I thought UFC was suppose to be dying? I mean, that is what those +1000 Shertards were convincing here the last couple of years. Where did they disappear? Spoiler
Never bought into that nonsense however the UFC is definitely doing their best to make the sport lack as much legitimacy as possible. When you have to rely on gimmicks like Conor and Ronda, go out and sign CM punk, and start making absurd title fights there definitely is room for concern as to where the sport is headed.
The only gimmicks is cm punk. Ronda and conor are break out fighters. Conor fought mendes and going to fight aldo soon.
There are still some major concerns, but you're right...Ronda and Conor boosted the UFC's popularity, legitimacy, or whatever you want to call it.
WMMA is not really a competitive thing - it's just not. Most of these gals are just cross fit people who thought, "hey, i can kick things."
C'mon really? Conor and Ronda are definitely real fighters but you can't deny the fact that they just happened to come up at the right time. When you're marketable, the UFC will do its best to make ways for you. Dana encourages Ronda to call out Floyd, however I dont see that same enthusiasm when asking her to call out the only other fighter that really matters in WMMA. She would rather her fight Cupcake Tate 10 more times before doing that.
Unfortunately those things will never matter because it will increase viewership from casuals and where the viewership comes from doesn't matter.
Once UFC 191 does under 200k buys and a shitty gate threads will be popping up all over the place. Just imagine if McGregor or ROnda loses, they are waiting for that to happen so they declare the sport dead.
I tell what's a gimmick fight. Kmbo vs ken or when they had some mask dude come up during tito and bonar face off. Randy vs Tony is a gimmick fight also. Ronda clean out her division. You can call it weak or not but thatd another topic. Tate has 4 fight winning streak why not have a third fight. If cain vs jds did a rubber match why can't ronda. Beside by next year cyborg will be fighting ronda.
Conor and Ronda aren't gimmicks. They are beating the best fighters in their weight class. You seem to think gimmick = popular. But we're talking about the same company that gave 2-1 Brock Lesnar a title shot. That signed a boxer with no mma experience and had him fight a legend of the sport. Those were gimmicks.
Actually hate the hypocrisy that Dana/UFC show when they were the second rate org riding PRIDEs coat tails to legitimacy, and openly criticizing "freak show fights", the production, match making etc. Sakikabara presented Pride as what it was, the UFC are the ones doing publicity stunts like implementing "official rankings", "official uniforms", etc yet not making title fights based of "rankings" and signing "Pro Fighter" CM Punk to don that Brand New Reebok kit. One big joke brah. :icon_lol::icon_lol::icon_lol:
In 2014 they were starting to circle the toilet. This year things are doing great. The question is, is it all just a temporary status meant to male the company appear as an attractive investment to potential buyers?
