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UFC Fight Pass Adds Pancrase and Seven Other Promotions, Still Kind of Sucks As a Digital Service

(“What was your question? Are we looking to buy the entire Internet? I mean, yeah, we’ll see what happens.”/Photo via Getty)
UFC’s digital subscription service, Fight Pass, has its fair share of pros and cons. The cost isn’t all that damaging to the wallet, but it’s not exactly the game-changer promotion officials thought it would be.

Without knowing too much about subscriber info and profits, the network allows you to watch free UFC cards, including FOX Sports 1 events, preliminary fights, and exclusive Fight Pass broadcasts that usually take place outside of North America. It also has an extensive UFC library, containing an abundance of full main cards from UFC, Pride, WEC, EliteXC, and those two Affliction MMA cards that were surprisingly fun.

(“What was your question? Are we looking to buy the entire Internet? I mean, yeah, we’ll see what happens.”/ Photo via Getty)

UFC’s digital subscription service, Fight Pass, has its fair share of pros and cons. The cost isn’t all that damaging to the wallet, but it’s not exactly the game-changer that promotion officials thought it would be.

The network allows you to watch free UFC cards, including FOX Sports 1 events, preliminary fights, and exclusive Fight Pass broadcasts that usually take place outside of North America. It also carries an extensive UFC library, containing an abundance of full main cards from UFC, as well as Pride, WEC, EliteXC, and those two Affliction MMA cards that were surprisingly fun, among others.

After reports surfaced that hackers stole login info and credit card numbers from tens of thousands of subscribers late last month (which confirms that early security concerns were never fully addressed), fight fans were met with a better announcement, as Zuffa announced hours before UFC 182 it has acquired eight fight libraries from well-known international and regional promotions, including legendary Japanese outfit Pancrase, as well as King of The Cage, HookNShoot, TKO, Cage Rage, Extreme Challenge, UCMMA, and XFO.

UFC Chief Content Officer Marshall Zelaznik announced the news in a press conference on Saturday, revealing that over 13,000 individual bouts are slated to be added to Fight Pass this upcoming spring. The content comes from the brain of UFC matchmaker Joe Silva, who apparently made his own list of what promotions he wanted to see on the digital service (according to MMA Fighting).
After news broke that hackers stole login info and credit card numbers from tens of thousands of subscribers a few days ago (which really speaks volumes about the lack of security), fight fans were met with a better announcement, as Zuffa announced hours before UFC 182 it has acquired eight fight libraries from renown and regional promotions, including legendary Japanese promotion Pancrase (complete library), King of The Cage, HookNShoot, TKO, Cage Rage, Extreme Challenge, Ultimate Challenge MMA (UCMMA), and XFO.

But there’s still a lot to complain about, after the jump:

(“What was your question? Are we looking to buy the entire Internet? I mean, yeah, we’ll see what happens.”/ Photo via Getty)

Now, the Pancrase library certainly gets us giddy, seeing that their current events are pretty difficult to find, without the availability to download those events after they take place. The rest is a nice treat, yet we’re still holding out for Yamma and Rhode Island Vale Tudo. With that said, Fight Pass is starting to shape up as definitive library of MMA fights from the most important promotions, and it’s apparently still growing.

This comes not too long after UFC’s inclusion of Invicta FC events, providing streaming of live events and past showcases from the leading all-female MMA promotion. We could really do without exclusive shows like The Ultimate Fighter: Whatever Country We’re In and MMA Mindset, but variety is never a bad thing.

On the other hand, this also means a boatload of free content will likely be pulled from YouTube and other free streaming sites. Zuffa legal teams will be out in full force and prohibiting fans from watching some old Bas Rutten and Frank Shamrock Pancrase fights because they now own that material.

In spite of that, it still feels like Fight Pass is “under construction,” since the search tool is fairly problematic; you’d think the service could at least rank the bouts you’re looking for in chronological order. It’s also incredibly glitchy, with a lot of complaints about getting bounced out of a live broadcast, only to have to sign back in. There are rewind functions, but it’s kind of annoying to be asked to log in again after the site freezes and have to reenter your password during the critical moments of a fight.

