Tag: oversaturation

The Unsupportable Opinion: MMA/The UFC Is NOT Slowly Swirling Down the Shitter


(MMA’s heyday, according to at least one guy.)

“The night is always darkest before the dawn.” — Two-Face, quoting Plato or some shit.

MMA is facing a crisis, Nation. Or so we’re being told. Not one of irrelevance, a lack of funding, or societal ignorance like it faced during the so-called “Dark Ages,” but one of complacency, of apathy. Over the past several years, we have seen the sport rise to a level of popularity we previously thought unattainable. With more major network deals, cross-promotion with major brands, and movies featuring UFC stars popping up by the day, it’s hard to argue that MMA is exactly struggling to generate interest amongst fans.

But somewhere between the death of Strikeforce and the Fight Pass subscriptions, MMA (or at least, its premiere organization) reached a tipping point. Despite an ever-burgeoning roster, the quality of the average card started to slip. Viewership began to decline. Truly “stacked” cards started to come further and further between, as did the number of marketable stars present on them.

While the UFC was busy making efforts to dominate the fucking world, its stateside presence slowly began to diminish with each lackluster “Fight Night” card, the majority of which have been spread across three channels and subscriptions-only networks. It isn’t helping that the UFC is now nickel and diming those of us hoping to watch their international events and prelims, adding to the growing “UFC is in trouble” sentiment among fans. The UFC has gotten greedy, and our view of the sport has slowly begun to shift from optimistic to apathetic as a result.

Is it simply a case of the UFC expanding too fast and oversaturating it’s niche market, as many followers of the sport will tell you? Or have fans simply lost interest in the sport now that it has become a globally recognized, increasingly expensive commodity?

Actually, the answer is a firm “no” to both of those questions. MMA is NOT rapidly descending into the watered-down, passionless, corporate-sponsored hellscape we all think it is, and everyone needs to man (or woman) the fuck up and stop acting like the sport is a lost cause.


(MMA’s heyday, according to at least one guy.)

“The night is always darkest before the dawn.” — Two-Face, quoting Plato or some shit.

MMA is facing a crisis, Nation. Or so we’re being told. Not one of irrelevance, a lack of funding, or societal ignorance like it faced during the so-called “Dark Ages,” but one of complacency, of apathy. Over the past several years, we have seen the sport rise to a level of popularity we previously thought unattainable. With more major network deals, cross-promotion with major brands, and movies featuring UFC stars popping up by the day, it’s hard to argue that MMA is exactly struggling to generate interest amongst fans.

But somewhere between the death of Strikeforce and the Fight Pass subscriptions, MMA (or at least, its premiere organization) reached a tipping point. Despite an ever-burgeoning roster, the quality of the average card started to slip. Viewership began to decline. Truly “stacked” cards started to come further and further between, as did the number of marketable stars present on them.

While the UFC was busy making efforts to dominate the fucking world, its stateside presence slowly began to diminish with each lackluster “Fight Night” card, the majority of which have been spread across three channels and subscriptions-only networks. It isn’t helping that the UFC is now nickel and diming those of us hoping to watch their international events and prelims, adding to the growing “UFC is in trouble” sentiment among fans. The UFC has gotten greedy, and our view of the sport has slowly begun to shift from optimistic to apathetic as a result.

Is it simply a case of the UFC expanding too fast and oversaturating it’s niche market, as many followers of the sport will tell you? Or have fans simply lost interest in the sport now that it has become a globally recognized, increasingly expensive commodity?

Actually, the answer is a firm “no” to both of those questions. MMA is NOT rapidly descending into the watered-down, passionless, corporate-sponsored hellscape we all think it is, and everyone needs to man (or woman) the fuck up and stop acting like the sport is a lost cause.

As CP reader Mike Grant asked us in a somewhat heated email (entitled “Screw you guys”):

Is the UFC really ruining this sport so completely? I mean, I know that they seem to think they are short in the “marketable fighters” department, but I don’t think that’s true at all. Maybe if the UFC and the shills who cover it would get their heads out of Ronda Rousey’s ass for some fresh air, they would see they have an All-American champion (and a pretty fucking good guy) in Chris Weidman. What about Carlos Condit? He’s a fucking machine. I know he has lost to the top guys in his division but you cannot deny that he is the embodiment of will and toughness. Johny Hendricks is another good guy/soon-to-be-champion. He’s a family man and a great spokesperson for MMA.

Can you write something a bit more uplifting about the future of MMA?

