The sheer amount of fights that just don’t matter is hurting the UFC.

[Hellowhosthat]

The UFC needs to trim most of the roster

Too many no name cans on the roster who cost the UFC money instead of making money for the UFC

Should be around 15-20 fighters per division only

UFC actually needs to be the best of the best again not just full of no name cans whose skill level are equivalent to bums fighting on the street

Where do you get elite fighters from once everyone else signs with other promotions because they can't sign with the UFC and then some of your original 15 people start to age out?

 

[DecisionSplit]

You always have the option of not watching the whole thing. You can just watch the main card or just the main event. Why do you feel obligated to watch the whole thing?

Ever attended a UFC event? Because no one is watching all of the fights. I've been to a few events and the early fights are a ghost town. No one is there. The celebrities and comped tickets are usually empty until the last two or three fights as well. I've been to a few NFL games and NASCAR races and the stands are packed from start to finish. I've never been to an NFL game and the seats are empty until after half time then the entire stadium is flooded with fans for the third quarter. Yet that's every UFC event.

The difference is that UFC events really only begin with the last three or four fights on most cards. Everyone else fighting before then is just padding out the roster with unranked bums in inconsequential matches. Or can crushing between a prospect and a cadaver. What kind of sport can survive like that in the long run?

Like how many people watch every single game the NFL or the NBA has over the entire year?

A lot. And big sports have weekly games that the entire fandom watches. This is literally how things like NASCAR or F1 work. Where they all race together and everyone watches the race together. UFC is now fully quantity over quality. They seem to not even care if people are watching anymore because ESPN is just paying them a flat rate for each event regardless of how many people actually see it.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

I can't stand that cards are 6-7 hours long start to finish. If you want to fully follow the UFC, you have to dedicate basically a whole day to it nearly every single Saturday = ridiculous.

Cut that shit to 8 bouts per card (where it used to be). There is zero need for 11-14.

Three hour cards and an opportunity to cut a lot of fat from the roster. That would be perfect.

You don't have to fully follow the UFC. You can just watch the main card if you want.

Also you could do what I do which is just watch it the next morning and fast forward through anything that isn't fighting, walkouts or post fight interviews. Usually gets the card to under 4 hours for everything.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Ever attended a UFC event? Because no one is watching all of the fights. I've been to a few events and the early fights are a ghost town. No one is there. The celebrities and comped tickets are usually empty until the last two or three fights as well. I've been to a few NFL games and NASCAR races and the stands are packed from start to finish. I've never been to an NFL game and the seats are empty until after half time then the entire stadium is flooded with fans for the third quarter. Yet that's every UFC event.

The difference is that UFC events really only begin with the last three or four fights on most cards. Everyone else fighting before then is just padding out the roster with unranked bums in inconsequential matches. Or can crushing between a prospect and a cadaver. What kind of sport can survive like that in the long run?

A lot. And big sports have weekly games that the entire fandom watches. This is literally how things like NASCAR or F1 work. Where they all race together and everyone watches the race together. UFC is now fully quantity over quality. They seem to not even care if people are watching anymore because ESPN is just paying them a flat rate for each event regardless of how many people actually see it.

UFC cards have been like that for at least 10 years ago this point. Probably since they introduced Facebook prelims for extra content back in the day which later became fight pass prelims. I don't get why people think this is new.

 

[theincognito]

You don't have to fully follow the UFC. You can just watch the main card if you want.

Also you could do what I do which is just watch it the next morning and fast forward through anything that isn't fighting, walkouts or post fight interviews. Usually gets the card to under 4 hours for everything.

You basically do have to fully follow if you want a good idea of what's going on and who fighters are as there is no rhyme or reason to card placement a lot of the time. I.e. Taira went from mid to early prelims straight to 3 main events.

Watching later is an option but live is a lot of the appeal.

 

[Hdfi]

I think the biggest problem is top 10 fighters just don’t fight enough anymore.

Does this really happen or is it just a biased impression?

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

The goal was always to be a "regular" sport.

It really doesn't hurt it much at all, which is why they do it. If anything it has shown growth that they have so many fighters in their roster that it takes a while to build up the ladder.

Before there just wasn't much of an infrastructure in the UFC. There weren't even rankings.

And quite frankly, those fights aren't for casual fans. If you don't like them, simply don't watch them (it's like people on Sherdog lack so little hobbies that they have to watch the UFC out of habit even if they seemingly hate it).

