To the bewilderment of mixed martial arts (MMA) fans and media members across the world, tomorrow’s (Sat., July 29, 2017) stacked UFC 214 from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, appears to be poised to go off without a hitch (fingers crossed), something that unfortunately hasn’t been the norm for a Jon Jones-headlined card in recent […]
To the bewilderment of mixed martial arts (MMA) fans and media members across the world, tomorrow’s (Sat., July 29, 2017) stacked UFC 214 from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, appears to be poised to go off without a hitch (fingers crossed), something that unfortunately hasn’t been the norm for a Jon Jones-headlined card in recent years.
The all-time great, who was only beaten by himself and his outside-of-the-cage problems with drugs, will have yet another attempt at a comeback when he meets archrival Daniel Cormier, the stalwart champion who has won four fights in “Bones’” absence but was still beaten by the troubled ex-champ, in the UFC 214 main event. The co-main event features a closely-matched welterweight title affair between power slugger Tyron Woodley and peerless grappling whiz Demian Maia, why consensus women’s No. 1 pound-for-pound star Cris Cyborg meets former Invicta champ Tonya Evinger for the women’s featherweight belt in the event’s third title fight.
The fighters weighed in according to California’s increasingly strict weigh-in standards this morning, the results of which can be seen here. Now, the fighters will square off in the final media event of the UFC 214 build-up when the ceremonial weigh-in begins shortly at 8:00 p.m. EST. Watch the video streaming live right here:
It’s no secret that the UFC is having a tough run in the first seven months of 2017. After a banner year in 2016 with multiple pay-per-view (PPV) events eclipsing the coveted one-million buy threshold, new owners WME-IMG are finding out just what it’s like to run the world’s biggest MMA promotion in a time […]
It’s no secret that the UFC is having a tough run in the first seven months of 2017.
After a banner year in 2016 with multiple pay-per-view (PPV) events eclipsing the coveted one-million buy threshold, new owners WME-IMG are finding out just what it’s like to run the world’s biggest MMA promotion in a time of downward-trending PPVs without flagship stars Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey anywhere close to the octagon.
True, McGregor will return to the ring against Floyd Mayweather, on August 26, but that could be hurting the UFC’s actual numbers more than helping them. We’ll get to that shortly.
Regardless, both the preliminary card television ratings and pay-per-view buyrates for July 8’s UFC 213 from Las Vegas were recently revealed, and the numbers ultimately amounted to some of the most dismal overall viewership turnouts the UFC has ever seen. Now, women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes’ extremely late withdrawal from her championship bout versus Valentina Shevchenko most definitely caused the lack of buys, but the numbers are concerning nonetheless.
Things didn’t get better two weeks later when UFC on FOX 25 aired live from the Nassau Coliseum on July 22. Despite former middleweight champion Chris Weidman securing an emotional headlining win over Kelvin Gastelum in his hometown, the card had the lowest-ever ratings for a UFC on FOX event in overnight ratings, a number that rose to “only” the third-worst of all-time when the time slot spillover numbers for the main event were factored in.
That continued a disturbing decline for big FOX-aired cards in 2017, but those numbers are also simply indicative of the overall trend of the year, where pay-per-view rates have went down drastically in addition to TV-aired events and PPV prelim numbers.
There are several big underlying factors for this sharp and disturbing decline. On the eve of the biggest pay-per-view of the year, let’s take at the five most impactful.
Promoting Only McGregor & Rousey:
The UFC enjoyed their most lucrative two-year stretch in history from 2015-2016, a time when their biggest-ever crossover stars in Rousey and McGregor were winning big fights in dominant fashion. Rousey was being called the most dominant fighter in MMA, and McGregor won both the featherweight and lightweight titles while becoming the sport’s biggest star.
But that time period simply couldn’t be sustained, as Rousey infamously lost the belt to Holly Holm at UFC 193, following it up with another unsuccessful title fight in her 48-second loss to Nunes at 2016’s UFC 207, after which it appears Rousey may never fight in the UFC again.
McGregor is not gone; at least not in the same sense as Rousey. He’s obviously involved in his hyped-up boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, and while the UFC will obviously get a ton of attention and hype from that massive spectacle, it brings up one vital, overarching point – the UFC simply promoted only their top two stars in recent years, and while it clearly worked in that regard, it left them much too dependent on McGregor and Rousey for success, because their other fighters just aren’t bringing in any numbers at all.
