produces multimillionaires each year.

Heck, women's tennis tends to pull better ratings at times than the men's games, such as this year's US Open final, and that is even with Serena Williams completely dominating everyone else in the top 10.

That is because Women's Tennis is one-on-one and in a singular promotion essentially. The level of play isn't as good as the men's, but that doesn't stop it from generating millions of dollars and just as many viewers.

Yeah maybe but tennis is fairly popular with women... cagefighting not so much... it's a much more masculine sport with a mostly male fanbase. Also I know some female sports fans that don't like fight sports (for whatever reason... too violent I guess).

 

[JJLong]

ufc 48, 50, and 51 had non-title headliners ahead of championship fights. doesnt make it right, but it has happened. mir-sylvia at 48, hughes-gsp at 50, and tanner/terrell with arlovski-sylvia 1 at ufc 51.

those 4 fights had more hype than rousey/carmouche and mightymouse/dodson. the ufc had few names back then, so they relied on ken shamrock and tito ortiz and needed those names on the poster. henderson and machida are not the biggest names, but they are both pretty big by now.

rousey, despite her perfect and unique record and her appearances in the mainstream, is not a name. they will need to heavily highlight the undercard during ads. this is one case in which the main event couldve been a non-title bout. hopefully the ufc's marketing of ronda and women will also succeed, but i'll be the first asshole to log on to my petty little account on our petty little forum and say "told ya so"

The $300 dollar tickets that resellers have bought have marked them up to $800 dollars. So they suspect a big demand.

 

[RedDevilFedor]

Well, all everyone talks about on here is how much a fighter deserves this and that.
Hendo and Machida both deserve to headline, but I bet they'll both get ppv cuts.

 

[Mooner]

I think the bitching is because many think the Rousey fight should be headlining a free card... not a PPV.

Speaking the truth.

 

[wasp]

This is obviously a tester main event fight as a ppv. If it bombs....oh well. They'll have a crapload of other events to do for the rest of the year and they'll know that Women's title fights (a.k.a. Rousey fights) should be saved for FOX, FX, or Fuel cards.

At least the show didnt get canceled.

 

[APH]

I don't really agree with Rousey/Carmouche headlining and I don't necessarily think title fights have to take precedence over 'normal' fights.

Speaking of Hendo and women's championships, Tate/Coenen championship fight was co-main to Hendo/Fedor in Strikeforce. Everyone knew that was the true main-event and nobody really cares or remembers the women's title fight. Everyone just talks about the Hendo/Fedor fight and rightfully so. I actually don't dislike WMMA and I'm fine with it being in the UFC, but I think Rousey/Carmouche headlining over Hendo/Machida is embarrassing and we all know what the real main-event of that card is.

You can say non-title fights main-eventing over title fights would cheapen the belt, but Rousey/Carmouche headlining cheapens the sport as a whole, in my opinion.