They're designed for people that just like to watch fighting. Watch the PPVs and ABC specials if you just want to see the stories.

You aren’t wrong.

People that like to watch fighting for real eventually stop caring about low-level fights - they become like sitcom reruns, you’ve seen them all and they weren’t that enjoyable to start with.

Casuals come and go quickly, they latch onto a fighter or the idea of being a fight fan and wash out. The hardcore base needs to be constantly satiated with a consistent level of quality that they’ve progressively reduced.

The end result is hardcore burnout, which will eventually cripple the sport. Hardcores are the ones who post, hype up casuals, generate interest that wouldn’t exist outside of casual fandom. They are the driving base of any sport and if they aren’t replenished all you’ll have left is a burnt out casual fan base that is satisfied with slop.

Maybe they even know this, the growth phase is over and it’s all value extraction. But they are leaving a carved out husk that can’t be easily rebuilt in the near future.

That’s a recipe for disaster in the long run

 

[Dreyga Hates You Sherbums]

Ever attended a UFC event?

Yes, I have been to several live view events. And I posted it here on this fourm. And I am always there from the first prelim to the last fight. And whenever I go, there are other hard-core fans that are there from the very beginning to the very end. People have choices. You don’t have to watch every single fight if you don’t want to. But having fights so other people have the choice to watch them all still an option then hard-core fans deserve to make

You basically do have to fully follow if you want a good idea of what's going on and who fighters are as there is no rhyme or reason to card placement a lot of the time. I.e. Taira went from mid to early prelims straight to 3 main events.

Watching later is an option but live is a lot of the appeal.

There actually is very meticulous reasoning by hiring card placement. I made a whole thing about it.

Thread 'UFC Card Placement Explained – Stop Complaining, Sherbums!'

Oct 17, 2024

Alright, Sherbums, it’s time for a lesson on UFC card placement. I’ve seen way too many people whining about why a big name is on the prelims or why a certain fight is higher up on the card. It’s NOT always about fighter popularity or rankings.

Common Misconception:

• Many believe the highest fights on the card are always the most important or feature the most popular fighters.
• In reality, UFC arranges fights based on a strategy designed to maintain viewer engagement throughout the entire event, not just the main event.

Key Elements of UFC Card...

• Dreyga Hates You Sherbums
• Replies: 78
• Forum: UFC Discussion

• 
• 

Basically what UFC does is that they take the most popular fighters the ones with the biggest social media following and fan base. And they spread them across the card sandwiching them around fighters who are less popular. The idea is to try and get fans to watch as many fights as possible by making every other fight at high interest fight

 

[Nimrod]

Spoken like a true none fan.

If you just like the pomp then fair enough.

But some of us just like to watch fighting between fighters..
And that's ok too.

 

[theincognito]

There actually is very meticulous reasoning by hiring card placement. I made a whole thing about it.

Thread 'UFC Card Placement Explained – Stop Complaining, Sherbums!'

Oct 17, 2024

Alright, Sherbums, it’s time for a lesson on UFC card placement. I’ve seen way too many people whining about why a big name is on the prelims or why a certain fight is higher up on the card. It’s NOT always about fighter popularity or rankings.

Common Misconception:

• Many believe the highest fights on the card are always the most important or feature the most popular fighters.
• In reality, UFC arranges fights based on a strategy designed to maintain viewer engagement throughout the entire event, not just the main event.

Key Elements of UFC Card...

• Dreyga Hates You Sherbums
• Replies: 78
• Forum: UFC Discussion

• 
• 

Basically what UFC does is that they take the most popular fighters the ones with the biggest social media following and fan base. And they spread them across the card sandwiching them around fighters who are less popular. The idea is to try and get fans to watch as many fights as possible by making every other fight at high interest fight

I obviously meant in terms of fight importance.

Regularly skip prelims and you will miss a whole lot as in the case of Taira going from prelim guy straight to main eventer.

 

[blunttruth]

The only fights and rankings that matter to half of Sherdog, are the online forum fights to see which Sherbros can whine, complain and cry their way into the Negative Nancy top 15. Real UFC fans and Sherbros just tune out and ignore all their Forum fodder, as we have no interest in the BitchiestMF belts these poser posters fight for.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

You basically do have to fully follow if you want a good idea of what's going on and who fighters are as there is no rhyme or reason to card placement a lot of the time. I.e. Taira went from mid to early prelims straight to 3 main events.