And you know what, he’s right. True, it is becoming more and more expensive (not to mention time-consuming) to be a “diehard” fan of MMA/the UFC these days, and our recent headlines haven’t exactly been comforting to the average MMA fan. But not all is lost, Nation.

You say the UFC is failing to generate new stars? Johny Hendrick’s Reebok deal surely seems to dispute that. As does the first co-ed season of The Ultimate Fighter, TUF 20, and truly, the rise of women’s MMA in general. The UFC may not be pushing Jon Jones like they are Ronda Rousey, but he’s still a bonafide star among anyone who follows the sport. The same goes for Cain Velasquez, the face of Metro PCS, and Conor McGregor, Heineken’s latest brand rep and the star of his own upcoming feature-length RTE documentary.

And besides, major stars aren’t what drives the sport. They never have been. Great fights are what drives the sport, and thanks to the UFC’s (and Bellator’s, I guess) ever-expanding roster, the potential for witnessing amazing fights is at an all-time high. Question: What has been the most exciting card of 2014 so far? Did you say the TUF China Finale? Because the correct answer is the TUF China Finale, which featured fuck-all in terms of star power. As MMAFighting’s Dave Meltzer wrote:

The reality is before every UFC event, every consumer will decide, based on the lineup, whether the show is worth their time to either pay for, or watch for free. But a lineup that doesn’t look interesting can, and often is, a better show that a lineup that going in looks like it can’t miss.

The show was filled with unknown debuting fighters, including names only familiar to those who watched TUF China. Given that the show didn’t air anywhere in North America, and even those who were able to find it on the Internet had to watch a show mostly in Chinese, there wasn’t exactly a ground swell of interest in whether Wang Sai or Zhang Lipeng would win a UFC contract, let alone people salivating at the prospect of Kazuki Tokudome and Yui Chul Nam.

It ended up being UFC’s most entertaining show of a year that has had its share of lackluster nights. There were only eight fights, the least of any UFC show in recent memory. But there was nothing remotely close to a bad fight, and the presentation on Fight Pass, with no commercials except for UFC events and shows between fights, seemed to almost breeze by. And even the commercials were highlights on this night, in particular a lengthy preview to the upcoming TUF Brazil featuring Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva. An edited version of that commercial on YouTube was at just under 1.3 million views over the next 48 hours.

While it’s undoubtedly true that MMA/the UFC will always need its Chuck Liddells and Anderson Silvas to really drive up fan interest and pay-per-view numbers, let’s not act like a few lackluster cards and minorly increased pay-per-view prices are the end of the world. The UFC has a long way to go before it reaches the level of the NBA or NFL, regardless of what Dana White tells you, and maybe I’m just being optimistic here, but I’d like to think that our hard-earned cash is helping build a brand and a sport we love until it can one day compete with those other sports through the same mediums, relatively free of charge. International TUF events and “Fight Night” cards are appetizers. They’re opening bands that get you excited for the main act. Whether you choose to indulge in them is entirely up to you, and most of the time, you can catch the highlights from said events (again, free of charge) through the all-encompassing power of the Internet within minutes of the events themselves.

Despite the sport’s immense rise over the years, there are still many kinks in need of being worked out. But if the Gilbert Melendez contract fiasco taught us anything, it’s that the UFC might not have the stronghold on the sport we once thought it did. MMA is here to stay, and where one organization drops the ball, the other will hopefully be there to pick it up. Entire divisions are being added to the UFC. Female fighters are not only headlining pay-per-views, but generating heaps of fan interest at the mere mention of a “huge announcement.” Previously unknown fighters among casual fans like Demetrious Johnson and Renan Barao are well on their way to becoming household names. It is an exciting, if transitional time to be an MMA fan to say the least.

So let’s all hold hands, take a deep breath, and repeat after me, “Everything is going to be fine. *MMA* is going to be fine.”

–J. Jones

On Royston Wee’s Signing and the Death of “UFC-Caliber” Fighters


(This is one of approximately 4 photos that exist of the most talented fighter in all of Singapore. According to the UFC, at least. Via Yahoo.)

Who is Royston Wee, you ask? Oh, he’s just the first Singaporean fighter to EVER sign a deal with the UFC is all. No big whoop. He’s also undefeated, and has picked up every single one of his victories by way of first round submission.

The problem is, Royston holds just two professional fights to his credit, and they both took place back in 2011. Yet somehow, he, along with the slightly-more experienced Filipino Dave Galera (5-0) and One FC veteran (and therefore, most experienced) Leandro Issa (11-3)*, recently secured a multi-fight deal with the UFC. In fact, Royston already has his first fight lined up — against Galera at Fight Night 34:Ellenberger vs. Saffiedine, which goes down in, you guessed it, Singapore, on January 4th.