If they ever want to get back to the level where they have their big draws and their mid-level stars; say in the time of dominant champions Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre where mid-level stars like Rashad Evans and Rampage Jackson could still sell an in-between card for 350-400,000 buys, they’re going to have to diversify their promotional strategy.
Mark Hunt has been one unhappy man when it comes to the UFC. So much so that the “Super Samoan” filed a lawsuit against the promotion, amongst others, regarding PED use and abuse by past opponents. After losing a decision to a returning Brock Lesnar at the landmark UFC 200, the former heavyweight champ failed […]
Mark Hunt has been one unhappy man when it comes to the UFC. So much so that the “Super Samoan” filed a lawsuit against the promotion, amongst others, regarding PED use and abuse by past opponents.
After losing a decision to a returning Brock Lesnar at the landmark UFC 200, the former heavyweight champ failed a post-fight drug test for performance enhancing drugs. The bout was changed to a no contest, but for Hunt, the bitterness remained.
The the UFC offered Alistair Overeem to Hunt, who has a well-known history with PEDs. When Hunt suffered a third-round KO loss to Overeem, he became even more vocal about his disdain for “cheaters”, so when he got the news of Overeem’s use of IV rehydration before their fight, he was understandably mad.
But when he eventually heard that USADA actually allowed Overeem to do so, that was the straw that broke the camels back, an he revealed his disgust to Ariel Helwani on Monday:
“I wasn’t told about that,” Hunt said during this week’s The MMA Hour. “They’re not going to say anything about that. I think it’s just a whole crock of sh*t. It’s all made-up rubbish. It’s rubbish, you know? Have rules for everyone, not changing them for anyone.”
Joe Camporeale for USA TODAY Sports
Hunt even doubted Overeem’s sickness, implying he was abusing the rules for an unfair advantage:
“I would’ve told him to toughen up. F*ck. Toughen up, mate,” Hunt said. “He didn’t look sick when he got to the fight. He looked like he was pretty hydrated there.
“I don’t believe he was sick at all,” Hunt continued. “He made sh*t up, and they said, ‘oh, here, have an IV. Give you a bit more help.’
“Load of sh*t. I think I might say that next time, ‘I’m sick, I’m sick.’ Rubbish.”
“Normally, a loss, it’s hard to swallow but you get over it sooner or later. But it is what it is,” Hunt said. “He got away with cheating and that’s it. He got away with it, so good on him. He didn’t get caught, they gave him help. Well f*ck, you’re still a cheater to me.
“A loss is just a loss.” Hunt added. “You get up again, dust yourself off, go at it again regardless of the circumstances. That’s the way I look at it. I mean, shucks. And I already know, like I just said, that guy is always going to be a cheater. So are all the other guys, they’re going to be cheating monkeys anyway, so that’s how I feel about these guys. … They’re lucky they got around the circumstances, and that’s the bottom line. That’s the bottom line, homie.”
Having faced “Bigfoot” Silva, Frank Mir, Brock Lesnar, and Alistair Overeem, all men who have tested positive for and suffered suspensions over PED use at some point in their careers, Hunt is particularly sensitive to the subject when it comes to cheating in MMA.
Hunt is slated to face Derrick Lewis at this weekend’s (Sat., June 10, 2017) UFC Fight Night 110 from the Spark Arena in Auckland, New Zealand.
Since winning the UFC lightweight title with a one-sided stoppage victory over Eddie Alvarez in the main event of UFC 205 last November in New York City, Conor McGregor hasn’t defended his title and he may not do so in the foreseeable future either, as he continues to campaign for a mega fight with boxing […]
Since winning the UFC lightweight title with a one-sided stoppage victory over Eddie Alvarez in the main event of UFC 205 last November in New York City, Conor McGregor hasn’t defended his title and he may not do so in the foreseeable future either, as he continues to campaign for a mega fight with boxing legend Floyd Mayweather.