Also, for those that think pro wrestling isn’t direct competition to MMA, think again. Fight Pass was overshadowed by the WWE Network days after its launch, which isn’t doing so good itself, according to pundits. The reason WWE stole the glory was their inclusion of the 12 PPV events they put on a year (including WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and Survivor Series), not to mention countless hours of WCW and ECW footage. By comparison, the UFC didn’t even have their complete fight library posted at first (nor did they have as much Pride material, which is sort of a deal-breaker if you’re going to monopolize the online MMA world). For what it’s worth, Japan’s top wrestling promotion, New Japan Pro Wrestling, launched its own digital network a few weeks ago, called NJPW World. The cost is similar, and since Puroresu is rising in North America, it’s a lot more compelling to watch old Antonio Inoki contests from decades ago, instead of an Ultimate Bigfoot Silva collection.

If that’s not enough, there’s no indication the new additions will help generate more subscribers. It’s a nice bonus for the MMA diehards who are already staying up all night to watch international UFC cards on the Internet, but is it a true selling point for those who are still on the fence? If the UFC was willing to take a little bit of a pay cut to include a couple of PPV events on the network, then the service would be a must for your typical UFC enthusiast. But apparently, PPV isn’t dead, despite more and more people cancelling their cable subscriptions in favor of laptops and HDMI wires.

Oh, and one other thing … word on the streets is that UFC had geoblocked the prelims for Canadian fans this past weekend, presumably in attempt to get Canucks to sign up for specialty channels like The Fight Network. Stemming from the new deal UFC signed for their Canadian broadcasts, this would absolutely suck if you had to pay extra to watch a handful of prelim bouts that you used to watch for free when the UFC was on Sportsnet.

I’d like to think all these issues will be resolved this year, but pessimism is one of my favorite pastimes.

–Alex G.

UFC Raises “Jones vs. Cormier” PPV Price by $5; Higher Price Also in Effect for UFC 183 and UFC 184

(Dana White acts like it’s so easy to “get a couple more friends.” But what if you’re a reclusive MMA blogger who eats peanut butter with a spork?)

Just like the promotion did with UFC 168 in December 2013, the UFC is using the surge of attention around UFC 182: Jones vs. Cormier to raise the price of the pay-per-view broadcast by $5. MMAPayout alerts us that UFC.TV and multiple PPV providers are charging consumers $59.99 HD/$49.99 SD for tonight’s event. Notably, those higher prices will also be in effect for the other two PPV cards the UFC already has scheduled in 2015, UFC 183: Silva vs. Diaz on January 31st and UFC 184: Weidman vs. Belfort on February 28th. As MMAPayout explains:

Last year’s down PPV business forced Standard & Poors to lower Zuffa’s outlook and threatened to lower their credit rating if things didn’t turn around by the end of Q1 2015. Now having said that, it makes sense as to why Q1 2015 has been scheduled with some of UFC’s biggest stars and match-ups. As for the price hike, looking back at UFC 168, it did an estimated 1.025M PPV buys with the hiked PPV price, so it doesn’t appear to have been much of a deterrent. It’s pretty much a safe bet to say that the UFC’s takeaway from the UF 168 experiment was that their customers have no problem paying extra for a major event. In 2015, it looks like they are taking that experiment a bit further by scheduling the first three events of the year with the price hike.

(Dana White acts like it’s so easy to “get a couple more friends.” But what if you’re a reclusive MMA blogger who eats peanut butter with a spork?)

At this point, we don’t know whether or not the UFC will return to its original prices as soon as there’s a PPV card with a less highly-anticipated main event. $59.99/$49.99 could be the new normal. Ugh. I mean, I know the UFC is experiencing some financially desperate times and they need to build their bankroll while the iron’s hot, but damn, this is how you repay fans who stuck with you last year? By jacking up prices as soon as the cards are good again? Come on, man. Come on.