Is Royston some Brock Lesnar-level star over in “The Lion City,” you ask? Not exactly. He’s just a 27 year-old bantamweight who was competing for a spot on TUF China during the July tryouts like everyone else. The difference between Royston and his fellow potential castmates, however, is that Royston was able to convince whomever he was auditioning for — in a few short hours, no less — that he was not only of TUF-caliber, but that he was of UFC-caliber.

Is Royston simply that good? Here’s the only video of him in action that we could find. We think it’s from his last fight against Syed Shahir, who was making his pro debut at the time and has not fought since. Royston seems like a competent enough grappler, sure, but the caliber of his opponent speaks volumes more than that of his performance.

I keep using that word: caliber. It might be because that, for a time, there was a dubious distinction that came with having the letters UFC placed before it. It meant that you were proven. It meant that you were exceptional. It meant that you were one of the best in the world at what you did. But lo, it appears that the age when “UFC-caliber” actually meant something has passed us by.


(This is one of approximately 4 photos that exist of the most talented fighter in all of Singapore. According to the UFC, at least. Via Yahoo.)

Who is Royston Wee, you ask? Oh, he’s just the first Singaporean fighter to EVER sign a deal with the UFC is all. No big whoop. He’s also undefeated, and has picked up every single one of his victories by way of first round submission.

The problem is, Royston holds just two professional fights to his credit, and they both took place back in 2011. Yet somehow, he, along with the slightly-more experienced Filipino Dave Galera (5-0) and One FC veteran (and therefore, most experienced) Leandro Issa (11-3)*, recently secured a multi-fight deal with the UFC. In fact, Royston already has his first fight lined up — against Galera at Fight Night 34:Ellenberger vs. Saffiedine, which goes down in, you guessed it, Singapore, on January 4th.

Is Royston some Brock Lesnar-level star over in “The Lion City,” you ask? Not exactly. He’s just a 27 year-old bantamweight who was competing for a spot on TUF China during the July tryouts like everyone else. The difference between Royston and his fellow potential castmates, however, is that Royston was able to convince whomever he was auditioning for — in a few short hours, no less — that he was not only of TUF-caliber, but that he was of UFC-caliber.

Is Royston simply that good? Here’s the only video of him in action that we could find. We think it’s from his last fight against Syed Shahir, who was making his pro debut at the time and has not fought since. Royston seems like a competent enough grappler, sure, but the caliber of his opponent speaks volumes more than that of his performance.

I keep using that word: caliber. It might be because that, for a time, there was a dubious distinction that came with having the letters UFC placed before it. It meant that you were proven. It meant that you were exceptional. It meant that you were one of the best in the world at what you did. But lo, it appears that the age when “UFC-caliber” actually meant something has passed us by.

It’s rather obvious why the UFC chose to sign Royston, I guess. He’s got that local pull, and placing him on the card will (hopefully) ensure that a few more fans purchase tickets to the Singapore event. Strikeforce adopted this business strategy in the past — often to their own detriment – and Bellator continues to fill in their preliminary slots with regional fighters. But his local pull aside, Royston Wee is the last kind of person you’d ever expect the UFC to sign. He’s fought twice. Against guys who have 3 fights and 0 victories combined. He’s never been tested. Hell, he’s never even been remotely tested, but because he happens to hail from a region that the UFC plans to hold an event in, he’s suddenly been deemed UFC-caliber. This is the standard to which the highest promotion in the sport is now operating, and it’s fucking terrifying.

Ask yourself this: Is the twenty or so extra tickets a guy like Wee will pull in worth the risk of throwing him to the wolves so early in his career? The man even said that he wanted to compete in TUF and *eventually* the UFC, so why not at least run him through the minors before baptizing him in fire? Imagine if Amir Sadollah was given a shot in the UFC before TUF for a moment. You’d think it was presumptuous, dangerous, and borderline insane, would you not?

Of course, the important thing here is that Wee’s signing represents a tremendous step forward for the Singaporean MMA scene, right? That surely what one of Evolve MMA fighter, Benedict Ang, will tell you:

Singapore having its very own first UFC fighter is a huge accomplishment for the nation, as well as the MMA scene in Singapore. It proves we have the capability to compete at the highest level in the world.

As I much as I want that to be true, Ang (and I really, truly do), I must disagree with you. Because it isn’t.

