The injuries sustained by Brock Lesnar, Frankie Edgar, and Gray Maynard will hurt the UFC short term, but the effect shouldn’t last long.
To put it frankly, the next two major UFC pay-per-views will be a huge disappointment for not only the fans, but the UFC brass as well.
At UFC 130, Frankie Edgar was set to square off against Gray Maynard for the third time. A majority of MMA fans were looking forward to the bout. Their last bout was an epic war in which we witnessed the incredible heart of the current UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar.
After being rocked—and nearly stopped—in the first round, Edgar was able to mount a comeback, and was able to fight his way to a draw.
Now with both Edgar and Maynard having to withdraw from their third bout, the fans are left with Rampage Jackson vs Matt Hamill as the main event for UFC 130. Needless to say, the stock of 130 fell dramatically.
Now in the latest case of a major star suffering an injury, Brock Lesnar was forced to withdraw from his bout against Junior dos Santos at UFC 131 due to another severe case of diverticulitis.
In his place, Shane Carwin will be stepping up to face dos Santos. That is not exactly a bout that the casual fans are eager to see.
MMA fans are very fickle. When they are looking forward to a match, and it gets canceled, they get pretty bummed out. In turn, they are not likely to purchase the pay-per-view.
Of course there are the hardcore fans that will buy anything the UFC feeds them, but it goes without saying that these cards will be severely affected by the newly added main events.
But the UFC shouldn’t be too worried. With UFC 132, 133, and 134 all shaping up to be solid events—barring any injuries—this should only be a short lived drop in pay-per view buys.
As always, the UFC will figure out a way to come back better than ever.