Cutting Through The Bullsh*t: UFC 179 Edition

By Alex Giardini

UFC 179: “Aldo vs. Mendes 2” proved to be exactly what we expected it to be, and that was a one-fight boxing card with a scintillating main event for the ages. The “greatest featherweight fight in history” was nothing short of amazing, with Jose Aldo defeating Chad Mendes for the second time after knocking out “Money” at UFC 142 almost three years ago. The battle was full of wild punches, eye pokes, a lot of heavy breathing, and at times, flying shit that didn’t land.

With a certain “joker” sitting cageside, let’s examine UFC 179, and why it was great and equally pathetic…

(Photo via Getty)

By Alex Giardini

With a certain “joker” sitting cageside, let’s examine UFC 179, and why it was great and equally pathetic:

Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes Was The Business

Aldo’s presence alone is like waiting to unwrap that PS4 your significant other bought you for Christmas. You’ve got to wait a while for it to happen, but when it does, you can bet your ass it was worth it. “Scarface” was met with a lot of criticism before this fight, seeing how he didn’t really sell the contest, and truth to be told, he’s not really one to generate great interest in the media when he fights. Say what you will about his output winding down, since it’s almost as if his battle against Ricardo Lamas at UFC 169 never happened, yet he’s the UFC’s most dominant champion right now.

You’ve got your Jon Jones and your Cain Velasquez, however, keep in mind the gold has been around Aldo’s waist since 2009, stemming from his WEC years. Last night, he was dragged into a dogfight and he delivered, with the whole of Brazil on his back to preserve the country’s identity in the fight world, since he’s the only champion left from a place that dominated the MMA landscape for so long. He’s pretty great, too.

As for Mendes, he certainly rocked the champion on multiple occasions and did the most damage anyone has done to his main event foe. The Team Alpha Male product’s striking has gotten much better, and it’s really depressing to say this, but he really cemented his status as the division’s number two guy. When he dropped Aldo in the first round after connecting with clean shots, it summoned the spirit of T.J. Dillashaw, yet things didn’t really go the Californian’s way. When he was hit with two shots after the horn in round one, it’s tough to say how much damage was done, and if Aldo truly had any bad intentions since he claimed he didn’t hear the buzzer.

This fight reminded us why MMA is truly awesome, much like the Dillashaw upset, and when Lyoto Machida took Chris Weidman to the deep waters at UFC 175. This featherweight tussle holds the pole position for “Fight of The Year,” and we can’t help but get that fuzzy feeling inside just thinking about it. At the same time, it’s not like we don’t have to put up our fair share of bullshit just to get to the center of the Tootsie Roll.

As for Conor McGregor, you might think UFC really missed an opportunity to have him enter the cage and do the dirty work to sell a fight against a champion that doesn’t care much about that stuff. After all, both the winner and the loser called him out. But maybe UFC isn’t jumping the gun after all, now that the Irishman is tied up with Dennis Siver, and that if you really had to look at it from a fair standpoint, the winner of Frankie Edgar vs. Cub Swanson deserves the next crack at the belt. It’s not really the wisest option, based on McGregor’s hype train riding from coast to coast across the globe, yet one has to think UFC wants us to believe Siver has a chance to win.

“A Light Heavyweight Matchup With True Title Implications”

UFC broadcaster supreme Mike Goldberg says a lot of drunk-white-girl things, but this takes the freaking cake. Once Phil Davis vs. Glover Teixeira concluded, he spat out this gem, which is borderline scary. Davis was coming off a crushing loss to Anthony Johnson at UFC 172, while “Bones” dominated Teixeira in a 205-pound title fight on the same exact card.

As for the fight, all you need to know is that the wrestler did what wrestlers do, neutralizing the power-puncher’s offense, and bringing him down to the mat over and over again. Maybe we should give a bit more credit to “Mr. Wonderful,” because it was arguably his best performance in the Octagon thus far. The Brazilian had trouble finding his range with Davis on his bicycle, and that’s pretty much how the three-round scrap went.