No, Wee’s signing is unfortunately yet another sign that the UFC might be expanding at a rate that is consistently undermining the quality of its overall product. While a certain UFC exec/media starlet would likely counter this argument with something along the lines of “If you don’t like it, don’t watch it!”, well, we’ve already covered that. Ad nauseam.

Talent is not the reason Wee was signed, although we’ll soon find out exactly how much of it he has. Wee was signed because he’s from Singapore, and the UFC is holding an event in Singapore. It’s as transparent as that. The UFC has, somewhat ironically, begun taking pages out of Bellator’s book (flooding undercards with local fighters) in the hope of packing as many international stadiums as possible — we’ve seen this theory put into practice over the past several Brazil-based “Fight Night” cards. Unfortunately, the stadiums aren’t being filled. And the ratings these events are pulling in are even worse. It’s what you’d call “penny smart, dollar stupid.”

Depending who you ask, the UFC is planning on holding between 40 and 54 events in 2014, bringing new meaning to the phrase “stretching oneself too thin.”

“We are looking at expanding our Fight Night product,” said Lorenzo Fertitta when discussing the increase in cards:

We have the bottom tier, we have the Ultimate Fighter which we’re taking around the world now. We have obviously the series on FOX Sports 1. We just got done filming The Ultimate Fighter: China which will air in January in China. We’ve got The Ultimate Fighter: Canada and Australia in production right now. We’re in pre-production for series in other various countries around the world. That’s our base. 

In the middle of the pyramid we have our UFC Fight Night brand. We’re gonna take that Fight Night product and expand it into Europe and into Asia next year…

While the UFC is certainly expanding its product, it is becoming increasingly harder to sell the idea that it is improving its product. Sure, the promotion has secured broadcasting deals in over 140 countries and in 28 languages, and sure, The Ultimate Fighter is seemingly being filmed in more countries than Survivor nowadays, but has any of this expansion led to better numbers amongst casual fans, aka the people the UFC are trying to draw in? Short answer: Fuck. No.

It’s not just that Fox Sports 1 is available in less homes than Spike. It’s not. It’s that the UFC is watering down its product in an attempt to gain more fans. It’s that hardcore followers of the sport, let alone casual fans, are struggling to keep up with the number of unrecognizable names and garbage-ass cards being thrown at us, and both the UFC’s and FS1′s ratings are suffering as a result.

When even big-name, American draws like Jon Jones are seeing their PPV numbers slip lower than ever before, it’s safe to assume that oversaturation is at least partially to blame. Surely UFC 166 and Fight Night 31 would have seen better numbers had they not transpired a week apart from one another, would they not? The average UFC card is being given no breathing room, no time to be promoted or individualized from the cards before/after it, and it seems that this issue will only become more apparent in the coming years.

I’m not trying to be Mr. Doom and Gloom here, and I’m certainly not saying that the signing of one potentially subpar fighter is some irreversible travesty. But I am saying that adopting the Philadelphia Eagles circa 1976 strategy of acquiring new talent is a dangerous move for the UFC, and one that will surely result in more substandard and underwatched fight cards moving forward. Despite the tremendous amount of talent in the UFC’s roster, truly “stacked” cards — you know, the ones actually worth paying $50 for — are getting harder and harder to come by these days, and despite DW’s complaints that said roster is “too full,” the UFC seems to be taking a quantity-over-quality approach in regards to their fighters with acquisitions like Wee.

But who knows? Maybe Wee is a God damned killer. Maybe Dana White & Co. are thinking 40, 50 years down the road and I am the short-sighted one. Maybe they think that by establishing their brand in countries where the sport is severely underdeveloped in terms of talent, they can in turn monopolize said talent once (if) the sport catches on. But then why the emphasis on securing local, almost completely untested fighters already? Has Super Fight League not shown us that this might be a bad business strategy?

We wish Royston all the best in his UFC debut, and hopefully, he can invalidate these 1,600+ words I have spent on him come January 4th. But at the same time, we can’t help but think that maybe the pride of the Singaporean nation would be better placed on the shoulders of a guy who has truly proven himself to be an *elite* member of his division. Because after twenty years spent dragging MMA out of the dark ages, that’s what the UFC is supposed to be about: Showcasing the *elite* members of the sport in action. We have Bellator and RFA and countless other lower-level promotions to watch raw talent be molded into something more. What is supposed to separate the UFC from those promotions, especially among casual fans, is the *quality* of fights on the average card. By signing guys who have yet to pick up a credible victory (and based seemingly on their countries of origin), the UFC is failing to achieve this distinction.

*Oh yeah, the UFC also made offers to Shinya Aoki and Eddie Ng, but both turned them down for One FC’s “more favorable economics.” Just allow that to sink in for a moment. 