It’s for this very reason that UFC President Dana White scheduled an interim 155-pound title fight between top contenders Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson for UFC 209, which took place this past March. Unfortunately, “The Eagle” suffered issues during his weight cut, forcing the highly anticipated bout to be scrapped just a day prior.
After it was made clear that Nurmagomedov was unable to compete, No. 6-ranked Michael Johnson offered to step in and replace the Dagestani competitor, but Ferguson turned down the bout, something McGregor voiced his displeasure about in a text message he sent to the UFC boss:
“After this shit went down with Tony and Khabib, Conor texts me and says, ‘I can’t believe you’re going to fucking pay that bum Tony Ferguson one dollar. You shouldn’t pay him a fucking dime. He was there, made weight and you lined up a fight for him with Michael Johnson after Khabib fell out and didn’t make weight, and he turned it down. Fucking bum.’ That’s Conor’s mentality in that he should’ve taken that fight against Michael Johnson,” White said in a recent interview with Snoop Dogg on GGN News. “That’s what Conor said to me and that’s one of the many things that I love about Conor McGregor. And he isn’t just talking, because I’ve stood in his living room, looking at him telling him that his opponent fell out and he doesn’t give a shit.”
Ferguson hasn’t competed since his bout with Nurmagomedov fell through, but he’s repeatedly called out Nate Diaz in recent memory. “The Eagle”, however, has expressed his interest in re-booking an interim title bout with Ferguson for this fall.
Do you agree with McGregor’s view on the situation?
Khabib Nurmagomedov is undoubtedly one of the best lightweight contenders in the world, but his health has often held him back. That was the case this past March when “The Eagle” was forced to withdraw from a highly anticipated interim lightweight title fight with Tony Ferguson at UFC 209 just a day prior after his […]
Khabib Nurmagomedov is undoubtedly one of the best lightweight contenders in the world, but his health has often held him back. That was the case this past March when “The Eagle” was forced to withdraw from a highly anticipated interim lightweight title fight with Tony Ferguson at UFC 209 just a day prior after his body failed him during a difficult weight cut.
Since then, the undefeated Russian has been focused on recovering and he recently revealed that he’s targeting an interim title fight in October for his return bout:
“Regarding health – I have nearly completed rehabilitation,” he said (h/t ToFight.ru). “I will start to train somewhere in the middle of June. The return is planned for October because I need four months of full training. As for the match, I think, that 90 percent I will fight for the interim title.”
While his next opponent is obviously unclear at this time, Nurmagomedov admits that he still has interest in competing against Ferguson, who has won an incredible nine straight fights:
“Actually, right now the UFC lightweight division is one of the most competitive. In this case, there are many worthy men who will already fight for the title in the near future. Who I’m going to fight is not yet known, but of course I will insist on a fight with Tony Ferguson because now I do not see any other contenders and I do not want to fight with anyone, but to him.”
Are you still interested in seeing “The Eagle” and “El Cucuy” do battle?
Yesterday (Wed., May 3, 2017) Nate Diaz set the MMA world afire with his lengthy interview on a special episode of “The MMA Hour” with Ariel Helwani. Diaz had much to say about a litany of topics from the new UFC owners to Conor McGregor’s long-rumored boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, but the most disappointing
Diaz had much to say about a litany of topics from the new UFC owners to Conor McGregor’s long-rumored boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, but the most disappointing part of the entertaining segment, at least for his legions of fans, was when Diaz revealed he would be taking the rest of the year off to participate in his beloved triathlons, as the UFC hadn’t made him an offer high enough to come back.
He also detailed how he had initially accepted but ultimately turned down a bout with Tony Ferguson at July 8’s UFC 213, citing a number of reactions from fans online. Diaz understandably wants his rubber match with McGregor and the highly lucrative purse that comes with it, and it’s plain to see why from his point of view. He’s the only man to defeat McGregor in the octagon and did so by submission, and his one loss to “The Notorious” came in a close majority decision.
So it doesn’t make much sense for him to fight the surging Ferguson, who is a dangerous opponent who brings only a small piece of the hype and attention that a potentially record-setting bout with McGregor would. No matter what, the UFC needs stars for its big summer run, and it could make sense for them to just pay the piper and get Diaz in the octagon.
That doesn’t look like it’s happening, however. Should he have agreed to fight Ferguson?