Look, the light heavyweight division is pretty bad these days, and if you want proof of that, just listen to the Penn State alumnus calling out Anderson Silva in his post-fight interview. With Anthony Johnson’s uncertain future, along with the plans to have Alexander Gustafsson fight Rashad Evans, Davis kind of is “in the mix.” One more win, and the guy is inching closer to a title shot, as odd as that sounds. The promotion will most likely book Davis to fight Ryan Bader next, because frankly, nothing else really makes much sense.

Main Card Woes And The Need For Change

Credit the fighters on the prelims for bringing it, since five out of six fights were over before the final horn. With that said, the three other main card contests almost put everyone to sleep, with takedown-heavy game plans and fighters that just don’t cut the mustard on the big stage.

Fabio Maldonado’s comeback win over Hans Stringer seemed like a shot in the dark, but more so for the event in general. It was like a Hail Mary thrown to save the interest of the main card, after witnessing Darren Elkins vs. Lucas Martins and Beneil Dariush vs. Carlos Diego Ferreira stink up the joint. Maybe every fighter deserves his or her chance to shine on the big stage, but we’re also in the entertainment business, or even better, the $50 to $60 price-tag business.

Before you accuse us of hating the UFC and being these snotty historians that wish it was 2006 all over again, please understand what is happening. More MMA isn’t a bad thing at all. Hell, I’d watch live MMA every night if I had to, or at least be content with the fact that it’s available in those circumstances. On the flip side, the quality just isn’t there anymore, and there’s a reason why you don’t want to watch the Jacksonville Jaguars against the New York Jets every single weekend. This card is a perfect example of what Dana White criticized for so long, and that’s a boxing event with one high-profile fight on it. The UFC needs to change its PPV and television model fast.

Nobody is forcing you to watch the prelims, or the fights outside the main and co-main events on the main card. We get that. Although how exactly is this sport supposed to grow, and shouldn’t we at least be concerned with the lack of thereof? You’ll have an event like UFC Fight Night 46, followed by UFC on FOX 12, and observers will come out in full force and trash the oversaturation bit. But in terms of consistency, UFC just doesn’t have it anymore. Injuries are one thing, but it can’t be the basis of an argument, either.

If a tree falls a forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Maybe. If a main event is described as one of the best fights of the year, but only 200,000 people saw it because nobody really gave it the time of day, was it still as great as it was? Yes, but we’ll definitely need to put time aside to convince those that didn’t watch. One of the best fights of the year was on one of the worst PPV’s of the year, period. If you need to any further convincing, please refer to this.

At the end of the day, it’s no skin off our backs. That title fight was a prime example of why we need to put up with some dry stuff to have a good time. But UFC needs to think of something to get the casual fan’s interest back, because The Ultimate Fighter and celebrity tweets aren’t doing it anymore. If not, the “bubble” is going to get smaller and smaller, with limited selling points.

Wild Rumor of the Day: UFC 174 Did Less Than 100,000 Pay-Per-View Buys

(*crickets* / Photo via Getty)

Yesterday, MMAFighting’s Dave Meltzer reported that UFC 173: Barao vs. Dillashaw pulled an estimated 200,000-215,000 pay-per-view buys. While that number is certainly on the low end of UFC buyrates, it’s not a disaster by any means. Keep in mind that UFC 169 — a card that featured a Renan Barao vs. Urijah Faber rematch, Jose Aldo defending his featherweight belt against Ricardo Lamas, and a high-profile heavyweight bout between Alistair Overeem and Frank Mir — only earned an estimated 230,000 buys back in February. On paper, UFC 173 was arguably a weaker offering, but the buyrate wasn’t that far off. Basically, it could have been a lot worse.

