Will modern UFC fans ever be as passionate as Pride Fans?

It seems like every UFC fan hates one thing or another about the organization. From the way it is run, matchmaking, recent sponsorships, fighter pay, fighters, other fighters... etc etc. And not just casual fans, but hardcore fans too.

Is it because the time has changed? Did the people change? Is it because we're actually goofs?

What will it take for Zuffa to make fans loyal to the product, and PROUD... so that years later, we may look back with fond memories instead of with "LOL see he was a can" or "he should have retired haha" comments.

UFC 190 had Shogun and The Nogs and people were calling it a shit card cause dinosaurs and more "haha retire" and all that. Man, just sad to see... is passion gone from MMA?

Pride dudes you know what I'm talking about. Here's one for the feels

 

No chance, the TMZ population has taken over.

 

No chance in hell.

 

Oh God no. Pride at its prime was the best era for MMA ever and probably ever will be. Now, the large majority of the fans are dudes who walk around to chicks at bars and use "I'm a cage fighter" as a pickup line. I know, i worked at a bar

 

Pride captured long time fan's imagination in the MMA age of innocence. In hindsight there were a lot more problems than were evident at the time. Today every move the UFC makes is heavily scrutinized by many of those same fans. I think this is probably a good thing, but it makes it inevitable that many of them will be dissatisfied.

I think there is still a lot of passion in MMA, but the old timers call it hype.

 

Part of the reason Pride fans didn't hate on Pride ever is because they were competing with the UFC at the time. The UFC didn't have its fans hating on it back then either because the fans wanted to talk it up to make it look better then Pride.

If Pride were around and alone at the top today there would be tons of people complaining about freak show fights, champs never defending their belts, no testing etc...

 

There are no casual pride fans in the U.S. You had to put in real effort to see those shows at the time. UFC is native and easy to get to, so there are casuals. Both have their fanatics.

 

I feel like hardcore fans are the only ones who hate on the UFC. Casual fans either don't know or don't care.

 

With the growth of the interwebz, came the growth of the haters and trolls.

 

Good point, but is it passion when they say Ronda will beat Mayweather?

or is it passion when The Conor fans and the Conor-Exorcists duke it out in the forums, one side claiming dude to be the GOAT and face of the UFC, the other side calling him a nobody with no technique etc etc.

Honestly I've never seen mma fans hate mma more than they do right now.

There's got to be something that the UFC can do to build a bridge right?

 

Imagine the hate that would flow if UFC had the circus that Pride had. There were some good fights but there was also a LOT of corruption,cheating and freak fights.

I know though..."those were the days"...LOL

 

Ahh.. PRIDE.. Loved those PPVs. Loved the fans in Japan as well, so intelligent. I was genuinely sad when it folded. Those were special times.. Sadly, I think alot of casual MMA fans are goofs whether they can help it or even realize it or not. Just gotta keep moving forward I guess.. UFC is pretty much where it's at now. Not much that can be done about that.

 

You are posting ON FIRE today

 

Funny thing is, the hardcores are the ones that complain about everything that doesn't go on in the octagon & a lot of the casuals just care about the fights lol

Of course ultra-casuals just follow the events, but I mean the biggest part of the fanbase are real fight fans that don't care about all the myopic details that hardcores do & hardcores don't realize they do it

 

Well I enjoyed DREAM after Pride folded. I'm sure some of you guys did too.

'Freak Show Fights' - well, we knew this wasn't elite mma. But I fucking loved it.

The production itself was badass. Huge fan.




I know I was cheering Minowa hard! especially in his fight against Hong Mang Choi.

Thing is, it was fun. Simple as that.

 

Put it in the UFC and Pride fans wouldn't be calling it "fun". Thats probably part of were the hate comes from too. Bitter Pride fans

 

There was something special seeing soccor kicks and knees on the ground. It was more realistic fighting. The ten minute first round was better too.

 

A lot of Pride fans often seem to be the ones that complain that UFC is too "pro wrestling" & yet ....

Always found that humorous

 

I'm completely aware of the backstage politics of Pride.

But hey, these fighters had to make a living. It wasn't like they had all the choices in the world.

I've read deep into detail about the yakuza's influence...

STILL, I love Pride


PS The UFC had the same thing at the start, that's what built their brand.

That's what made Royce the Don of MMA, and launched MMA in the West.

 

1. Conor-Exorcists? That's golden.

2. I think most MMA fans love MMA. And a subset of MMA fans constituted largely by the older generation of fans hate the fans that love MMA. It is the hard core that are busy trying to find a dark lining on every silver cloud. I think it all goes back to the downfall of Pride and the ascendancy of the UFC. That was right when I started watching MMA (I never watched a Pride event live) and so many long time fans were so bitter about everything UFC related. It was bit startling for a noob.

Today people complain about new things, but its the same old tone set in 2007.