UFC's PPV numbers are at an all-time low. I Have Some Ideas.

[brody_in_ga]

The solution is simple...

-Get rid of WMMA

Let's be real, no one is watching the UFC for WMMA. It's a drain on the entertainment value. With the exception of a tiny few, it's mostly garbage.

-Lower the price of PPVs

$80 plus ESPN fees are ridiculous.

-Make champions fight more

Defending the title once a yr doesn't generate excitement for the divisions.

Lastly and most importantly, LEARN GOW TO MANAGE PPV TIMES BETTER!!!

There's no reason an event should last as long as they currently do. Better time
management would help the product.

Lastly

 

[jeff7b9]

I honestly couldn't tell you what happened. The card quality has gone down, sure. But I honestly can't think of any solution, because there are only a handful of good fighters now. All of the champions are horrible and lose every other fight. There truly aren't enough of them to consistently replicate the previous quality of the sport. The last UFC PPV I actually bought was Jones vs Cormier iirc.

Zuffa sold the company to business men who only wanted to recoup their $4b so they haven't PROMOTED (their literal job) worth shit or recruited good talent from other orgs for the most part for about 9 years.

They do DWCS instead of bringing in proven fighters with fanbase and elite skills because DWCS guys are happy to fight for shit pay and UFC doesn't care about having the best fighters like they used to in the era that bought out Strikefore and Pride to ensure the BEST fighters were on the UFC.

9-10 YEARS of bad decisions and running a business funded by people who don't give a shit about the sports the fans or the fighters is what happened. Compounded by the fact that they have been failing upwards the whole time. Price gouging the shit out of fans for record gates, mliking the brand name recognition for every penny and promoting the UFC name instead of the fighters. Someone posted the fight posters for UFC 100, 200 & 300 side by side.

100- fighters everywhere!! Brock, Mir, GSP, Hendo
200 big UFC logo, fighters around it in the shadows but the focus was the logo
300- just the UFC logo. No fighters




You are just starting to see the downfall now because they did such an amazing job in the Pride/SF/WEC merge era that they were able to ride that into the ground for this long.

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

UFC 40 my man. That was the event that got me back into the UFC. Ken Shamrock versus Tito Ortiz vendetta. I think I paid $20 for it. Those were the days.

Yeah that was an amazing event, I loved it. They buzz and hype and excitement was unreal, all the fights on that card were so much fun. UFC really put a big effort into how it all looked back then, the lighting was awesome.

I miss those times brother, it was such a great era, and then the week after you could tune into Pride and see another awesome event.

 

[ocfightfan]

It's the nature of the ESPN deal. The UFC is guaranteed a minimum amount of money from ESPN no matter what happens so they just have to make sure they pump out a certain amount of product to meet the terms. This ensures revenue stability and certainty but incentivizes lowering costs. It creates a race to the bottom, or at least to a low end equilibrium, where the product gets commoditized and watered down. The reliance on a handful of stars to juice revenue is much less but you also end up with a less exciting product.

 

[AmonTobin]

I love a good finish but I prefer it after some fighting has occurred, not a quick one. So I wouldn’t incentivize early finishes, just finishes.

 

[cws80us]

The solution is simple...

-Get rid of WMMA

Let's be real, no one is watching the UFC for WMMA. It's a drain on the entertainment value. With the exception of a tiny few, it's mostly garbage.

-Lower the price of PPVs

$80 plus ESPN fees are ridiculous.

-Make champions fight more

Defending the title once a yr doesn't generate excitement for the divisions.

Lastly and most importantly, LEARN GOW TO MANAGE PPV TIMES BETTER!!!

There's no reason an event should last as long as they currently do. Better time
management would help the product.

Lastly

Some great suggestions here. One of the biggest issues imo is the chronic inactivity of the top guys in the divisions. Only fighting once or twice a year at most. Going 5-6 months between fights. This leads to watered down cards. There are obviously legit excuses for long layoffs such as injuries, suspensions, etc. But alot of times it's just plain rank squatting (I'm looking at you Colby). There should be some rules in place that you have to fight on some sort of regular basis or else you get stripped of your belt or ranking. With some exceptions of course.

 

[bigfootsbreath]

View attachment 1087863

Is that the asian vinch mcmann? LMAO

 

[jeff7b9]

soon it will be $100 for UFC PPV

It is very close to $100 now.