The bad news is, last weekend’s UFC 174: Johnson vs. Bagautinov event might have done a historically awful, Bellator-caliber buyrate. First, here’s Meltzer discussing the early estimates in his newsletter yesterday:

“It’s too early to get accurate numbers, but every indication we’ve gotten was very bad, and that it showed a steep decline from UFC 173, which was among the lower numbers of the last eight years. UFC PPV shows usually range from 200,000 to 500,000 Google searches after the event, and are usually in the top few searched for items in the country. A bad show may only do 100,000. Bellator’s show last month hit 100,000. A big show can top 500,000, with the shows that hover around 1 million buys usually doing anywhere from 1 million to 5 million searches. This show did less than 20,000, unheard of for a PPV…

(*crickets* / Photo via Getty)

Unlike UFC 173, which looked weak on paper and everyone knew wasn’t going to draw much, it still had Dan Henderson and Daniel Cormier in the No. 2 spot. They brought some star power in what was really the main event. It also had a lot to talk about after, due to T.J. Dillashaw’s upset win over Renan Barao.

This show didn’t have much interest going in. But most of the time, those type of shows deliver good action. This had none of that. It wasn’t terrible, but there was no fight you needed to see. As a likely sign of how the show went, Dana White didn’t even attend the post-fight press conference.”

In response to Meltzer’s story, our twitter friend @Niko138 added some inside information that suggests the UFC 174 buyrate was beyond dismal. Treat this as a rumor for now, but holy crap:

I’ve heard from a couple of people who would know, that early estimates of 174 buys have it just a bit under 100k. The sole reason I am posting about this (I normally try not to be one of those ratings/buys posters who everyone hates) is because if the show truly did this bad, it will be a good thing for us fans who complain about watered down cards. The UFC’s core audience was really being tested with this card, to see how much they could get away with buys wise, for a card with absolutely no drawing power to the casual viewer.

If this is the case, it sends a strong message to the UFC that the watered down cards are no longer going over with fans. For me, considering the cards are $60 and there is 14 a year…this is great news.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the number that comes out in the press is just above that, like 125…If you see the number come out around that area, then trust me, it did under 100k. This has to piss Dana off to no end considering the Bellator show did do a legit 100k

This is really interesting stuff to me, because like I said.. if true, the UFC is going to realize they can’t keep putting on shows like this as a numbered PPV, and expect its fans to continuously just blindly shell out the cash.

That’s a step in the right direction.. they know they are losing PPV buys, and hopefully they step their game up to fix it, by putting on more big fights per card. We can hope anyway.

So, a couple things. MMAPayout’s PPV Blue Book only dates back to UFC 57 in February 2006, and doesn’t show any UFC pay-per-view doing less than 140k buys. But according to Wikipedia (I know, I know), the last UFC PPV that did under 100k buys was UFC 53: Heavy Hitters, which took in just 90,000 buys in June 2005. In other words, you have to go back nine years to find a UFC PPV that performed as terribly as UFC 174 allegedly did.

My other thought is this: “Putting on more big fights per card” is not necessarily the answer. After years of seeing these UFC buyrates ebb and flow, my totally non-scientific conclusion is that 1) casual UFC fans only care about who’s fighting in the main event, and 2) nobody cares about little flyweights. Seriously. Non-Rousey bantamweight and featherweight title fights have always underperformed on pay-per-view, and it should come as no surprise that the first time the UFC tried to put a flyweight title fight in a pay-per-view main event, it would pull record-low numbers.

So, if the 100k buyrate is accurate — or even close to accurate — it’ll get the UFC’s attention. But don’t expect the promotion to start putting together more stacked PPVs in response; remember they have like 50 events/year to fill out, and they simply don’t have the manpower for it. Instead, the UFC’s major takeaway will probably be this: If we have to put a flyweight title fight on a pay-per-view card, there had better be a bigger fight on top of it.

‘Bellator 120: Rampage vs. King Mo’ PPV Did an Estimated 65,000 Buys

(Image via Spike)

According to a new figure being floated by Dave Meltzer, Bellator’s “Rampage vs. King Mo” event on May 17th did an estimated 65,000 pay-per-view buys.

