2014 has been a rough year for the UFC. Among the missing pieces have been fighters who can draw.
In that time, one of the company’s premier talents has been women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey.
The talented bantamweight has drawn eyes from outside the MMA world to her fights, and with the UFC adding a brand new women’s division to the fold, perhaps it would be the women who could help push the UFC back in a positive direction.
The Ultimate Fighter 20 was pushed as a fresh take—a seeded tournament that would determine the inaugural champion of the strawweight division. They signed several top fighters for the season. In theory, everything was in place to make the inevitable winner a decent draw for the company.
That does not look to be the case.
The ratings for the show have not been great, but is that a sign women’s MMA cannot draw? I say no.
The ratings are not great, but that is in large part due to the network that it airs on. Fox Sports 1 is still growing, and many sports fans still have no idea where to locate it. Add that to the show being old and tired, and that is not a recipe for success.
Still, when Fox put the premiere episode on network television before NFL football—or after, depending on the TV market—it helped draw a million-and-a-half viewers to the episode.
As the season has drawn on, there has not been a standout fighter that captivates fans like Rousey can.
Why is that?
Stars are not made. Stars have an “It Factor,” and the cast of TUF 20 lack “It.”
The editing has not helped, either.
When the show has focused on the fighters in the house, it has largely been on bickering and bullying.
Some of the fighters, such as Randa Markos and Rose Namajunas, have stood out in the cage. However, they have failed to do so on the show.
The lack of stars coming off the show does not mean this section of the sport is not bankable, though.
Women’s MMA still has a long way to go in its growth. We are not seeing the depth the other divisions have—or the quality. Once that comes, we will see more marketable athletes filtering into that side of the sport. MMA has proven that the women in the sport can deliver interest.
A fighter does not have to headline a pay-per-view telecast to be bankable. Fighters such as Urijah Faber have made a good living by generating their interest from cable TV fight cards. That is the much more likely scenario for women’s MMA.
The landscape of MMA and television is changing. PPV is dying. Using that as the benchmark for being a bankable fighter is not going to be an accurate measure for success.
The novelty of women’s MMA has worn off, and they are still generating interest in their fights. They are just missing more marketable, elite-level talent. It is about depth. That is still growing, and the UFC’s platform will only push more women to take up the sport as well as watch it.
Bellator and Strikeforce have already shown that the women can steal the show and get fans on their feet in the past when they were promoting women’s fights. The UFC is slowly bringing it to a larger audience.
Television ratings for a bland formatted TV show are not indicative of future success. The UFC is building divisions that will be bankable and help their bottom line. It will just take time to see it grow, but it is coming.
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