$80 ppv (79.99)
$12 monthly espn+
= $92

There are a dozen US states that have sales tax as high as 10-12%

10% tax on $92 = $9.20

So all in $99.18

 

[Thepaintbucket]

Do you know how the UFC was able to buy up competition and thrive? By paying fighters as little as possible, absorbing rosters of other organizations and signing people who already made a name for themselves in a smaller organization. Now that gravy train is slowing down and the UFC can't keep the gears turning.

It's time for them to invest back into the sport. None of these reality TV show BS. The UFC needs a feeder organization on the local level to attract more talent

 

[fortheo]

PPV is a dying model. Get rid of it. It isn't 2003 anymore.

 

[Dbreiden83080]

Yeah that was an amazing event, I loved it. They buzz and hype and excitement was unreal, all the fights on that card were so much fun. UFC really put a big effort into how it all looked back then, the lighting was awesome.

I miss those times brother, it was such a great era, and then the week after you could tune into Pride and see another awesome event.

It is amazing how the prices have skyrocketed in this sport.. I vividly recall paying $24.95 for UFC 66 Chuck Versus Tito 2.. As a Tito fan the outcome for me sucked and I got wasted after it was over LOL.. I'm married now so for the Jones/Stipe fight it was 2 beers and some popcorn. Time flies..

 

[Superzorro]

4 title defenses doesn't impress you? Who the fuck are you maybe need an ego check?

Getting in the cage in of itself is impressive. But if we’re talking greatness and all time rankings, four title defenses doesn’t do much to put you up there with the best. You’re either lying to yourself or new to the sport if you believe otherwise. There are people with five times that number.

Zuffa sold the company to business men who only wanted to recoup their $4b so they haven't PROMOTED (their literal job) worth shit or recruited good talent from other orgs for the most part for about 9 years.

They do DWCS instead of bringing in proven fighters with fanbase and elite skills because DWCS guys are happy to fight for shit pay and UFC doesn't care about having the best fighters like they used to in the era that bought out Strikefore and Pride to ensure the BEST fighters were on the UFC.

9-10 YEARS of bad decisions and running a business funded by people who don't give a shit about the sports the fans or the fighters is what happened.

You are just starting to see now because they did such an amazing job in the Pride/SF/WEC merge era that they were able to ride that into the ground for this long.

Good insight.

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

They got a guarantee baseline equivalent to 500k in ppv sales with Disney. I don't think they are worried

 

[jeff7b9]

Good insight.

 

[frederick]

No disney stoppages
Cut PPV costs by half

 

[Joshua8531]

Getting in the cage in of itself is impressive. But if we’re talking greatness and all time rankings, four title defenses doesn’t do much to put you up there with the best. You’re either lying to yourself or new to the sport if you believe otherwise. There are people with five times that number.


Good insight.

The days of fighters going on streaks of 7, 9, 10 straight title defenses are for the most part gone. The sport has caught up with the outliers like Aldo, GSP, and Silva.

Every fighter now is starting at 7 years old training all disciplines leaving limited holes in their game.

This is not a negative thing. I don't include boxing cause we have seen time and again records of 29-0 31-0, fighter's getting destroyed once they stop padding their records.

Just my opinion.

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

They need to just take that Netflix deal and either ditch PPV or do like 3-4 "supercards" per year at a reasonable price. The days of going back to TUF era PPV buys are over. Theres way too much content and the PPVs are overpriced and easy to watch for free.

If you look at the height of Conormania around 2015/16, it was just him, Ronda and 200 (with Brock returning) that did good numbers. Even back then there wasnt a consistent PPV audience buying practically every card like there had been circa 2009.

 

[HunterAcosta]

Streams are easy to find down wind of the river.

 

[Superzorro]

The days of fighters going on streaks of 7, 9, 10 straight title defenses are for the most part gone. The sport has caught up with the outliers like Aldo, GSP, and Silva.

Every fighter now is starting at 7 years old training all disciplines leaving limited holes in their game.

This is not a negative thing. I don't include boxing cause we have seen time and again records of 29-0 31-0, fighter's getting destroyed once they stop padding their records.

Just my opinion.

I disagree. I think those fighters were talented. I think generally speaking they would be just as far ahead of the competition now, as they were back then.
Silva, Aldo and GSP weren’t so good exclusively because they started training at a younger age. They all started training around the same age as their contemporaries, just like these fighters now.

And even now a days, there are top fighters who started training late and demolish lifelong guys… (Volkanovski, Pereira, etc).

It’s all about the same; they’re just not as special and talented as they used to be.

 

[Ramon Antonio]

They are now twerking in the UFC apparently so it's indeed over. Fucking trash.