What is preventing you from being a bigger UFC fan?

[Prologue]

Not UFC, but were you around for Fedor/Cro Cop?
Talk about high stakes... I've been chasing that high for 20 years now.

I was one of those TUF noob/Zuffa zombie guys. I very distinctly rememeber being sold on the Cro Cop hype though, to see Gonzaga give him his own medicine.



Also, to this point, Cro Cop's hype was easy to buy because the guy was a Van Damme movie villian made real life. The only current fighter with any of that same vibe is Poatan, which is probably why he got so popular. The homogenized, watered down product these days just doesn't deliver the same.

 

[Söze Aldo]

MMA fighters are literally out there making more money in Polish MMA leagues now. The UFC is deliberately becoming a bush league.

 

[El Fernas]

I watch every single card, even if i dont watch every single fight, i do tune in for every event.

 

[NicholasJBasile]

We're all fans, but is there something about the UFC that prevents you from being a bigger fan?

For me, i'm more of a traditionalist and like firm rankings and warranted title shots. Things like preferential treatment, especially with Jon Jones who held up the LHW division looking for favorable matchups, now holding up the HW division while simultaneously fucking over Tom Aspinal which impacts his legacy, really makes me hate some aspects of the sport...and Dana allows it to happen.

The way the HW division is being managed leaves sour feelings and honestly, makes me withdraw from the sport somewhat.

What are some things that make you withdraw from the sport or prevent you from maximizing your fandom?

For me, the 2 main things would probably be poor matchmaking and PPV prices

 

[Versez]

The UFC entered his dark age, all the money and possible stars are now pumped out.

Dark times are coming....

 

[Neck&Neck]

Too many rematches and interim belts
And I wish some fighters would fight more often than 1-2 times per year
Bigger bobs and more Vagene
Less diva shit, more banging
And more uppercuts
*Last but not least, bring back the hot dog brander and the old weigh ins format

 

[Intermission]

We're all fans, but is there something about the UFC that prevents you from being a bigger fan?

For me, i'm more of a traditionalist and like firm rankings and warranted title shots. Things like preferential treatment, especially with Jon Jones who held up the LHW division looking for favorable matchups, now holding up the HW division while simultaneously fucking over Tom Aspinal which impacts his legacy, really makes me hate some aspects of the sport...and Dana allows it to happen.

The way the HW division is being managed leaves sour feelings and honestly, makes me withdraw from the sport somewhat.

What are some things that make you withdraw from the sport or prevent you from maximizing your fandom?

They can't keep Ngannou, Aspinall is waiting in the shower, and the talent pool is weak.

 

[EndlessCritic]

MMA fighters are literally out there making more money in Polish MMA leagues now. The UFC is deliberately becoming a bush league.

Wait until you hear about this sport called Soccer.

It's arguably more healthy for the sport overall if there isn't a single league dominating all the top talent.

 

[JBJ was here]

As a Sherdoger, my height and weight already exceed human capacity. I can't get any bigger.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

ESPN+ and the ppv model.

Ditch ppv forever, take the Netflix deal, and I'd probably watch a lot more cards live on the Dana approved medium for viewing them.

Used to be able to turn on the TV most weekends and catch fights. Had a large cable package with multiple ESPN channels, but now what the fuck is this + bullshit?

 

[BangBang]

I just don't want the UFC logo tattooed on my willy.

 

[IDGETKTFO]

Lack of meritocracy and influx of social media bullshit, not as many exciting fighters, way too much politics involved (I mean actual politics, like Trump going to the fights and so on).

So you are all for DEI as long as its not in the UFC, good to know.

 

[BFoe]

So you are all for DEI as long as its not in the UFC, good to know.

This is for the WR, not here. Meritocracy still exists in DEI initiatives. People hired through DEI initiatives are still fully qualified, it’s an utter myth that they are not.
And since we aren’t in the WR, that’s all I’m going to say about it.

 

[sdpdude9]

The biggest thing to me by far is the devaluing of being champion through undeserved title shots, unnecessary interim belts, poor matchmaking to build proper intriguing contenders, and emphasis on double champ shit instead of defending the title. All of these leads to few longstanding champions, divisions becoming messes, and a lack of intriguing challengers.

 

[caligari209]

WMMA

 

[jeskola]

Finances. I can't afford the Conor tattoo, Venum fight kit, or UFC hit dog brander much less bid on the Amanda Lemos gloves or Ruffy jersey.

 

[RedDevilFan]

We're all fans, but is there something about the UFC that prevents you from being a bigger fan?

For me, i'm more of a traditionalist and like firm rankings and warranted title shots. Things like preferential treatment, especially with Jon Jones who held up the LHW division looking for favorable matchups, now holding up the HW division while simultaneously fucking over Tom Aspinal which impacts his legacy, really makes me hate some aspects of the sport...and Dana allows it to happen.

The way the HW division is being managed leaves sour feelings and honestly, makes me withdraw from the sport somewhat.

What are some things that make you withdraw from the sport or prevent you from maximizing your fandom?

How the fuck did jones hold up the LHW division and only want favorable matchups when he cleaned it out of all of its top divisional fighters. The problem at LHW was jones did not have enough top divisional fighters to fight when he was in his prime after he cleaned out the LHW division. You can cry about jones at HW but not at LHW. Outside of Rumble who he was scheduled to fight but got suspended for his crazy antics outside of the ring, there would be no top divisional fighters at LHW Jones did not fight.

I also do not get the crying about HW before the stipe fight. Jones had a previous fight with Stipe and got injured, and that injury and subsequent Stipe fight preceded anything Aspinall. It invalidates anything about Aspinall and a fight with him before the Stipe fight had concluded and that included jones coming back from a year long injury. Now he is on the clock to fight Aspinall. Could it be faster sure, and can you complain about the HW division, sure, but the bullshit im reading about his LHW run and favorable matchups is absolute fucking nonsense.

 

[cblitz]

We're all fans, but is there something about the UFC that prevents you from being a bigger fan?

For me, i'm more of a traditionalist and like firm rankings and warranted title shots. Things like preferential treatment, especially with Jon Jones who held up the LHW division looking for favorable matchups, now holding up the HW division while simultaneously fucking over Tom Aspinal which impacts his legacy, really makes me hate some aspects of the sport...and Dana allows it to happen.

The way the HW division is being managed leaves sour feelings and honestly, makes me withdraw from the sport somewhat.

What are some things that make you withdraw from the sport or prevent you from maximizing your fandom?

That's exactly what it is for me also. The way the HW division is being managed and Jones holding up the division.

 

[Natural Order]

The oversaturation and cookie cutter/corporate feel to it all. It's become very stale. A fight is still a fight, and I'm likely going to always tune in when I can. But as a successful and growing sport/product? I'd say it's in a pretty boring place and is having a much harder time attracting new fans that the sport did 15-20 years ago.

 

[laleggenda27]

1. The watered-down cards.

More than half the UFC's roster is composed of low-level regional fighters who have no business in the UFC. Many people incorrectly think the problem is that there are too many cards. The reality is that the UFC's business model is to maximize profits by filling cards with cheap labor. Meanwhile, you have high-level fighters sitting on the sideline literally asking for fights but being forced to wait for months on end.

2. The injection of far-right politics. It's getting completely out of hand and hard to ignore.