With tonight’s (Sat., February 10, 2018) UFC 221 from the Perth Arena in Perth, Australia, being billed as one of the worst UFC pay-per-views of all-time, we thought it relevant to look back at the other terrible PPV events the promotion has put on through the years. Not every card can be a blockbuster, and every […]
With tonight’s (Sat., February 10, 2018) UFC 221 from the Perth Arena in Perth, Australia, being billed as one of the worst UFC pay-per-views of all-time, we thought it relevant to look back at the other terrible PPV events the promotion has put on through the years.
Not every card can be a blockbuster, and every now and then, the UFC offers up a supremely subpar pay-per-view, one where you feel like you wasted $60 (now $65, unfortunately) as well as your precious time.
While the UFC has gotten a bit better in stacking their cards and bracing for replacements, they’re still at the mercy of injuries and failed drug tests. Regardless, the UFC doesn’t help itself with so many watered-down cards, which lends them no time to promote each event, and lack of preparation in the event of a curveball.
And some are just downright bad. Let’s take a look at the 10 worst PPVs in UFC history.
Photo by Kyle Terada for USA TODAY Sports
10. UFC 177
TJ Dillashaw’s first run as bantamweight champion was marred by a weaker talent pool and injury replacements.
UFC 177 is a perfect example of that. Dillashaw took on the completely unheralded but surprisingly competent Joe Soto, who was filling in for an injured Renan Barao after the formerly dominant champion hit his head in the bathtub cutting weight.
Even worse, the card lost a rematch between Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson. So basically the entire card was gutted like a fish, ending up a fraction of what it could have been.
On Saturday night, we saw one of the most entertaining bouts in recent memory, as Georges St-Pierre somehow managed to fend off Johny Hendricks to retain his title in Las Vegas via split decision.
It wasn’t easy for the 32-year-old, as GSP strugg…
On Saturday night, we saw one of the most entertaining bouts in recent memory, as Georges St-Pierre somehow managed to fend off Johny Hendricks to retain his title in Las Vegas via split decision.
It wasn’t easy for the 32-year-old, as GSP struggled to take control of the fight. In fact, many believed that Hendricks earned the nod over the reigning champion.
Regardless of the scoring controversy, GSP still looked impressive, but soon after the bout ended, the Quebec native announced that he would be taking a leave of absence from the sport, at least for the time being.
ESPN’s Brett Okamoto captured the champ’s surprising words:
“There was a lot of talk about what was going to happen [after this fight],” St-Pierre said. “I have a bunch of stuff in my life happening. I need to hang up my gloves for a little bit.
“I will make a point on that a little later, but for right now, I’ve got to go away for a little bit.”
This will be a blow to the sport as a whole.
It is difficult to replace a man who has dominated the UFC landscape for more than six years, and for the time being, it’s unclear whether we’ll ever see him fight again.
Like boxing or virtually any individual sport, mixed martial arts thrives on having consistently successful athletes. It’s hard to think of many who have done as much in a relatively short period of time as GSP has. He holds the welterweight record for most consecutive title defenses with nine.
Sure, there are some lesser lights who appear to be capable of at least partially filling GSP‘s shoes, such as Hendricks, who gave the legend arguably his toughest challenge to date.
At age 30, Hendricks isn’t young enough to take a run at GSP‘s run of dominance. But that’s OK, because no one ever will.
As of now, GSP sits one victory ahead of Matt Hughes for most all-time wins in UFC history with 19, and though that record may fall one day, it will take a one-in-a-generation talent to do so, because that’s exactly what St-Pierre has proved to be.
He was pushed to the brink by Hendricks like no one else in recent memory, but perhaps St-Pierre knew he wanted to take a break from the sport prior to the bout. He’s had the pressure of defeating every challenger who has come his way for the last six years, so maybe this is his way of going out on top.
It’s impossible to replace GSP, but if his career is ultimately over, hopefully another fighter will come along who can represent the sport with the class and dignity that he has for nearly a decade.
A couple caveats:
Keep in mind that there was a technical issue on Saturday night where DirecTV subscribers were unable to order the UFC 150 broadcast by phone or computer, although they could still order it via their remotes, according to reports. Plus, Bendo vs. Frankie ran up against the penultimate night of the 2012 Olympics, which may have stolen a few more viewers.
That being said…
(“Sorry Frankie, but based on the terms of your pay-per-view bonus scale — as clearly stated in your contract — you actually owe us $10,000.“)
A couple caveats:
Keep in mind that there was a technical issue on Saturday night where DirecTV subscribers were unable to order the UFC 150 broadcast by phone or computer, although they could still order it via their remotes, according to reports. Plus, Bendo vs. Frankie ran up against the penultimate night of the 2012 Olympics, which may have stolen a few more viewers.
