The UFC has undergone some serious changes ever since ZUFFA sold the company to WME-IMG. While the new owners have had sporadic success like Mayweather vs. McGregor and UFC 217, it’s safe to say that 2017 had more low points than high ones for the promotion, and MMA as a result. Failed drug tests, arrests, […]
The UFC has undergone some serious changes ever since ZUFFA sold the company to WME-IMG. While the new owners have had sporadic success like Mayweather vs. McGregor and UFC 217, it’s safe to say that 2017 had more low points than high ones for the promotion, and MMA as a result.
Failed drug tests, arrests, and a multitude of injuries have ravished the promotion all year, so what can the UFC do to ensure a better 2018?
These six directives are an absolute must if the promotion plans on rebounding from this past year:
6. Less Events Per Year
Remember back when every UFC card seemed to be stacked from top to bottom? Remember when watching a UFC event was a special occasion? Sometimes less is more, and with the UFC at the height of its popularity, oversaturation has watered down the product.
Smaller cards often go unnoticed due to lack of big-name fighters, which begs the question; do we need a UFC event four times a month?
Less cards mean more meaningful cards, like back in the mid-to-late aughts when every name was recognizable and each event was loaded top to bottom. UFC 84, 92, 100… The golden age of the UFC.
With the UFC’s partnership with FOX coming to a potential end (their deal ends in 2018), the thought of less but far more significant cards could be a reality in the not-too-distant future, and it would potentially help the company’s numbers next year.
Despite a blockbuster event in Mayweather vs. McGregor that actually took place in a boxing ring rather than the octagon, 2017 has been a slump for the UFC. Injuries, failed drug tests, high-profile defections…it’s fair to say that the transition from ZUFFA to WME-IMG has not been a smooth one. Superstars like Jon Jones and […]
Despite a blockbuster event in Mayweather vs. McGregor that actually took place in a boxing ring rather than the octagon, 2017 has been a slump for the UFC. Injuries, failed drug tests, high-profile defections…it’s fair to say that the transition from ZUFFA to WME-IMG has not been a smooth one.
Superstars like Jon Jones and Ronda Rousey whom the UFC once counted on are no longer there. As for McGregor, it’s hard to believe that after cashing out nearly $100 million in his 10-round boxing effort against Floyd Mayweather, that the Irishman would be so keen to fight in the octagon for $3 to $5 million.
It’s translated to a brutal year for pay-per-view sales that has only been furthered by the post-Mayweather vs. McGregor slog. Let’s take a look at the exact reasons that 2017 is the worst year ever for the UFC:
9. Oversaturation/Interim Titles
Men’s flyweight, women’s strawweight, women’s bantamweight.. sometime’s it’s too much for fans to care enough to keep up with.
There was once a time where there were only five weight divisions and five champions to remember. The rankings held more weight than they do now, and there was never a title fight without a well-known contender.
2017 has seen the birth of two new weight classes, with champions coming and going in a flash (Germaine de Randamie), to the point where it’s hard to take these divisions seriously.
To top it off, every division seems to have an interim champion, and now, those ‘champion’s’ don’t even necessarily fight the champion in their next bout, as we’re seeing with the rapidly approaching UFC 216 main event between Tony Ferguson.
Sometimes less is more, something the UFC failed to realize in 2017.
With the UFC’s rough start to 2017 now almost in the middle of June, the topic of just how bad the year is for the UFC is not only an oft-discussed talking point, but it has become a brooding specter of uncertainty at this point, one that could ultimately spell doom for the outfit that […]
With the UFC’s rough start to 2017 now almost in the middle of June, the topic of just how bad the year is for the UFC is not only an oft-discussed talking point, but it has become a brooding specter of uncertainty at this point, one that could ultimately spell doom for the outfit that has led MMA for so long.
The reasons why this unfortunate circumstance is becoming clear are many, and indeed they’ve been brewing for several years in more than one instance. The fact that the company is under new ownership after Hollywood talent giant WME-IMG purchased the UFC for a record-breaking $4.2 billion last July is obviously a huge motivating factor why the UFC is failing, but there are many others that only speed up that process.
Several MMA pundits have predicted grey skies for at least the immediate future of the UFC, and it’s hard to predict a quick turnaround for the promotion in the final seven months of the year, even if at least a few big fights are on the horizon. What’s more, there are even a few more ominous signs that suggest the new owners are possibly running the world’s biggest MMA company into the ground for good.
Let’s take a look at the biggest reasons why the UFC is spiraling downward rapidly.
5. Dana White’s Strong-Arm Tactics:
There’s no denying that White, alongside with his childhood friends and Las Vegas casino moguls Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, saved MMA and the UFC from dying off when they purchased the company back in the late 20th century. They then parlayed that gamble into one of the most lucrative rags-to-riches (figuratively) stories in combat sports, turning MMA into a worldwide phenomenon while making the UFC one of sports’ most coveted properties by the time it reached its height in 2016.
A lot of that financial success was built on paying fighters the bare minimum, however, and that fact was effectively kept under wraps when the Fertittas were in charge, but absolutely exploded on to the forefront of most MMA discussion when WME-IMG bought it for a seemingly ludicrous $4.2 billion last year.
But White, who was kept on as president and the company’s public face, has recently seen this strong-arm strategy backfire in his face and in no small way. His messy feud with dominant flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson that recently spilled over into the media is the most glaring – and poignant – example.
Fighters aren’t going to take whatever scraps the UFC offers them now that they know how much they’re really worth, and while they’ve failed to effectively organize in any lasting form to this point, White’s bullying clearly isn’t going to scare today’s fighters into signing whatever is put in front of them and their managers.
Now that we’ve said goodbye to 2016, UFC fans had a lot to be thankful for. The year was jam packed with excitement and intrigue that unfolded both in and outside the Octagon. From the first main event of the year at UFC 195 where Carlos Condit and Robbie Lawler threw down in an epic five-round war,
Now that we’ve said goodbye to 2016, UFC fans had a lot to be thankful for. The year was jam packed with excitement and intrigue that unfolded both in and outside the Octagon.
From the first main event of the year at UFC 195 where Carlos Condit and Robbie Lawler threw down in an epic five-round war, to the UFC’s inaugural show in New York where Conor McGregor made history, to the classic UFC 206 card in December, there was no shortage of memorable events.
The last event of the year, last weekend’s UFC 207, was no exception, with Cody Garbrandt shocking the world by beating Dominick Cruz to win the bantamweight championship, and Amanda Nunes defending her own 135-pound strap by TKO’ing former bantamweight queen Ronda Rousey in less than a minute.
But as we head into 2017, there are many questions that hover over the promotion and its new owners. Amongst them are the fate of Jon Jones, who’s set to return to action in July, the future of the lightweight division in McGregor’s fatherhood-induced absence, and whether or not the fragmented fighter’s union movement can finally get its act together.
In light of these and countless other intriguing storylines, here are five bold predictions for 2017.
Mandatory Credit: Tracy Lee for USA TODAY Sports
1. Demetrious Johnson Will Break Anderson Silva’s Title Defense Record
Given “Mighty Mouse’s” dominance since winning the first-ever flyweight title in September 2012, this is perhaps the least “bold” of the predictions of this list.
The consensus No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter (at least until this guy comes back) has sliced through every contender at flyweight like a hot knife through butter – with nine defenses to his name and five of them coming by way of stoppage.
If he comes out victorious against his next opponent Joseph Benavidez – whom Johnson has bested twice before, the last time in just over two minutes – he’ll have tied Silva’s record of 10 defenses.
One more victory after that will write him into the history books yet again and at least to this writer, it’s a pretty safe bet DJ will get it done.
