News UFC Shanghai card expected to shift to Las Vegas on Dec. 9

[vinnie245]

Looks like the UFC's plans to go to china this year have gone up in smoke.

UFC Shanghai card expected to shift to Las Vegas on Dec. 9

The UFC’s planned return to China will have to wait with the upcoming card scheduled in Shanghai expected to shift back to Las Vegas on Dec. 9

www.mmafighting.com

Also from the event wiki: "The four finals of the Road to UFC Season 2 were expected to take place at this event However, due to the location change, these bouts will not be happening at this event and will be rescheduled to a future event"
So it also needs a bunch of new fights too, something obviously went wrong.

 

[Pechan]

What happened? The chinese fans didn't want to pay 600 bucks for nosebleed seats?

 

[Greg House]

China has been such a disappointment in martial arts. As a kid I would watch all these kickboxing movies and I thought the chinese were the best fighters. Not just american movies with their generic Bruce Lee lookalikes but chinese movies also had all these flashy fighting scenes that made me think that they were either really good at fighting or were really into watching fights.

Such a fail. They are a joke. 1400 million people in there. All that myth with their Shaolin super human monks. All smoke. They suck. UFC should stop trying to get into that market, they have been trying for years and so far they have nothing.

 

[Siver!]

China has been such a disappointment in martial arts. As a kid I would watch all these kickboxing movies and I thought the chinese were the best fighters. Not just american movies with their generic Bruce Lee lookalikes but chinese movies also had all these flashy fighting scenes that made me think that they were either really good at fighting or were really into watching fights.

Such a fail. They are a joke. 1400 million people in there. All that myth with their Shaolin super human monks. All smoke. They suck. UFC should stop trying to get into that market, they have been trying for years and so far they have nothing.

Everybody really bought into the idea that China was this big uber-market that would take the sport to the next level, but everything I've heard suggests it's a very convoluted market. It's not homogenous in any way, there's no easy way to 'make it' in China, as what flies in one region doesn't necessarily fly in another.

And isn't it still mostly farmhands and orphans coming through as MMA fighters? Bit of a generalization, but I think MMA just isn't a big deal over there.

 

[The_Renaissance]

Putting on cards in Asia just seems to get tougher every year and the quality is always appalling. Just give up.

 

[NoSmilez]

MMA is still seen as a foreign product. It doesn't have the popularity of kickboxing or boxing. They produced some kickboxing and boxing champions. WMMA isn't really popular there. You would probably need a male champion or a contender to reach the mainstream over there. That might not even be enough. It takes a long time and pandering to get into the market.

 

[Kryptt]

4 or 5 fights from "Road to" that were on that card got dropped/rescheduled as well.