That being said…
We’re talking about a UFC event featuring a damned title fight. Granted, Frankie Edgar has never been one of the UFC’s more bankable stars — his two headlining appearances against Gray Maynard in 2011 drew 260k and 225K buys, respectively — but maybe that should have spurred the UFC to stack the supporting card with a few more big names. Instead, UFC 150 featured a passable co-main of Donald Cerrone vs. Melvin Guillard, and some watery bullshit underneath.
While BloodyElbow is taking the UFC apologist stance — “Hardcore fans buying 200,000 for the ‘smaller’ PPVs and clearing 750,000-1,000,000 for the 3-5 ‘mega-shows’ a year while building the brand on Fox…is working fine,” according to Brent Brookhouse — I tend to disagree. This was not the goal the UFC had in mind. They wanted growth, plain and simple, not a different-yet-still-effective business model. Fans are indeed voting with their wallets. And if PPV cards can vary so wildly in terms of quality, star-power, and excitement level, you’ll start seeing more fans become cautious with their money.
What do you think? Is the fact that the UFC just pulled their two lowest PPV totals in recent history cause for alarm? Will it send a message to the UFC to change their card frequency — or the fighters they use to headline a card? Or is this really all just part of the plan?
(They were so young, so…innocent. OK, maybe just young.)
If you are in need a pick-me-up, then boy do we have some good news for you. Chances are, if you ordered tickets to UFC 149, you are a sad panda bordering on manic depressive at the moment. Every single main card fight has been changed from its original pairing, leaving us with a headlining battle for a belt that has no value outside of Narnia, where its gold could possibly be smelted into a dagger of some sort and used to smite an enemy with extreme righteousness.
But praise the Gods, an angel from on High has been sent to repair this weak, starving card as best as she can with only the power of her presence, like a stacked Mother Teresa if you will. That woman is former UFC ring girl Rachelle Leah, who will be making her triumphant return to the octagon at UFC 149. We last saw Ms. Leah at UFC 111, where she turned in perhaps the single greatest night of card carrying the sport has ever seen. Check out a few of our favorite photos of Rachelle after the jump, and be sure to follow her on Twitter.
If you are in need a pick-me-up, then boy do we have some good news for you. Chances are, if you ordered tickets to UFC 149, you are a sad panda bordering on manic depressive at the moment. Every single main card fight has been changed from its original pairing, leaving us with a headlining battle for a belt that has no value outside of Narnia, where its gold could possibly be smelted into a dagger of some sort and used to smite an enemy with extreme righteousness.
But praise the Gods, an angel from on High has been sent to repair this weak, starving card as best as she can with only the power of her presence, like a stacked Mother Teresa if you will. That woman is former UFC ring girl Rachelle Leah, who will be making her triumphant return to the octagon at UFC 149. We last saw Ms. Leah at UFC 111, where she turned in perhaps the single greatest night of card carrying the sport has ever seen. Check out a few of our favorite photos of Rachelle after the jump, and be sure to follow her on Twitter.
It seems we can’t go a day or two without someone discussing why Wanderlei Silva needs to retire.I’ll admit that I was on that bandwagon prior to his UFC 147 fight with Rich Franklin. I felt like the sport had passed Silva by, and I was worried that th…
It seems we can’t go a day or two without someone discussing why Wanderlei Silva needs to retire.
I’ll admit that I was on that bandwagon prior to his UFC 147 fight with Rich Franklin. I felt like the sport had passed Silva by, and I was worried that the Franklin bout would not end well.
As it turned out, Silva wasn’t quite done. Franklin is hardly known for his knockout power, but he hits hard. Very hard. And Silva didn’t just survive Franklin’s punches—he also delivered plenty of action on his own, nearly finishing Franklin in the second round.
Does this mean Silva has plenty of fights left in him? I don’t think so. At the end of the day, he’s still gone through plenty of wars throughout his career, and he’s still suffered more knockouts than I’m comfortable with for any fighter.
Wanderlei is a guy, yeah, I want to talk to. He looked good in that fight. He almost won, and it’s not like he got knocked out. And Rich Franklin can crack. He just knocked Chuck out.
I think Wanderlei is coming to the end. I think he knows that too. There’s nothing wrong with that. We all get old, and this is a young man’s game. We’ll see what happens.
I’m not saying he needs to retire, but he’s getting close.
Prior to UFC 147, White said that if Silva suffered a bad knockout, he would talk to him about retiring. That didn’t happen, but White clearly still isn’t all that comfortable with the idea of Silva continuing his fighting career.
I’m not all that comfortable with the idea, either. But I also believe that Silva proved he can still compete. He’ll never beat the top five guys in the middleweight division. And he might not even compete against the top 10.
But his performance against Franklin earned him at least one more walk to the Octagon.
