Was the UFC's rise and fall based mostly on GSP ?

[Del1]

I am American and always had great respect for GSP as a man and especially as a fighter. He outclassed everyone he fought

I'm a Canadian, and wasn't really a fan of his, but goddammit if he wasn't a consummate professional and incredibly talented fighter.

 

[frederick]

No. Not the fall. The rise had a big part though

If his presence was a reason for the rise, then wouldn't his absence be a reason for the fall?

 

[Limbo Pete]

He was a great champ with a lot of charisma.

 

[Not Tuf]

The decline is because no one replaced Chuck, Brock and GSP. GSP was just the last big star to leave but the ratings had already fallen lots on non-GSP cards.

 

[Spodnett]

http://mmapayout.com/2014/10/sports-business-journal-lists-ufcs-top-ppv-draws/
http://www.mmasentinel.com/2013/12/gsp-retires-ufc-half-billion-dollars/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeoza...-the-worlds-most-valuable-sports-brands-2014/

There does seem to be a strong correlation with the the UFC's present weaker PPV sales and GSP's extremely high PPV sales average. Even though Brock was number 1 he only headlined a handful of PPVs where GSP headlined 16. And if you look further into the numbers GSP's PPVs made the UFC almost 1/3 of the company's estimated value.

 

[robbie]

While guys like Chuck and Tito held the UFC together and brought it some base attention up to 2005, it wasn't until GSP came along that we saw the UFC become the massive name it is. When you look at the peak year's of the UFC, it's mostly tied to when GSP was fighting.

I will give all credit to TUF and Spike for bringing the UFC to the forefront, but when GSP beat Hughes in March of 2006, his persona and style really put the UFC over the top. Ratings blew up and even moderate MMA fans began paying attention to other names. Brock's addition to the UFC only helped thing, but ratings didn't drop after he retired. But it wasn't until GSP's last fight in late 2013 ratings began taking a hit.

GSP was a big part of the MMA growth wave, but you have to consider that Anderson Silva and BJ Penn were also in their prime around the time GSP became a rock star. Brock Lesnar was also a huge star in terms of eye-balls and PPV revenues at that time. Another wave of great fighters then came along like Aldo, JDS, Jon Jones and Cain Velasquez. You also had older name fighters who were still relevant like Hendo, Belfort and Shogun.

The problem now is too many cards which has diluted the talent on each card. I rarely buy the PPV's now whereas I used to buy more than half of the cards for several years.

 

[Wise1]

LoL

 

[sharkcat]

PPV Sales Figures

2008-2010 Had all their biggest stars ever fighting. Since then, Liddell, Couture, Sonnen, GSP, and Lesnar no longer fight. Silva's been out (last guy to draw over a million), Rampage has been gone, Rashad hasn't fought much... They are just lacking the star power. Jones is big, but aside from his fight with Cormier, which got tons of media attention, doesn't draw like GSP or Silva did. Could be because they had entire countries backing them, while Jones is from the U.S.

In any case, stars are what make money. UFC knows this, which is probably Conor is getting such a push. He has the charisma that makes you pay attention to him. The only problem with this is people eventually get tired of that, so hopefully he is good enough to get to the top and stay there. Even then, he's a featherweight, which doesn't interest some people. Huge, larger than life monsters like Lesnar are a big attraction.

 

[Cptn1NSAN0]

He had a lot to do with it but also the loss of Lesnar hurt a lot. Silva losing/almost retiring also hurt.

 

[Jon Stark]

In short, yes. Brock and Anderson helped. 2009 was the golden era of the UFC and it's been downhill ever since.

 

[JoeJohnston]

Brock

Brock was for sure, along with chuck gone. TUF being watered down. No Strikeforce or Pride etc.