–J. Jones

Are Events Like UFC Fight Night 32 Why the UFC’s Popularity is Suffering?


(It’s almost 2014. Dan Henderson and Vitor Belfort are still main-eventing UFC cards. / photo via Getty)

By Matt Saccaro

Cards like UFC Fight Night 32 are contributing to the death of MMA’s popularity in the US.

In case you haven’t noticed, the UFC’s numbers have been atrocious lately. UFC 165, a card headlined by the light heavyweight champion of the world and future of the company Jon Jones, drew a paltry 325,000 buys. Cain Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos III—the finale to the greatest trilogy in UFC heavyweight history—drew a slightly higher number at UFC 166.

The UFC has had woes on free television too. TUF is regularly breaking the wrong kinds of records. And the ratings on FOX Sports 1 have been inconsistent at best. They started strong with a tremendous 1.7 million (back to 2011 Spike TV levels) for UFC Fight Night 26, dropped 54% to 824,000 viewers for UFN 27, fell a further 35% to 539,000 for UFN 28, rose to 638,000 for 29, and stayed at that level for the next fight night card on FOX Sports 1, UFC Fight Night 31 (a.k.a. UFC Fight for the Troops 3).


(It’s almost 2014. Dan Henderson and Vitor Belfort are still main-eventing UFC cards. / photo via Getty)

By Matt Saccaro

Cards like UFC Fight Night 32 are contributing to the death of MMA’s popularity in the US.

In case you haven’t noticed, the UFC’s numbers have been atrocious lately. UFC 165, a card headlined by the light heavyweight champion of the world and future of the company Jon Jones, drew a paltry 325,000 buys. Cain Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos III—the finale to the greatest trilogy in UFC heavyweight history—drew a slightly higher number at UFC 166.

The UFC has had woes on free television too. TUF is regularly breaking the wrong kinds of records. And the ratings on FOX Sports 1 have been inconsistent at best. They started strong with a tremendous 1.7 million (back to 2011 Spike TV levels) for UFC Fight Night 26, dropped 54% to 824,000 viewers for UFN 27, fell a further 35% to 539,000 for UFN 28, rose to 638,000 for 29, and stayed at that level for the next fight night card on FOX Sports 1, UFC Fight Night 31 (a.k.a. UFC Fight for the Troops 3).

Not counting UFC Fight Night 32 (the ratings aren’t out at the time of writing), the average viewership for UFC Fight Night cards on FS1 is 884,400. The average viewership for the last five “Fight Night” events the UFC held on Spike TV is over twice that number at a little over two million (1.8 million for UFN 25, 2.2 million for UFN 24, 2.5 million for UFN 23, 1.6 million for UFN 22, and 2 million for UFN 21).

UFC Fight Night 30, the lone Fight Night that’s been featured on FOX Sports 2, only drew 122,000 viewers and was outdrawn by World Series of Fighting 6, which scored 161,000 viewers.

Something—nay, many things, are amiss. Even the king of hyperbole Dana White admitted that the UFC is not mainstream. And with cards like UFC Fight Night 32, it never will be.

What about that event stood out? What about that event made people say, “I need to keep watching the UFC”?

The card was stacked with middling Brazilian fighters and prospects only the hardcore fans and journalists knew or cared about. Fans will say that the card was great because there were finishes, but that’s a short-sighted and extremely myopic view. Yes, four of the six bouts on the main card were finishes, but what’s a finish worth when nobody is watching?

The casual fan, the group on which the UFC’s growth and popularity in the United States is dependent, doesn’t care about finishes. The casual fan cares about names, about stars. The guy who wears tapout and does bicep curls in the squat rack talks about Kimbo Slice and Brock Lesnar, not about the intricacies of a setup for an armbar or a triangle.

Ask yourself this: What did UFC Fight Night 32 do to regain the swaths of casual fans who have tuned out of MMA since 2013?

Obviously, the UFC can’t put all the good stuff on free television because they make money on their PPVs. Still, that brings up another question. What “good stuff” do they have left to put on free TV that’ll draw what they were drawing on Spike?

Their stars are fading. Instead of creating new ones, they’re vomiting a stream of generic, EA sports create-a-fighters onto television screens across America. They’re expecting the casual fan to watch because it’s the UFC and the UFC is a good brand and they’re fights and fights are exciting. Everyone loves fights, right? It’s in our blood to love fighting. Or so the tired MMA-triumphalist rhetoric goes.