Here’s the story. I was all set to take my latest trip into the Octagon on Sunday night, but a rain storm here in merry old England knocked out the satellite signal while I was recording the show. This meant that I had to wait to record the repea…
Here’s the story. I was all set to take my latest trip into the Octagon on Sunday night, but a rain storm here in merry old England knocked out the satellite signal while I was recording the show. This meant that I had to wait to record the repeat showing in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
So, after a slight delay, I can now bring you my thoughts on the return fight between Wanderlei Silva and Rich Franklin in the main event of UFC 147, originally shown this past weekend on ESPN here in Britain.
The broadcast began in the featherweight division as Yuri Alcantara took on Hacran Dias.
This was the proverbial game of two halves. While the striking game didn’t exactly set the world alight the ground game featured some great technical action.
Dias put in a dominating performance in that particular area, going for an arm triangle on a couple of occasions. Alcantara, for his part, showed some sound defensive work, almost getting the submission with an armbar at one point. It may not have been flashy but it was technically great.
With neither man able to get the finish, the judges were called into action as Dias took the unanimous decision.
It was up to heavyweight for the next fight as Fabricio Werdum faced Mike Russow.
Russow was almost booed out of the building before the fight began just because he wasn’t Brazilian. When the fight began, Werdum was on the front foot straight away.
We saw a brief clinch against the cage that came to nothing before Werdum took the fight to his American opponent, and as the first round passed it’s halfway point, Werdum connected with a right uppercut that sent Russow down. Werdum followed him down for a spot of ground and pound before the referee stepped in to give him the TKO win.
Then it was on to the first of The Ultimate Fighter Brazil finals, this one in the featherweight division as Godofredo Pepey went up against Rony Jason.
This historic fight proved to be a very interesting three-round affair. They began by swinging for the fences before Pepey pulled guard and took the fight to the ground.
The problem with this tactic was that when Pepey took the fight to the ground, he did very little from that position. His only offensive tactic was a kimura attempt.
It was a tactic that Pepey would try again later on, but this time Jason caught him and slammed him to the ground to begin his stellar stint.
As for the striking, although it was a little wild at times, it was also effective. Pepey was a little too effective at times, though, when he connected with a couple of kicks south of the border.
With no finish from either man, the judges were brought into the equation again as Jason took the unanimous decision.
Then it was on to the middleweight final as Cezar Ferreira faced Sergio Moraes.
The story of this fight was simple. It was the tale of the striker versus the brawler.
Ferreira’s striking was top notch, extremely technical in every sense. His punches were crisp and his somewhat spectacular kicks were more than effective.
On the opposite end of the scale you had Moraes, who spent most of the fight swinging for the fences and putting on an effective display in his own right.
It made for a fine three-round encounter. Both men had their moments as they put each other on the back foot on more than one occasion. It was a compelling show.
There was more work for the judges at the end of this one as Ferreira took the unanimous decision, although I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw more of Moraes in the Octagon in the next couple of years.
The main event, a catch weight bout made at 190, saw Wanderlei Silva taking on Rich Franklin.
This was one of those intriguing fights off of which you can’t take your eyes. It may not have been filled with flashy action but technically it was great.
The first two rounds looked pretty even. Both fighters got in some good shots and combinations. The tide turned towards the end of the second, though, when Silva upped his game, rocking Franklin with a series of blows before sending him down with a big right.
Silva followed him in for the kill and unleashed a ground and pound barrage. Franklin was lucky to survive, and as the old saying goes, he was saved by the bell.
While Franklin went back to his good work at the beginning of the third, Silva looked visibly tired. It looked as if exertions at the end of the second had caught up with him, especially when Franklin began to pick him apart.
Franklin scored with the only takedown of the fight towards the end of the third, and like Silva five minutes before, he looked to take the win via ground and pound. But like Franklin, Silva managed to survive.
Franklin’s excellent striking continued into the fourth and the early stages of the fifth, but as the fight entered it’s final moments, Silva seemed to get a second wind and connected with a series of rights. Franklin fought back, a big left sending the Brazilian down as the fight ended.
So, with no knockouts in this fight, the judges were called into action once again as Franklin took the unanimous decision.
In conclusion—having been slightly disappointed with the UFC’s last show—their latest trip to Brazil certainly made up for that.
I really enjoyed this one. All of the fights were great, particularly the two Ultimate Fighter Brazil finals, and although those fighters put in stellar efforts, my fight of the night must go to the Silva/Franklin encounter. It was nice to see these two in the cage against each other again. Hopefully we’ll see them go up against their original opponents some time in the future.
Only one more thing left to do now, and that’s to give UFC 147 the big thumbs up.
On Saturday night, we saw one of the most entertaining bouts in recent memory, as Georges St-Pierre somehow managed to fend off Johny Hendricks to retain his title in 
