Five Obvious but Overlooked Things Fans Need to Remember About the UFC


(Just keep repeating to yourself, “Nobody’s making me watch this…nobody’s making me watch this…nobody’s making me watch this…”)

By Matt Saccaro

The UFC has come under fire lately for several reasons: Declining numbers, oversaturation, the fading of their stars, launching a digital network with a questionable premise, not hiring Ben Askren and so on. When we fling insults at the UFC, we need to remember a few things about the company in order to put these negative occurrences and circumstances into perspective. Let’s start with the most obvious but frequently-ignored point:

1. The UFC is a business.

The purpose of the UFC is to make its owners money. The UFC does not exist to feed fighters’ families. There’s not much else to say on this front. Companies have to make money to be viable. Yeah, it sucks that some guys get paid an absurdly small amount of money for what they do, and it sucks that the UFC is upping the PPV price.

That’s just something we have to deal with though. If you don’t like it, vote with your dollar. If enough people tune out, Zuffa’s wallet will know and they’ll either change their tune accordingly or lose money.

2. The UFC is an international company.

There’s been talk about the UFC hiring unfit-for-television jobbers lately. It’s true but necessary. The UFC is headed to distant lands where MMA is in its most nascent stages. The talent pool in these places is more like a mud puddle. The UFC has to work with what it’s given in China and Singapore. Deepening foreign talent pools can only happen by growing the sport overseas, and growing the sport overseas can only happen when they have foreign (foreign to us, home grown to them) fighters on the card. And since there aren’t many great foreign fighters, the UFC has to scrape the bottom of a very empty barrel. This results in fighters getting a place in the “Super Bowl of MMA” who shouldn’t even be in the bleachers, let alone on the field.


(Just keep repeating to yourself, “Nobody’s making me watch this…nobody’s making me watch this…nobody’s making me watch this…”)

By Matt Saccaro

The UFC has come under fire lately for several reasons: Declining numbers, oversaturation, the fading of their stars, launching a digital network with a questionable premise, not hiring Ben Askren and so on. When we fling insults at the UFC, we need to remember a few things about the company in order to put these negative occurrences and circumstances into perspective. Let’s start with the most obvious but frequently-ignored point:

1. The UFC is a business.

The purpose of the UFC is to make its owners money. The UFC does not exist to feed fighters’ families. There’s not much else to say on this front. Companies have to make money to be viable. Yeah, it sucks that some guys get paid an absurdly small amount of money for what they do, and it sucks that the UFC is upping the PPV price.

That’s just something we have to deal with though. If you don’t like it, vote with your dollar. If enough people tune out, Zuffa’s wallet will know and they’ll either change their tune accordingly or lose money.

2. The UFC is an international company.

There’s been talk about the UFC hiring unfit-for-television jobbers lately. It’s true but necessary. The UFC is headed to distant lands where MMA is in its most nascent stages. The talent pool in these places is more like a mud puddle. The UFC has to work with what it’s given in China and Singapore. Deepening foreign talent pools can only happen by growing the sport overseas, and growing the sport overseas can only happen when they have foreign (foreign to us, home grown to them) fighters on the card. And since there aren’t many great foreign fighters, the UFC has to scrape the bottom of a very empty barrel. This results in fighters getting a place in the “Super Bowl of MMA” who shouldn’t even be in the bleachers, let alone on the field.

Furthermore, these fighters — guys like Royston Wee — aren’t meant for us North Americans. The fights on the UFC’s digital network aren’t meant for us either. They’re meant for other markets. It’s fun to take potshots at the UFC for the terrible card quality on the digital network, but it’s a wanking contest. It’s like willfully eating someone else’s dinner and then complaining it wasn’t what you ordered. Zuffa knows we don’t give a fuck about low-level fighters in countries with a non-developed MMA ecosystem. That’s why they’re not airing events packed with those fighters in the US (unless you choose to watch them).

3. Nobody is forcing you to buy every PPV or watch every free card.

If you don’t like a PPV card, don’t buy it and check out the post-event GIFs on the UG r/MMA the next morning.

If you don’t like a Fight Night or TUF Finale card, don’t watch it and check out the post-event GIFs on r/MMA the next morning.

There’s no need to complain about card quality if you’re a fan. Dana White isn’t putting a gun to your head and making you slide out the credit card. Subjection to a watered-down, awful PPV is self-inflicted.

“But I want to watch ALL the fights!” Well, that’s your problem. Free MMA is not a right. Besides, I’m sure you’re the kind of person who’ll find another way to watch the PPV that’s of dubious legality. Ironically, you’re probably the kind of person who complains about fighter pay while stealing from fighters…

4. The UFC is sports entertainment.

There exists a sport that’s pure competition with no entertainment-enhancing aspects to it whatsoever. It’s called amateur wrestling and nobody watches it.

The UFC is not amateur wrestling. The UFC is not a sport; it’s sports entertainment.

There’s no competitive architecture (no, the laughable official UFC rankings — a gimmick to keep non-UFC fighters out of Internet arguments — don’t count). Skill is secondary to star power. The UFC has never been about pitting the two best fighters in the world against one another. It’s been about booking the fights that will draw the most money. This is hardly a novel concept yet so many MMA fans are in ridiculous, quite frankly embarrassing, denial of it. They think that if the UFC is sports entertainment then that somehow makes them as bad as a professional wrestling fan — a “loser” who watches a soap opera meant for prepubescent boys.