But it’s become apparent that that logic isn’t true. People aren’t tuning in for the novelty of “this UFC thing” anymore. They’ve moved on either because they’re waiting for Chuck Liddell’s or Kimbo Slice’s or Brock Lesnar’s next fight, or because the sport is too hard to follow, or because they never see it on TV because they don’t watch FS1, or because they see cards like UFC Fight Night 32 and just don’t care anymore.

This issue becomes even more complicated when you consider the question of overseas expansion. UFC Fight Night 32 was, obviously, a Brazil-centric card. The UFC is also eyeing expansion in many other countries. But is the UFC pursuing this goal because the US market is drying up, or is the US market drying up because of the UFC’s obsession with international growth?

The answer, for now, is elusive. When we see how the UFC closes out the year, we’ll know the bubble has burst if we see the UFC’s popularity in the US continue to wither.

Counterpoint: UFC 151?s Supporting Card Is Kind of Garbage-Ass, To Be Honest


(Two of the fighters featured on the UFC 151 pay-per-view broadcast. I *dare* you to identify them without using Wikipedia.)

Yeah, yeah, Jon Jones vs. Dan Henderson is one of the greatest UFC main events of the year, and we all came buckets this morning when we watched the promo. These are incontrovertible facts — especially the part about the buckets.

But allow me to be a hater for just a moment, because it’s becoming clear that the UFC has lost an aspect of its promotional DNA that used to set it apart from boxing — namely, its habit of stacking each card with multiple fights and stars that fans were excited about. Here’s what UFC president Dana White told CNBC two years ago:

“If you buy tickets and you fly to Las Vegas, I guarantee you’re going to see the best live sporting event ever. And if you buy it on Pay Per View, I promise you, you’re going to get a night of great fights. And the other thing that we do is, in boxing, they’ll only give you one main event. Nobody even shows up for the early fights. We stack a card with tons of great fights because I can’t, for me to sit here, I’d be a liar if I said, I’m guaranteeing you every fight’s going to be the best fight you’ve ever seen I can’t guarantee you that. But I can guarantee you, there’s going to be two, three or four that are going to blow you out of, you know, you’re going to be blown away. We stack the card big enough so that you’re definitely going to get your money’s worth.”

Since that interview, the UFC has inked a set of new broadcast partners, added three weight classes, and returned to certain international markets (i.e., Brazil, Japan), all of which has led them to increase their card-frequency to the point that some events are now completely non-essential, and others are only compelling for their main events. Those incredible “stacked cards” that we used to enjoy in 2008 and 2009 have officially gone extinct.

Which brings us to UFC 151: Jones vs. Henderson (September 1st, Las Vegas). You probably know where this is going…


(Two of the fighters featured on the UFC 151 pay-per-view broadcast. I *dare* you to identify them without using Wikipedia.)

Yeah, yeah, Jon Jones vs. Dan Henderson is one of the greatest UFC main events of the year, and we all came buckets this morning when we watched the promo. These are incontrovertible facts — especially the part about the buckets.

But allow me to be a hater for just a moment, because it’s becoming clear that the UFC has lost an aspect of its promotional DNA that used to set it apart from boxing — namely, its habit of stacking each card with multiple fights and stars that fans were excited about. Here’s what UFC president Dana White told CNBC two years ago:

“If you buy tickets and you fly to Las Vegas, I guarantee you’re going to see the best live sporting event ever. And if you buy it on Pay Per View, I promise you, you’re going to get a night of great fights. And the other thing that we do is, in boxing, they’ll only give you one main event. Nobody even shows up for the early fights. We stack a card with tons of great fights because I can’t, for me to sit here, I’d be a liar if I said, I’m guaranteeing you every fight’s going to be the best fight you’ve ever seen I can’t guarantee you that. But I can guarantee you, there’s going to be two, three or four that are going to blow you out of, you know, you’re going to be blown away. We stack the card big enough so that you’re definitely going to get your money’s worth.”

Since that interview, the UFC has inked a set of new broadcast partners, added three weight classes, and returned to certain international markets (i.e., Brazil, Japan), all of which has led them to increase their card-frequency to the point that some events are now completely non-essential, and others are only compelling for their main events. Those incredible “stacked cards” that we used to enjoy in 2008 and 2009 have officially gone extinct.

Which brings us to UFC 151: Jones vs. Henderson (September 1st, Las Vegas). You probably know where this is going…

Here’s the current lineup, followed by some more incontrovertible facts.

