Now that the dust has settled on last weekend’s (Sat., August 26, 2017) massive Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor boxing match from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., the collective mixed martial arts (MMA) world can finally get back to the kind of fights they love most after a brief foray into the so-called sweet science.
Sure, the drawn-out, overhyped media spectacle was guaranteed to be a huge financial success, and with UFC President Dana White recently claiming that the event had pulled a record-smashing 6.5 million pay-per-view (PPV) buys, it obviously brought a ton of eyeballs and attention to the UFC and the sport of MMA as a whole.
That’s something that was only amplified when McGregor put on an absolutely surprising and impressive performance against an all-time great with zero pro boxing bouts on his record. Many combat sports fan who would not have considered watching the UFC may certainly tune in now.
But despite the huge cash windfall new UFC owners WME-IMG are about to receive from the boxing match, there are some disturbing signs that may suggest the fight wasn’t that great for the long-term prospects of the UFC and MMA despite them needing a huge fight during a subpar 2017.
Let’s break them down here.
6.) The UFC’s Biggest Fight Of 2017 Wasn’t In The Cage:
Mayweather vs. McGregor was huge – that much is true.
But even though its scope and overall coverage brought the UFC into mainstream sports media like never before, it was a spectacle that cannot be topped by anything in MMA this year and perhaps ever, meaning the fact will always remain that 2017’s biggest fight involving the promotion took place in a boxing ring.
If you were told that even say, two years ago, you probably would have laughed in whoever told you that’s face, because the previous UFC regime under the Fertitta brothers was adamant they didn’t co-promote. But with billion-dollar loans outstanding, WME-IMG decided they wanted the biggest payday out there, and they had to work with SHOWTIME Sports (and on the B-side, no less) to get it.
Whether or not that affects the UFC’s reputation remains to be seen.
The post Six Reasons Mayweather vs. McGregor Was Terrible For MMA appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.