The UFC is proposing an extended fight card for the UFC 198 event in Brazil, and an announcer isn’t thrilled about it.
Is the world ready for a 15-fight UFC card? The promotion’s general manager of Brazil thinks so, and is looking to institute that for UFC 198 in May. Giovanni Decker explained to No Grade do MMA (via MMA Fighting) what they’re trying to accomplish:
“We’re trying to make it bigger, 15 fights, and it’s a bit complicated.”
Currently the Nevada Athletic Commission caps cards at 13 bouts. According to the MMA Fighting article, they spoke to CABMMA chairman Rafael Favetti who stated that CABMMA doesn’t cap cards at 13 bouts, but the UFC should let them know about it in advance. Right now, they’re planning on 13 bouts.
One person who is not a fan of a possible extended card is UFC announcer Jon Anik. When Bloody Elbow’s Mookie Alexander tweeted about the possible change, Anik responded emphatically:
@mookiealexander @guicruzzz Please God, no. Prepping 26 guys and 7 hours on a headset = plenty.
— Jon Anik (@Jon_Anik) March 9, 2016
As someone who covers events, I would find this to be a major drag as well. Most pro sporting events don’t go seven hours, and they want to add more to that? I understand that UFC 198 will take place in a soccer stadium in Curitiba and they want to give the 40,000+ in attendance the most for their money. But I’m not sure a couple of additional (and likely somewhat irrelevant) fights are going to sell any more tickets to the May 14th event.
UFC 198 will be headlined by a UFC heavyweight title fight between Fabricio Werdum and Stipe Miocic.