Watching later is an option but live is a lot of the appeal.

There's solutions dude. Just watch later if you want to watch everything. I gamble a lot on MMA so I try and watch like 40-50 fights a week. Probably get that done in the amount of time most people sit through a UFC and PFL card.

 

[EndlessCritic]

Most UFC cards are WEC or KOTC cards with the UFC name on it.

There used to be 10-12 good ppvs a year now its like 5. That's the part that sucks

The WEC era was utterly incredible, and is viewed with a nostalgia akin to Pride.

If your complaint is you don't like UFC cards because they're too similar to WEC, you're really just outing yourself.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

The WEC era was utterly incredible, and is viewed with a nostalgia akin to Pride.

If your complaint is you don't like UFC cards because they're too similar to WEC, you're really just outing yourself.

Pfft, who would want to watch rubbish like this?

 

[560ti]

Most UFC cards are WEC or KOTC cards with the UFC name on it.

There used to be 10-12 good ppvs a year now its like 5. That's the part that sucks

Exactly. If you want to chase volume and give these low-end guys a chance that's fine, but leave it for the ESPN Plus cards.

There's 120 men that are ranked and yet this most recent card which was on the main ESPN channel had 1 ranked guy the entire card. Literally no excuse for it, the ESPN and PPVs should be fairly solid you have enough guys and divisions for it (UFC 319 for example has an interesting title fight and 9 out of 10 of the guys on the main card are ranked).

We shouldn't be ecstatic when they decide put on a really good card. Especially since the sport is now significantly more expensive to watch (the free fox cards got moved to cable, the cable fox cards got moved to a monthly subscription service, and PPVs are now not only more expensive but require the subscription service just to be able to buy it).

 

[BowserJr]

The WEC era was utterly incredible, and is viewed with a nostalgia akin to Pride.

If your complaint is you don't like UFC cards because they're too similar to WEC, you're really just outing yourself.

WEC was tits but let's not kid ourselves. It was great for the lighter weight classes. Anything above 175 was pretty nonexistent.

And it only got really good the last few years after Zuffa bought it.

Sometimes there is a good ESPN or ABC cards those are the later year WEC cards. The rest are early wec and kotc.

The weak ppv cards are akin to the top wec cards back in the day. Then we get 5 maybe 6 good ufc cards per year

 

[CroCopsLHK]

UFC has made alot of idiotic fights man without reasons.

Example:

The Poatan vs Roundtree fight (Who asked for this fight?)
Merab vs O´Malley 2 (Seriously?)
Strickland vs Du Plessis 2 (What in the actual fuk? is this sports killing man)
Pantoja vs KKF not sure if this was there second fight but why?
O´malley vs that Bolvian dude forgot his name it made no sense
Topuria vs Holloway (Honestly this fight made no sense to give Topuria to Holloway in his last FW fight)
Leon vs Colby (Where Colby at that point haven´t fought for over 2 years straight! utter trash match-making)
Jones vs Stipe (That fight made sense 5-6 years ago)
Poatan vs Jiri 2 (This fight made absolutely no sense and Poatan just starched Jiri again for the 2nd time complete non-sense fight)
All the Flyweight match-ups

Volk vs Islam 2 (Late notice replacement)

I get it Volk was depressed or whatever. GAMROT WAS A BACK UP FIGHTER. THIS FIGHT COULDVE RUINED VOLKANOVSKIS CAREER

UFC need to cool it with late replacements. I get it they want to preserve the fight but jeez Louise. Example: Bashi vs Some corpse last Saturday

 

[wrb]

"
UFC has made alot of idiotic fights man without reasons.

Example:

The Poatan vs Roundtree fight (Who asked for this fight?)
Merab vs O´Malley 2 (Seriously?)
Strickland vs Du Plessis 2 (What in the actual fuk? is this sports killing man)"

Dude.. Sean is the only person in the UFC who actually beat DDP and if the rematch did not happen, DDP would NEVER get as much respect as he has now because he made the adjustments and dominated the rematch. I digress and I know this is not about that issue.

To answer your question: I really like all the fights every week, its what I like to do when I am not working in front of a computer, I have no idea why and really don't care if people think its stupid. If you are just trolling then fair play, you got me responding.