The UFC events that will happen this weekend will be very different from the UFCs that stood before them. Beginning with UFC 189, the fighters will be attired differently (and by differently, I mean exactly the same), as the Reebok deal kicks in. Those same fighters will carry a look of stone-faced petrification, a residual effect of the new out-of-competition drug testing courtesy of those five scary letters (USADA). The broadcast will look different, though we won’t know exactly in what ways until Saturday.
And the UFC logo itself has undergone what you can only refer to as “a complete overhaul.” As a Washington Post blurb pointed out, the “C” in UFC was made cleaner, less full of itself, and particularly less wrench-like. The F and the U will of course remain the same.
Any naked eye can perceive these things.
So what’s going on here? Why all the polish? Why the tweakage? Does this mean that Stemm’s mighty opus “Face The Pain” will as of this weekend belong to a bygone day, just like the old Gladiator that used to being the telecasts?
Say it ain’t so.
Not that the new “C” isn’t aerodynamic and easier to comprehend aesthetically, but an identity rebrand of this magnitude says that either Zuffa sees the existing 18-34 male demo (“the diehards”) as connoisseurs of refinement and subtlety, or that the trolling lines are out in hopes of attracting new people to the sport (“the casuals”).
Or that, you know, some things just needed fixing, so why not do it now? Why not all at once?
The Conor McGregor Era is all about blowing up the outdated affiliations to whatever basement the sport crawled out of and making this thang lahzhit. It’s about doing away with the Stone Ages and ushering in a more modernized modern day warrior. It’s just ironic that Matt Brown, the game’s most prehistoric figure — a figure cut from the darkest depths of Hell, known for his shark-like emotion and merciless brutality — is fighting on this Saturday’s card.
It’s also about more than that, though. It has to be.
Ultimately everything going on at International Fight Week is part of the same organized movement. The UFC is embracing its past in ways it never has by electing Bas Rutten and Jeff Blatnick into the Hall of Fame, along with B.J. Penn. Preceding this year’s induction class was a structure to the Hall of Fame, which features a Pioneers wing (Rutten), a Contributors wing (Blatnick), a Modern wing (Penn) and a Fight wing (Matt Hughes vs. Frank Trigg II).
Structure. That’s the new thing. This is what the UFC is rolling out this weekend. Did you see the Hall of Fame trophies? They look gala ready…like something designed for MoMA. In other words, classy.
This is a big weekend in the UFC, the first time where the past and the future belong to the same movement. It’s unique in that so much will be novel. Even if you hate certain aspects of all the things going on — like the Reebok deal effectively doing away with individuality and entrepreneurship — it’s a benchmark in the maturation process. So many loose ends being tied up at once. This is the weekend it all changes, for better or for worse.
No more rogue banners. No more human billboards. No more IVs. No more cheaters. No more forgotten history.
As of July 11, the new UFC gets underway. The revamped “C” in the logo — so modern and riveting, full of élan and dash — is just part of the makeover. Read into it as you want. The Irish might say the new “C” is for Conor, or the UFC that it’s for “Championship,” but one way or another, that new “C” is all about change.