Will The UFC 202 Bout Order Take Away From PPV Buys?

UFC 202's Bout Order confuses me a bit. Here is the PPV Main Card:

Nate Diaz vs. Conor McGregor II
Anthony Johnson vs. Glover Teixiera
Donald Cerrone vs. Rick Story
Hyun Gyu Lim vs. Mike Perry
Tim Means vs. Sabah Homasi

The original bouts slated were Hyun Gyu Lim vs. Sultan Aliev & Tim Means vs. Sean Strickland. While those are better fights, UFC 202 has several other bouts that should be placed on the Main Card. Cody Garbandt vs. Takeya Mizugaki is headling the FS1 Prelims and Neil Magny vs. Lorenz Larkin is headlining the Fight Pass prelims.

Its pretty clear that the UFC set out to make 202 a big event. I understand it has been the trend lately to spread some of the big fights out a bit to get more eyes on FS1 and Fight Pass, but if you ask me it significantly takes away from the value of a big PPV like this when all of the big important fights are spread out through the entire card and not what we're actually shelling out money for.

Would you rather all of the big name fights be on the PPV, or do you like when the UFC spreads the fights out like this?

 

Yeah it will honestly, sadly. Stupid move by the UFC, there is just NO WAY that those two fights (Garbrandt/Mizugaki and Larkin/Magny) shouldn't be on the main card.

Although I get their logic behind why they do this I still think that there is just no way at the very least one out of those two fights shouldn't be on the main card.

 

The UFC also cares about FS1 Prelims and Fight pass prelims - they need to bring in the numbers as well.

The main card will sell regardless of the under card due to the main event. The FS1/Fightpass line up needed the help.

 

They want to show Cody to everyone in the world so free TV

 

I'll admit...it's very strange.

Still don't know why they didn't make the Lim vs Means. That's a fight I wouldn't mind seeing.

Those 2 fights opening the main card on a PPV? That's weak.

 

They have their reasons obviously. If the free prelims are awesome then people will be more likely to buy the ppv. If the prelims have big names then people will be more likely to watch, then they will see the ads for the ppv and be more likely to buy it. They also want to improve the fight pass product so more people buy it.

 

With a strong card like this, i'm ok with it.

With a weak card like 201, it makes a mockery of the main card.

 

They are confident that Conor sells the card - but I agree they are doubling down by giving out some good fights for free as temptation to buy vs keeping it all for the ppv - cards are typically more watered down when one star or fight really stands out like in this case - not always but logically it makes sense

 

I'm not really bothered that the Mizmatch isn't on the main card, Mizugaki is shot.

 

They're paying for Nate vs Conor

 

Well only 3 fights I'll be watching

 

Im buying this card for one fight
If that fight gets scratched putting all 12 of these other fights on the PPV still wont make me buy it

 

I don't care because I watch all the fights.

I think they're pushing Cody by giving him the FS1 main event as he has star potential. Larkin/Magny is a good fight between known fighters but not one that will help PPV sales, so they're using it to entice hardcores to get Fight Pass. So I think they've made good decisions with that order.

 

We pay 10 dollars per month for Fight Pass.... We deserve at least one big fight!

Spread them out






































(I'll stream the main card anyway lol)

 

UFC was fine when they didn't spread out the fights, back in the day before Facebook prelims where the bottom half of the card or at least first few fights weren't broadcasted.

I think it's stupid guys like Cub Swanson have to fight on Fight Pass, only hardcore fans have it anyway just show the lower names that hard cores will watch.

But I think Meltzer and others that analyze viewership/buyrates have stated in the past something like 90-95% of fans buy a card based on the Main event and co-main event alone. So spreading out the fights really doesn't hurt the UFC and does help their viewership on FS1/FS2

 

The huge majority of the buys will come from the casual fans interested in the mcgregor vs diaz. They have no idea who magney, larkin or garbrandt are so I dont think it will effect things much. I think the UFCs gameplan with the placement of the magney/arkin and garbandt/mizugaki is 1. Getting people to buy fight pass and 2. a solid lead in fight to the ppv to get people amped up and willing to buy it

 

I think it's smart to have Garbrandt on the prelims, where more people can watch the fight. They're obviously setting him up for the title shot and a win on the prelim headliner means more eyes will be on him.

I doubt the other fights are even gonna matter to most people. The Nate vs Conor fight is obviously the draw here.

 

I'm with you chito. I even started a thread campaigning for Lim vs Means. Now not only are they both fighting newbs but on the main card no less.

Terrible move by the UFC. Instead of one exciting fight for the fans, they book 2 squash matches. And now they are on PPV. Put that crap on fight pass and replace it with Magny/Larkin and Warbrandt.

 

number of people who won't buy the ppv because magny/larkin isn't on it: 0

number of people who might buy fightpass because magny/larkin is on it: >0

there's your explanation.

 

Yeah I can see both ways. I'm a Fight Pass subscriber and it has been nice to get some better fights on the platform, but I also buy the PPVs and when I'm paying $60 to see 5 fights it makes sense that I'd want them to be the best fights the card has to offer.