– UFC 151′s pay-per-view broadcast is led off by John Lineker vs. Yasuhiro Urushitani — the guys shown at the top of this post, FYI — two flyweights who are both 0-1 in the UFC. Maybe it’s an exaggeration to say that “no one cares about little flyweights,” but certainly, nobody cares about these particular little flyweights. The fact that the UFC would include this match on the PPV lineup is proof that over-saturation has reached its tipping point in the UFC; nothing else really needs to be said.

– Outside of Jones and Henderson, there’s nobody on this card who you could legitimately call a “star.” If Josh Koscheck didn’t get injured, there would be three big names on the main card instead of two, but that’s still a weak offering for a PPV lineup. As it stands, UFC 151 is the epitome of the “one-fight card” common to boxing events, where only the headlining match is worth getting excited for.

– The default co-main event of Jake Ellenberger vs. Jay Hieron pits a guy who lost his last UFC fight against a guy who has never won a UFC fight. If you’re a big fan of Dennis Siver, Dennis Hallman, Eddie Yagin, or Thiago Tavares, I’ve got no quarrel with you. The rest of you should ask yourselves — are those fights really worth paying for?

I’ve heard a lot of complaints from MMA fans lately about how the UFC is forcing them to shell out $55 seemingly every other weekend to buy increasingly watered-down PPV cards. But the truth is, the UFC isn’t forcing you do anything. Being an MMA fan can be an expensive hobby, but as a consumer, you always have the power to say no. The bottom line is, the UFC can get away with selling these one-fight events because the fans have played along. So if you feel like you’re getting screwed, don’t order the events. That will send the only message that matters.

(BG)

Five Things the UFC Needs to Fix If They Want to Continue Their Upward Trajectory


(When Zuffa purchased the UFC, Dana White actually had hair. There is no punchline, just a fact worth mentioning.)

By Nathan Smith

I have purchased pay per views from the Ultimate Fighting Championship since 1994, where I was welcomed to the sport with Pat Smith turning the face of Scott Morris into a Manwich at UFC 2: No Way Out. It was like heroin after that – I was addicted. Since then, I estimate that I have shelled out well over $5000 on PPVs alone, much less another sizeable chunk of change on tickets to live events and the obligatory UFC merchandise (who can live without the life-sized GSP cardboard cut-out – NOT ME).

Throughout that time I have been an advocate of MMA to the uninformed masses that I’ve encountered at watering holes across this great land. For every, “That UFC shit is just a legalized bar fight” comment, I would swoop in like Dogwelder to defend the UFC and its competitors. It was almost a grass roots effort by the early UFC supporters to educate the ignorant and let them know that this is a real sport filled with unbelievably talented athletes. The edification continues today as many intelligent fans try to shun the perceived stigma that we are a bunch of tatted-up dudes wearing flat-billed TAPOUT hats and driving small-penis-compensating monster trucks while applying ring worm ointment to our wounds.

Then there was the figure-head, the fearless leader that was taking all the media scrutiny head-on and paving the way while holding up his middle finger to the man. After the ZUFFA purchase, Dana White was a perfect fit during the infancy of the UFC’s push towards legitimacy. Adopting rules and weight classes and marketing the shit out of the product culminated in a 7 year deal with FOX and its affiliates. Now the UFC is on the precipice of its fourth nationally televised FOX card and the ratings have plummeted from 5.7 million during UFC on FOX 1 (Cain Velasquez VS Junior Dos Santos) to 2.4 million during UFC on FOX 3 (Nate Diaz VS Jim Miller).

I don’t think it is a coincidence that viewership and PPV buys are down. I have always been a staunch supporter of the brand and even I, a die hard fan, am starting to see chinks in the UFC armor. The reasons have been dissected on CP with various posts but I believe that this is just the beginning of problems for the UFC unless some changes are made pronto. I am not saying that the UFC is in the toilet but as the organization has grown in stature from eviscerating the competition, a standard evolution needs to happen.

So with that in mind, here are five ways that the UFC can move from their current plateau all the way to the mountain top.


(When Zuffa purchased the UFC, Dana White actually had hair. There is no punchline, just a fact worth mentioning.)

By Nathan Smith

I have purchased pay per views from the Ultimate Fighting Championship since 1994, where I was welcomed to the sport with Pat Smith turning the face of Scott Morris into a Manwich at UFC 2: No Way Out. It was like heroin after that – I was addicted. Since then, I estimate that I have shelled out well over $5000 on PPVs alone, much less another sizeable chunk of change on tickets to live events and the obligatory UFC merchandise (who can live without the life-sized GSP cardboard cut-out – NOT ME).

