What stage do you believe UFC is at?

Substance Abuse said:
Sherdog is a very vocal, yet miniscule contingent of the UFC's fanbase - if you could call it that, as the boards mostly hate everything about it - which usually pays for none of it and is the antithesis of the common, casual fan who digests the sport differently and actually spends money on it.

In reality, the UFC has never been more profitable and likely never as popular even as they cling to the antiquated PPV model that other forms of entertainment have left behind.

The UFC had a live gate total of $119 million in 2023, up from $84 million in 2022. The UFC made $1.3 billion last year, up from $1.1 billion in 2022. 363K people attended live events last year. The UFC had six of its top ten gates ever in the last 20 months.

I'll be shocked if media rights fees don't jump at least 40% on their next deal to $500+ million a year.

It's online growth is substantial month to month.
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It's more popular than boxing.
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And 51% of 18-34 year old men in a recent study are fans.
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But yes, the UFC is dying, and began to die on November 12th, 1993. In before shill quotes, lol.
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Big numbers don't matter, the spirit is dead.
 
I'm not sure the UFC can be compared to other sports. Technology and social media have undoubtedly boosted its early growth, but there's still more potential to be tapped. I believe the Michael Jordan of this sport hasn't been born yet.
 
It’s a fad that is last its peak in popularity. They’ve tried really hard to make it a mainstream sport but it didn’t happen.
Casual sports fans can tell you who the top football or basketball players are but can’t name the UFC champions.
There are no more Chuck Liddell’s or Tito Ortiz’s
 
Rubios said:
I made another thread two or three days ago that quickly became lol'ed because of bad takes, so...

The thing is: NBA, NFL, football (I'm from Spain, so I mean soccer I guess)... have evolved a huge leap once advanced stats/data analysis set in.

NBA is 75+ years old, most popular sports competition in the world from the early 90s (I was a Jordan's witness, man I'm old...) and still, no coach back then could foresee a team playing like the Warriors or the current Celtics.
No coach could ask for a player like Curry, Jokic or Luka. They would never "happened", the game just wasn't there yet.

"MMA on a cage" is very, very young and still niche even if the martial arts involved stand for centuries: they were not crafted or teached for this means.

Do you believe UFC will evolve as it keeps growing, producing not "better" athletes per se, but athletes that will approach fights in ways we may feel counterintuitive but will prove effective?

TL;DR Will the UFC undergo some pivotal landmark due to advanced stats, like D'Antoni's Suns or GSW? Will it guide fighters towards a whole different fight game, as if we compared the way Kareem and Jokic play?
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Jordan shits on those guys
 
Substance Abuse said:
I gladly accept your concession after an incredibly compelling post earlier. It is what it is, bud.
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Matt, you of all people should know the difference between statements and arguments. My statement had neither premises nor a logical conclusion, therefore was not an argument. 🥸
 
Rod Farva said:
It’s a fad that is last its peak in popularity. They’ve tried really hard to make it a mainstream sport but it didn’t happen.
Casual sports fans can tell you who the top football or basketball players are but can’t name the UFC champions.
There are no more Chuck Liddell’s or Tito Ortiz’s
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The rules can be explained in less than a minute unlike other sports.

They still know what the UFC is and can connect with it very easily.
 
Rod Farva said:
It’s a fad that is last its peak in popularity. They’ve tried really hard to make it a mainstream sport but it didn’t happen.
Casual sports fans can tell you who the top football or basketball players are but can’t name the UFC champions.
There are no more Chuck Liddell’s or Tito Ortiz’s
Click to expand...

Its niche, not fad. To be a fad it would have to go away completely. It will always have its base of fans. Its better to remain niche anyway. I dont know why some want it polluted with mainstream casuals.
 
Rod Farva said:
It’s a fad that is last its peak in popularity. They’ve tried really hard to make it a mainstream sport but it didn’t happen.
Casual sports fans can tell you who the top football or basketball players are but can’t name the UFC champions.
There are no more Chuck Liddell’s or Tito Ortiz’s
Click to expand...
MMA was a thing before MMA was a coined term, though. This is why I don't buy the "this sport is limited by its violent nature" arguments. Unless humanity really changes at its core, there's always going to be martial art as sport. It was once the most popular sport worldwide.

I think it's almost more accurate to view all of combat sports as one big sport, or just thing. Crossover used to be incredibly common even back as early as the 2000s. It still kinda is. Restrictive contracts kill the spirit of it for sure.

Maybe "MMA" might even move out of favor as the preferred "anything goes" sport on a long enough timeline. Or become something pretty different than we know it even with the same name.
 
J'Ghasta said:
Its niche, not fad. To be a fad it would have to go away completely. It will always have its base of fans. Its better to remain niche anyway. I dont know why some want it polluted with mainstream casuals.
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Pretty sure a certain segment of potential fans is never interested because it is a combat sport with both arms and legs are really used.
 
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