What can be done to rival UFC?

[BowserJr]

I think most of us agree that UFC has gotten watered down, stale and is declining. What can another promotion do to rival or out do the UFC?

Pride was able to in part because UFC was in the dark ages but aside from that they got talent from Rings and did crossover with K1. Another thing that brought a ton of hype were their tournaments.

Strikeforce got a number of good TV deals and somehow secured tons of good talent too.

Bellator did ok for a while, especially with Rizin cross promo, but ultimately it sounds like they were going bankrupt.

I think One could potentially do it if they did more crossover matches with their muay Thai or grappling fighters with compelling mma fighters (ie. Mma high level striker v Thai fighter or grappling champ v high level mma grappler)

They're in Asia so they could probably do Pride style tournaments too.

For the American market IMO the only way to explode would be
1. Get good TV deals like Strikeforce/Elite XC got
2. They need some sort of reality show. This is really the only thing that saved the UFC.

A reality show that allows people to get to know fighters and get invested in their story is probably the most important part.

GFL could potentially do well using many of their old fighters as coaches of teams similar to TUF

What say you sherbros?

Would any of this work or is BowserJr in fantasy land?

 

[David Street]

I do not agree.

 

[Bobby Boulders]

The UFC will ultimately be the UFC's undoing, not another org. There's little to no chance another org will ever gain ground on them, until the UFC hangs themselves, which could happen.

Everyone thought PRIDE really would never die, until it did. It wasn't waning fandom that did it, it was internal issues. It isn't outside of the realm of possibility that a scandal might someday make the UFC come crashing down. Dana being on the Epstein flight list, or something along those lines.

If it eventually happens, the power struggle between other orgs will usher in a new golden age, and all will be right again in the world.

 

[ryanrandy]

I would say a huge partner like Netflix but even that most likely wouldn't work. Secondary leagues basically suck in all sports. Just the way it is.

 

[BowserJr]

I would say a huge partner like Netflix but even that most likely wouldn't work. Secondary leagues basically suck in all sports. Just the way it is.

I agree but MMA is different. UfC was the secondary org.

Right now their product sucks. A superior product in terms of fighters and fights could emerge but no one would care if it's not on some premier platform.... like Netflix. That could actually be it.

If another Strikeforce were to emerge with a deal to be on Netflix or some other major streaming service I think it could happen

 

[BowserJr]

The UFC will ultimately be the UFC's undoing, not another org. There's little to no chance another org will ever gain ground on them, until the UFC hangs themselves, which could happen.

Everyone thought PRIDE really would never die, until it did. It wasn't waning fandom that did it, it was internal issues. It isn't outside of the realm of possibility that a scandal might someday make the UFC come crashing down. Dana being on the Epstein flight list, or something along those lines.

If it eventually happens, the power struggle between other orgs will usher in a new golden age, and all will be right again in the world.

I kind of think UFC is starting to hang itself but no one else is around to pick up the peices

 

[DougieJones]

You'd have to find someone with some SERIOUSLY deep pockets who won't mind losing money for at least 5 years. You'd have to somehow gather up all the best available talent not under contract with a major promotion, get TV/PPV deals, and promote the fuck out of it. Contrary to what a lot of people think I do not believe you need some big gimmick that differentiates you from the UFC... you just need to be an actual, transparent, legitimately merit-based league, and stay away from circus BS

Also, make sure your broadcast and production teams are top-notch... not putting in retarded shit like PFL does or taking FOREVER to get through events like Bellator did

 

[Bobby Boulders]

I kind of think UFC is starting to hang itself but no one else is around to pick up the peices

The UFC today definitely isn't the UFC of 10 or 15 years ago. Aside from RIZIN, and almost solely bc of the rule set and the fact it is the closest thing to what I REALLY wanna watch, NHB, I don't care much about the name of the org I'm watching. The UFC doesn't hold much weight with me, they're McDonald's for MMA. If they disappeared and ceased to exist, you'd never hear me complain about it.

 

[David Street]

The UFC will ultimately be the UFC's undoing, not another org. There's little to no chance another org will ever gain ground on them, until the UFC hangs themselves, which could happen.

Everyone thought PRIDE really would never die, until it did. It wasn't waning fandom that did it, it was internal issues. It isn't outside of the realm of possibility that a scandal might someday make the UFC come crashing down. Dana being on the Epstein flight list, or something along those lines.

If it eventually happens, the power struggle between other orgs will usher in a new golden age, and all will be right again in the world.

Yes, the world changes on a dime, and Dana getting political ....

 

[HuskySamoan]

I think most of us agree that UFC has gotten watered down, stale and is declining. What can another promotion do to rival or out do the UFC?

Pride was able to in part because UFC was in the dark ages but aside from that they got talent from Rings and did crossover with K1. Another thing that brought a ton of hype were their tournaments.

Strikeforce got a number of good TV deals and somehow secured tons of good talent too.

Bellator did ok for a while, especially with Rizin cross promo, but ultimately it sounds like they were going bankrupt.

I think One could potentially do it if they did more crossover matches with their muay Thai or grappling fighters with compelling mma fighters (ie. Mma high level striker v Thai fighter or grappling champ v high level mma grappler)

They're in Asia so they could probably do Pride style tournaments too.

For the American market IMO the only way to explode would be
1. Get good TV deals like Strikeforce/Elite XC got
2. They need some sort of reality show. This is really the only thing that saved the UFC.

A reality show that allows people to get to know fighters and get invested in their story is probably the most important part.

GFL could potentially do well using many of their old fighters as coaches of teams similar to TUF

What say you sherbros?

