UFC 131 Was A Very Good Event That Seemed To Suffer Because Of An Overpopulated MMA Market
The sport of mixed martial arts has seen an explosion in popularity over the last five years. UFC, in particular, has become the biggest and most profitable MMA organization in the still very young history of the sport.
But with that surge in popularity has come a market that is oversaturated and, as a result, much less interested in the events that occur each month. Just take a look at your calendar and you will see that the sport has become so big that many of the events don’t feel as big as they used to.
Over the course of four weeks, UFC and Strikeforce will have run four different events – starting with UFC 130 on May 28, The Ultimate Fighter Finale on June 4, UFC 131 on June 11 and Strikeforce: Overeem vs Werdum on June 18.
Must Read: UFC 131 Results: Ten Burning Questions Heading into UFC 132
These events have all suffered from a lack of mainstream interest because they are bunched so close together. Hardcore fans are going to watch every event no matter what, but the reason that buyrates and ratings for these shows have been down this year is because they don’t feel like something special because you can see them every week.
The really big events, like UFC 129, are going to draw because they are made to feel special, but those events are few and far between anymore.
UFC has created a monster that is actually hurting them more than it is helping. It’s great to see the sport as popular as it is, but because there is so much of it out there, people aren’t as invested in what’s going on.
It would be in the best interest of UFC to scale back the events that they do in order to give the shows that special feeling that they once had. But with the acquisition of Strikeforce and having so many fighters under contract means that we will get more shows than ever before, especially with Dana White talking about wanting to have shows on every single week.
–Published By Bleacher Report’s Adam Wells