UFC Poland

Blachowicz vs Teixeira probably isn’t a big enough fight to headline a PPV, but it would be a great headliner for an ESPN or ESPN+ card in Poland. Joanna in the co-main, plus Tybura, Karolina and other Polish fighters to round out the card and you could probably break the UFC attendance record. Bonus points for bringing Joanna out of her self-imposed hiatus.

Fun fact: Poland-based promotion KSW actually has a slightly higher attendance record than the UFC. Second highest in MMA history behind only Pride Shockwave 2002.

KSW 39 = 57,766
UFC 243 = 57,127

 

I disagree with the premise that Jan vs Glover can't be a headliner. I don't see how that is worse than say, Usman vs Burns or Figuereido vs Moreno - just to stay with recent ppv cards.

That said, cool idea in general, but we are still in the middle of a fucking pandemic, you can't just point at a location and say "that's where I want to go next".

 

Fair enough on both points, but it would likely be a filler PPV the way Usman vs Burns essentially was.

Locations obviously depend on COVID, but Jan mentioned wanting to take some time off to spend with family so we could be looking at late 2021, or early 2022. Hopefully by then the combination of COVID survivors and vaccine recipients will combine for some semblance of herd immunity.

Jan and Joanna should get the opportunity at some point, if not right away.

 

That sounds cool in theory, but yea pandemic. Joanna and Jan fighting I'm Poland sounds great tho.

 

Nah, Teixeira is not the kind of fighter people want to see headlining a PPV. Then again, without Jon Jones that division is pretty meh. This is why Dana got so pissed that Izzy lost.

Even the Bellator LHW division with all the UFC rejects is way more interesting at this point than UFC’s.

 

I'm sure Brazil, China and Poland are on the list for international cards, but who knows when that'll happen. Experts are saying Brazil has a Covid crisis with a new variant, and if I'm a fighter I hesitate traveling there.

 

I don’t miss the Vegas crowds, but I am definitely getting anxious for international events to return — when it’s safe to do so, of course.

- Jan and Joanna in Poland
- Nunes and Figueiredo in Brazil
- Yan, Volkov, etc. in Russia
- Izzy and Volkanovski in New Zealand
- Ngannou and Gane in France
- Usman, Izzy, Ngannou in Africa
- Zhang and Xiaonan in China

 

Absolutely, Blachowicz fights out of Warsaw which is the biggest city and capital so the infrastructure is obviously there and the population is well off enough to have the disposable income necessary to sell tickets.

 

The division is in a transition phase at the moment. Rakic, Ankalaev, Prochazka, Crute, Hill, etc. will take the division over soon enough. The division only seemed so stacked before because everyone took a turn holding the belt between Liddell and Jones so everyone in the division was a former champion.

There is also a chance Jones loses at HW and returns. Combine his lacklustre performances at LHW lately with the added intrigue of having to cut back down after taking so much time to bulk up and that would be a really interesting scenario.

 

Hopefully, indeed.

Not really, and there are good prospects and legit contenders at LHW, Izzy coming is a one off thing because he is the shining object.

 

Rakic, Ankalaev and so on are good fighters, but they lack something to really be interested in them.

Fighters like Shogun, Machida, Jones all had a very unique fighting style, they had personality. This new guys are obviously very skilled but they lack something.
Johnny Walker has the potential to be a star but he already lost so his hype got derailed as well.

 

Ksw is a national pride for them and perhaps removes alot of UFC potential in Poland. Probably like how Japan had pride so ufc would of been foolish to try and do fights there.

 

There is this feeling that Blachowicz is an illegitimate champ because Jones vacated. But this needs to die. Blachowicz has now defended his title against a very dangerous challenger -- in a fight most thought Blachowicz would lose.

He deserves to headline a PPV and get paid.

 

I might have to travel to that one then. But I would add that I agree with this:

Glover vs Jan is in no way worse than most of the PPV headliners we've had in the last 3 years. At the same time, I get that it isn't exactly a Causal Spectacular either. Would benefit from an exciting undercard.

 

Sounds like a good idea and its time to let the fans in the stands.
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That said, cool idea in general, but we are still in the middle of a fucking pandemic, you can't just point at a location and say "that's where I want to go next".[/QUOTE]

If there was a UFC next door tomorrow and say "That's where I want to go next". Got the pleasure of watching some live fights the other day sure it was no UFC type event but there was a nice big crowd. It's just life as usual.

 

Pride was a direct competitor to the UFC, while KSW seems content with being a regional powerhouse.

The UFC also didn’t have much talent from Japan at the time. I can’t imagine local fans would choose to stay home rather than support the likes of Jan, Joanna, Tybura, Karolina, Gamrot, Jotko, etc. out of blind loyalty to KSW.

 

It might not be the biggest seller but it's still a title fight, and the UFC and/or ESPN seems convinced you need at least one for a PPV unless Conor has agreed to a bout, so I highly doubt it would not be used to satisfy the quota. Which means it would be scheduled for the convenience of the US PPV-paying public and not the locals in attendance. It depends if the company trusts the Poles being rabid enough to show up at some ungodly hour.

 

Sign Kolecki. I think he'd do well UFC

 

Adding up Rose, Bukauskas or Stoliarenko would be a logical move for attracting Lithuanian fan base.