Championship fights. They’re what every fighter wants to be in, they’re what every fan wants to watch. But that doesn’t mean that non-title fights deserve any less respect. So far this year, fighters like Donald Cerrone, Brian Ebersole, Chris Lytle, Di…
Championship fights. They’re what every fighter wants to be in, they’re what every fan wants to watch. But that doesn’t mean that non-title fights deserve any less respect. So far this year, fighters like Donald Cerrone, Brian Ebersole, Chris Lytle, Diego Sanchez, Martin Kampmann, Brian Stann, Rashad Evans, and Tito Ortiz have put on amazing performances in non-title fights.
With all 7 UFC Championships scheduled to be defended between now and Thanksgiving, many fights with title implications that would normally be Main Event-level fights are now getting 2nd and 3rd billing to the championship fights.
Here’s 10 non-title fights everybody should be watching out for the rest of the year.
Mixed martial arts is the fastest-growing sport in the world.The UFC, the largest mixed martial arts organization in the world, is the primary reason for that. Over the past 10 years, Dana White and the Fertitta Brothers, Frank and Lorenzo, have t…
Mixed martial arts is the fastest-growing sport in the world.
The UFC, the largest mixed martial arts organization in the world, is the primary reason for that.
Over the past 10 years, Dana White and the Fertitta Brothers, Frank and Lorenzo, have turned the UFC from the sideshow spectacle it was in the early-to-mid 1990s into an organization with the best mixed martial artists on the planet.
Their pay-per-view events sell out 20,000-seat arenas and generate upwards of one million PPV buys on several events a year.
This past April, the UFC held its 129th PPV event in Toronto at the Rogers Centre, the home of baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays, and attracted UFC records of $12,075,000 in total gate revenue and an attendance of 55,724.
Compare that to UFC 52, a PPV event six years earlier—at the time, the biggest in UFC history—which drew a crowd of 14,562 and a gate revenue of $2,575,450.
Six years, 40,000 more people and $10 million later, the UFC has become mainstream.
The hit reality series “The Ultimate Fighter,” which follows the lives of hopeful UFC fighters as they fight their way through a tournament for a UFC contract, introduced the U.S. to the quality of international fighters.
The live, free-televised events put on several times a year also gives the fans many chances to see not only quality UFC fights, but also the men who “do nothing but stand around and beat the sh*t out of each other.”
Dana White has, several times, expressed an interest in expanding markets into England and China—a move that, if completed, would be huge for the future of the UFC.
Earlier this month, the UFC reached an agreement on a long sought-after network television deal with FOX, ending the company’s multiple-year partnership with SpikeTV and Versus.
With a seven-year deal that will include four events on the main FOX network, 32 live fights a year on Friday night on cable network FX, 24 events following The Ultimate Fighter and six separate Fight Night events, the UFC has given fans the access to UFC events and programming that it had been lacking not being on network television.
Now that the UFC will have air time similar to that of the four major sports, fans will have another viewing option during each sport’s respective offseason.
With mega-stars like Brock Lesnar, Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva, Rashad Evans, Rampage Jackson, etc., that have been the UFC’s established core for several years, as well as young top-tier fighters such as Jon Jones, Cain Velasquez, Junior Dos Santos, Chad Mendes, Joseph Benavidez, Dominick Cruz, etc., who should be around for years to come, the UFC has a very bright future ahead.
The UFC is the fastest-growing organization of the fastest-growing sport in the world, mixed martial arts.In the past two years, venues such as the American Airlines Center, the TD Garden (formerly the Boston Garden), Conseco Fieldhouse, the Palace of …
The UFC is the fastest-growing organization of the fastest-growing sport in the world, mixed martial arts.
In the past two years, venues such as the American Airlines Center, the TD Garden (formerly the Boston Garden), Conseco Fieldhouse, the Palace of Auburn Hills and Rogers Centre have all hosted their their UFC Events.
With the UFC recently signing a network deal with Fox, it continues to grow, and is working to be sanctioned in all 50 states, as they look to expand into international markets.
This list will cover the 10 most famous venues who have never hosted a UFC event that would make for an awesome experience.
By now, every slightly more than casual UFC fan knows that each of the seven UFC champions will defend their titles between now and Thanksgiving. Those are the kinds of fights that every fight fan knows about. The kinds of fights that people pay $50 to…
By now, every slightly more than casual UFC fan knows that each of the seven UFC champions will defend their titles between now and Thanksgiving. Those are the kinds of fights that every fight fan knows about. The kinds of fights that people pay $50 to order the PPVs to watch.
The fights on this list are the fights that not everybody is talking about that they shouldn’t look at as “just a throw-in fight to fill out a fight card.” The fights on this list are the bouts people should not forget about.
Mixed martial arts is the fastest-growing sport in the world.