In a way, that’s a success — despite losing its main event a week out from the show, Bellator 120 cleared the somewhat arbitrary 50k buys figure that was being touted as its break-even mark. It’s not a great number, but it certainly could have been worse. (See: Bodog, Fedor vs. Lindland, 13,000 buys.)

On the other hand, 65,000 buys is still less than half of what the UFC produces on its worst day. The question is, will MMA fans who stayed away from Bellator 120 be swayed into buying future Bellator PPV cards now that we know how bizarrely entertaining they can get? If you’re not psyched about the promotion’s upcoming Super Hulk Tournament, you’re just not a real fan.

(Image via Spike)

According to a new figure being floated by Dave Meltzer, Bellator’s “Rampage vs. King Mo” event on May 17th did an estimated 65,000 pay-per-view buys.

The UFC’s Future More Uncertain Than Ever in the Wake of GSP’s Departure

(Photo via Getty)

The UFC can undergo a new renaissance or it can further fade into Toughman on FX-level obscurity—and it’s actions in the aftermath of GSP’s hiatus (and possible retirement) from MMA will determine which path the company takes.

GSP’s departure has come at a devastating time. The UFC is in a rut. TUF has long since stopped being the advertising vehicle/farm system it was years ago. Ratings are down. The worst part of all is that PPV—the UFC’s chief source of revenue—is lagging too. The culprit is a lack of stars, or rather the UFC’s apparent inability to replace the fading ones.

The UFC lost Chuck Liddell. The UFC lost Brock Lesnar. Rashad Evans, a good draw in his own right, is aging, as is the recently-toppled Anderson Silva. Ronda Rousey lost her luster and already put an expiration date on her career.

Now they’re short a Canadian superhero, a man who’s drawn an average of 800,000 buys over the last three years. And there are no young studs to pick up the slack. Jon Jones and Cain Velasquez are not fit to carry the company on their shoulders judging by the buyrates on their recent PPVs. The UFC’s young, great ethnic hopes—Tiequan Zhang, Erik Perez, and Erick Silva—haven’t developed as planned. Most importantly, the strategy of grooming Rory MacDonald to be GSP’s replacement has failed (or has at least been delayed).

The UFC’s future is still on the backs of aging warhorses whose knees are beginning to buckle.

Yet there is still hope.

(Photo via Getty)

By Matt Saccaro

The UFC can undergo a new renaissance or it can further fade into Toughman on FX-level obscurity—and its actions in the aftermath of GSP’s hiatus (and possible retirement) from MMA will determine which path they follow.

GSP’s departure has come at a tumultuous time. The UFC is in a rut. TUF has long since stopped being the advertising vehicle/farm system it was years ago. Ratings are down. The worst part of all is that PPV—the UFC’s chief source of revenue—is lagging too. The culprit is a lack of stars, as well as the UFC’s apparent inability to replace the fading ones.

The UFC is riding on the backs of aging warhorses whose knees are beginning to buckle.

Yet there is still hope.

GSP is leaving the welterweight division, true. But there are other men primed to take his spot at the top. Welterweight is now a division where anybody in the top 5 or even top 10 could win the belt. It’s a division that’s thrilling and unpredictable for the first time in years. The next champ will be either Johny Hendricks or Robbie Lawler since the two are facing off at UFC 171, but it’s not crazy to think that Carlos Condit, Matt Brown, or even Hector Lombard could hold the belt someday in the near future.

The same “this-division-is-a-close-race” claim can be made for the post-Anderson Silva middleweight division and even the lightweight division under Anthony Pettis.

Nobody is saying “Who cares? Silva/GSP/Penn will just murder whoever wins the No.1 contender fight.” This is the benefit of old greats retiring. Belts are open for the taking again. There is no fate but what the fighters make for themselves.

If the UFC can somehow find a way to take advantage of this rather than picking one fighter to promote and hoping they win all their fights (Michael Bisping, Rory MacDonald, Ronda Rousey, etc), the future won’t be quite so bleak as we at CagePotato often make it out to be.