No amount of insecurity-fueled rejection can counteract the facts. If the UFC wasn’t sports entertainment, they’d have signed Ben Askren. They’d have never let James Toney, Brock Lesnar, or Kimbo Slice (dis)grace the Octagon. They’d have never given Chael Sonnen, Nick Diaz, or Frankie Edgar title shots coming off losses. They’d have let the fights and fighters shine over obnoxious figurehead Vince McMahon Dana White.

And, of course, there’s the manufactured hype in between fights: “We said all the trash talk just to sell the fight.”

We all watch real fighting with fake, pro-wrestling storylines. It’s called the UFC.

5. The UFC is only 20 years old, they’re not supposed to have their shit together yet.

Whenever the UFC is compared to boxing it’s usually cringeworthy—something like saying two Facebook prelim tomato cans are the MMA equivalents of legendary boxers. One aspect that makes sense to compare, however, is longevity.

Boxing has been a popular sport since time immemorial. The UFC has only been around for 20 years. Yes, MMA in the forms of Pankration and Vale Tudo have been around for a while, but the majority of people don’t know about that and don’t care either; Pankration might as well be a liver disease to them. All they know is “UFC” and boxing. The UFC is new and frightening and weird. People roll around on the floor and cut each other with elbows and knees. They bend each other’s arms the wrong way. Boxing is safe and traditional. Fighters only smash brains into shriveled sponges with punches, so it’s acceptable. This is how people think. Children were even banned from a UFC show in Germany! MMA is still outlawed in New York and use of the cage, MMA’s most recognizable symbol, is banned in parts of Australia.

The UFC, at only 20 years old, has tons of ground to cover, and many issues to sort out. Like an angsty college kid, the UFC is still mapping its future. The path will be littered with both successes and failures.

The Ultimate Fighter China: Can It Move the Needle in This Critical Market?

It’s official: The UFC’s foray into China looks to come full force. The UFC is looking to ignite a movement of MMA in China, specifically a UFC movement. It is a market that has over two billion people, which has Dana White and company salivating at the thought of new, high-profit possibilities. The cast and […]

It’s official: The UFC’s foray into China looks to come full force. The UFC is looking to ignite a movement of MMA in China, specifically a UFC movement. It is a market that has over two billion people, which has Dana White and company salivating at the thought of new, high-profit possibilities. The cast and […]

UFC Announces ‘TUF: China’; Tryouts Slated for This Summer


(Sometimes, relevancy is not of primary importance.)

The UFC is officially making a serious and sustained play to break into the Chinese market. According to a report from SB Nation, tryouts for the first Chinese edition of The Ultimate Fighter reality competition show will take place this summer.

“According to the Chinese announcement, this edition of TUF will be broadcast on LiaoNing TV, and tryouts will be open for professional featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight fighters of Chinese descent, who can speak the language.

“Tryouts won’t just happen in mainland China, and it will instead be held on different countries to get most of the talent available. These multiple tryouts will happen on July 21 at the Metropark Lido Hotel in Beijing, July 25 at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore, and on August 3 at the Venetian Hotel in Macau,” they reported.

The TUF: China Finale, to be held in Macau, will be broadcast globally. Coaches for the season of TUF have not been announced so it is not yet publicly known if the UFC will choose to have English-speaking organization mainstays coach the prospects, or if they will search for coaches who can speak the native languages of the participants. As it stands, the only Chinese fighters currently on the UFC roster are Tiequan Zhang, who has lost his last three fights in the Octagon, and undefeated bantamweight prospect Jumabieke Tuerxun, who hasn’t competed for the promotion yet.


(Sometimes, relevancy is not of primary importance.)

The UFC is officially making a serious and sustained play to break into the Chinese market. According to a report from SB Nation, tryouts for the first Chinese edition of The Ultimate Fighter reality competition show will take place this summer.

“According to the Chinese announcement, this edition of TUF will be broadcast on LiaoNing TV, and tryouts will be open for professional featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight fighters of Chinese descent, who can speak the language.

“Tryouts won’t just happen in mainland China, and it will instead be held on different countries to get most of the talent available. These multiple tryouts will happen on July 21 at the Metropark Lido Hotel in Beijing, July 25 at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore, and on August 3 at the Venetian Hotel in Macau,” they reported.

The TUF: China Finale, to be held in Macau, will be broadcast globally. Coaches for the season of TUF have not been announced so it is not yet publicly known if the UFC will choose to have English-speaking organization mainstays coach the prospects, or if they will search for coaches who can speak the native languages of the participants. As it stands, the only Chinese fighters currently on the UFC roster are Tiequan Zhang, who has lost his last three fights in the Octagon, and undefeated bantamweight prospect Jumabieke Tuerxun, who hasn’t competed for the promotion yet.

Sixteen fighters will be in the TUF: China house and will compete for a six-figure UFC contract. The fighters will be in the house for somewhere near six weeks and the season will last twelve episodes, according to the report.

In the past, the UFC has decided to change weight classes for TUF seasons in advance of filming based on turnout. Given that lighter weight competitors abound in the region, perhaps the organization will consider changing the weight range to include flyweights and bantamweights.

We’ll keep you posted as news develops. What do you say, nation? Will you be tuning in to see what China has to offer in the way of prank-pulling, binge drinking and MMA prospects with TUF: China? And how does one say “Let me bang, bro” in Putonghua?

Elias Cepeda

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The UFC is working hard to gain a foothold in the world’s most populous nation. Its latest tool in that effort is its iconic reality TV competition. A report from Dann Stupp of MMAJunkie.com states that the UFC will hold tryouts in July and August for a season of The Ultimate Fighter: China. The only prerequisites […]

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