Would any of this work or is BowserJr in fantasy land?

PFL is the promotion with the roster strength to potentially do it, but their business practices are so bad they're losing top talent and stars left and right. ONE has really good promotional abilities and puts on a nice looking show but also has horrible business practices and is a kickboxing promotion that has like 6 MMA fighters in their divisions and cannot even get them active fights. Yeah I dunno, realistically they need some billionaire with deep pockets and a passion for the game to take over the PFL and have a very serious 5 and 10 year plan.

 

[Ara tech]

MMA is not going to be a monopoly of the evil UFC, not anymore but an oligopoly in a near future.

The UFC will continue to be number one for the next twenty years, but One, ACA, KSW will continue to grow.

Right now PFL and One are a bit struggling financially, only ACA and KSW are stable but they all pay handsomely at the top.

According to some, the MMA market will continue to grow per 2,5 or 3,5 in the next 40/60 years. The sport did not even had peeked yet, that is why there is a cold war between organization to control the market and to make the most money out of it.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

I agree but MMA is different. UfC was the secondary org.

Right now their product sucks. A superior product in terms of fighters and fights could emerge but no one would care if it's not on some premier platform.... like Netflix. That could actually be it.

If another Strikeforce were to emerge with a deal to be on Netflix or some other major streaming service I think it could happen

I actually think it's inevitable that the UFC is going to be on Netflix when the TV rights expire.

 

[skylolow]

There is nothing anyone can do.

The only way is if the UFC fails on some crazy level and if that happens why would anyone else want to get into it on that kind of scale. It would take years and years for it to ever recover on any level what so ever. UFC fails on any level kiss MMA worldwide basically good bye, it would put in the dark ages. I'm not even sure what could even cause the UFC to fail to that level.

There isn't any moves for any of these orgs or a new org to make that will make a difference. The UFC has basically branded MMA=UFC in any of the corporate minds that matter. They have most of the top talent in the world and without that fans aren't going to care. Any media outlet looking to give out big dollars to MMA is going straight to the UFC and only the UFC. People making those decisions probably don't even know Rizin, ONE, or PFL exist. No one is handing one of those orgs the kind of money it would take to ever pry away enough fighters from the UFC to make fans take notice and change their viewing habits. UFC just takes in way too much of every MMA dollar there is to take in through out the world.


I think Luke Thomas sums it up pretty good....

 

[jeskola]

Baseball has a Japanese league, a Mexican league, a Dominican league, and several US-based independent leagues. They are all either feeders for MLB or for washed up/older players. MMA is no different. UFC is here to stay as the Major League MMA organization. They continue to grow whether or not hardcore fans like the product. You can go to baseball forums and find in-depth discussion of minor league prospects and independent leagues too.

UFC will likely be around as the top MMA league long after we are all dead.

 

[DougieJones]

Baseball has a Japanese league, a Mexican league, a Dominican league, and several US-based independent leagues. They are all either feeders for MLB or for washed up/older players. MMA is no different. UFC is here to stay as the Major League MMA organization. They continue to grow whether or not hardcore fans like the product. You can go to baseball forums and find in-depth discussion of minor league prospects and independent leagues too.

UFC will likely be around as the top MMA league long after we are all dead.

MLB also has over a century of history behind it and had to deal with plenty of other rival leagues in it's time. Hell MLB itself is made of two merged leagues

When you talk about the UFC being some longtime-dominant organization... it's really not true. UFC has only been around 30 years, which is nothing, and wasn't even the biggest promotion for 30% of it...

 

[Pittie Petey]

BKFC will replace them in the hearts and minds of America by February

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

Hire a real clown to be president

 

[Natural Order]

UFC was the first out of the gates with good branding. They've become the Kleenex of fighting.

Going to be hard to topple the empire now.

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

MLB also has over a century of history behind it and had to deal with plenty of other rival leagues in it's time. Hell MLB itself is made of two merged leagues

When you talk about the UFC being some longtime-dominant organization... it's really not true. UFC has only been around 30 years, which is nothing, and wasn't even the biggest promotion for 30% of it...

Relative to the lifespan of the sport, it is though. MLB is incomparable. Half of it's existence was segregated, different time and place in America and all sports.

We're in the corporate timeline. These are centibillion dollar businesses. MLB reached a billion dollars in one year of revenue in 1992, nearly 90 years into the sports history.

PRIDE was it's only real competition through Yakuza funding. They were able to pay out more cash and get better talent with their delving into K1's roster. There isn't an organization that has been able to do that to the UFC and been able to make its money back.

Affliction paid and tanked. Bellator couldn't pay and became the B-leagues and tanked. PFL is a financial blackhole, with Francis selling 10k PPVs. ONE is the only 'one' with a shot at hitting the eyes needed, but they're also seemingly circling the drain financially. KSW and ACA will continue fostering East European talent, and maybe years in the future some combined European league could be a competitor, but it's a long time and a lot of money away.

The UFC is the Wal-Mart of fighting. There isn't a real notion of supplanting it. Even something as controversial as

Dana being on the Epstein flight list

wouldn't make a dent in the business long term. Dana would retire disgraced to cry with his millions of dollars or face jailtime, while the corporate UFC would continue chugging along after handling the abysmal PR with the billions of dollars they can toss at it.

Did we forget that Vince McMahon recently had a terrible sex scandal? Didn't stop the TKO merger, didn't put a single dent in the WWE's business, and he's been the "face" of that company since before Dana was teaching boxercise classes.

 

[CC27]

Nothing. THere is literally NOTHING that can be done.