Throughout that time I have been an advocate of MMA to the uninformed masses that I’ve encountered at watering holes across this great land. For every, “That UFC shit is just a legalized bar fight” comment, I would swoop in like Dogwelder to defend the UFC and its competitors. It was almost a grass roots effort by the early UFC supporters to educate the ignorant and let them know that this is a real sport filled with unbelievably talented athletes. The edification continues today as many intelligent fans try to shun the perceived stigma that we are a bunch of tatted-up dudes wearing flat-billed TAPOUT hats and driving small-penis-compensating monster trucks while applying ring worm ointment to our wounds.

Then there was the figure-head, the fearless leader that was taking all the media scrutiny head-on and paving the way while holding up his middle finger to the man. After the ZUFFA purchase, Dana White was a perfect fit during the infancy of the UFC’s push towards legitimacy. Adopting rules and weight classes and marketing the shit out of the product culminated in a 7 year deal with FOX and its affiliates. Now the UFC is on the precipice of its fourth nationally televised FOX card and the ratings have plummeted from 5.7 million during UFC on FOX 1 (Cain Velasquez VS Junior Dos Santos) to 2.4 million during UFC on FOX 3 (Nate Diaz VS Jim Miller).

I don’t think it is a coincidence that viewership and PPV buys are down. I have always been a staunch supporter of the brand and even I, a die hard fan, am starting to see chinks in the UFC armor. The reasons have been dissected on CP with various posts but I believe that this is just the beginning of problems for the UFC unless some changes are made pronto. I am not saying that the UFC is in the toilet but as the organization has grown in stature from eviscerating the competition, a standard evolution needs to happen.

So with that in mind, here are five ways that the UFC can move from their current plateau all the way to the mountain top.

1. DEAL WITH OVERSATURATION

(Example A: Deeming matchups like these headliner-worthy.) 

There are (and I can’t believe I am saying this) an overabundance of fights provided (both free or PPVs) throughout the Zuffa calendar year, and the fans have been inundated with this variety of contests. The fact that there are three Zuffa-run cards (UFC on FOX 4, UFC 150 and a Strikeforce event) over the course of the next three weeks illustrates my point exactly. Great, right? Well, seeing how it has been a thoroughly mixed bag of good and bad fight cards, it is not all roses. UFC on FOX 2 showcased every fight going to a decision, TUF LIVE tanked, and who could forget the turd in the swimming pool that was UFC 149.

Sure, it is easy to pick on the bad cards, but there is a mammoth quantity of MEDIO-CORE fighters on the roster due to Zuffa buying most of the competition. So the UFC has gone from 19 fight cards (12 PPV mixed with 7 Fight Night/TUF Finales) in 2007 to holding somewhere in the neighborhood of 35 this year (and that is UFC only events). Yes, we all get to see more fights, but I remember when a UFC card was an event in and of itself. It was a special, once-a-month occasion, and now (with the exception of the occasional championship fight) it seems to have grown a bit monotonous. The UFC needs to trim the herd or start a lower level organization for up-and-comers or wash-outs while keeping the cream of the crop for the main cards. I vaguely recall an organization that accomplished this perfectly (Wicked Exciting Cagefighting?). Wonder what happened to those guys.

2. BOOK THE MARQUEE MATCHUPS

Dana White has said on numerous occasions that the difference between the UFC and boxing has a lot to do with promoters as well as the UFC’s ability to put the big fights together. That used to be true. The Potato Nation was fairly vocal about an Anderson Silva vs. GSP bout not that long ago. It never happened. The new flavor of the week is Anderson Silva vs. Jon Jones. That is another fight that is more than likely not going to happen, because as we all know, Bones doesn’t want to risk ruining “his greatness.” Hubris, Jon, it has its pratfalls.

When the UFC brass announcing that the most exciting winner on the UFC on FOX 4 card will be next in line for a LHW title shot, we were all a bit confused. Two things MUST happen for this announcement to hold any credence. First off, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua has to turn Brandon Vera’s nose into Cung Le’s toe and earn the #1 contender status. Secondly, Dan Henderson must land his H-Bomb on the chin of Bones and put him to sleep. Then we get Hendo VS Shogun II for the LHW championship of the world, a notion that has already given me (and all of you people) a half-chub. Let’s be perfectly honest, although it is possible for these scenarios to play out, the likelihood of both materializing is a stretch. The UFC used to make the real main event fights happen. The BJ Penn vs Matt Hughes and GSP fights and the Chuck Liddell vs Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz fights were all must-see TV and the ratings proved it.

Click the “next” tab to learn yourself three more ways the UFC can turn things around…