All this. Plus the sport has evolved. Strategy is different and fighters are mostly more well rounded negating some of the style vs style intrigue that used to be interesting. Idk, I still like it but the thrill is not what it once was. There are great fights and great cards still, but they don't "feel" great in the same ways they used to be. Can't really put my finger on it.

Plus the organization is hard to think of as anything other than an evil empire. I used to root for them as underdogs trying to fight for the sport. Now I think they are oppressive. I support them begrudgingly instead of happily.

yeah it was easy load cards when you were PRIDE and doing 5 shows a year back in the day. That's how it was with PRIDE for a while. Every show was a killer and deep, but you really didn't get very many fights overall.


Or similarly when the UFC had only 10-12 shows a year. Now it's more like 30 UFCs per year. That's why it feels watered down now, too many fights. Not every card can have a championship fight (or even a contender-ship fight) with that many shows.

46 last year, on pace for 40 this year.

So no news on Fedor coming to the UFC?

Saw that Instagram but it must be fake.

The problem isn't the amount of cards it's just how spread out they are. Instead of putting #7 vs #11 as the main event of some scrub card, they should make that the 4th best fight on a ppv, and suddenly that ppv becomes much better.

The scrub cards should be strictly treated as minor league or tryouts for the real cards. diehards can watch, the ufc can get to see their fighters more so they can make better decisions, and young fighters can make a name for themselves.

Or we could just keep it the way it is.

Ufc 194 going to test the wooderson theory. Holloway Stephens and Faber Saenz added to the already super stacked card.. I'LL BE THERE *friends tune*

Sure they can, if they want to keep losing fans and profits. If you love the UFC you should want them to continue to grow and be successful.

Wooderson's take mirrors that of Luke Thomas, who's one of the 4 or 5 most high profile MMA journalists.

Luke seems to have a lot of loathing for the sport unlike Jordan Breen who's more like me and wants to watch basically all fights regardless of quality - obv we'd prefer if everything was Lawler/Rory too. Luke's been advocating for stacked cards since they expanded/Fox deal and he'll bemoan the job he has on pretty much everything else. He's like Wilbon and older sports writers who start looking down on the sports they have to cover over the years.

They're prbly right for the business side of it tho. You've already got the hardcores so make a big tent event for more casual fans. A certain segment of them will become hardcores as a result.

He's a sourpuss by nature, it's enjoyable to have a few of those in the mix though.

Can you provide a source for the financial statements that show them losing profits? I would like to see where you are getting your data from.

Looks like the 40% number I've heard bandied about by Luke or whomever may have been a projection that they took as definitive but either way they did lose profits.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...es-hurt-profit

40% could've turned out to be the reality, but I haven't found something more up to date yet

The article says injuries and fight cancelations are the reason for profit loss and not "scrubcards" as the other poster suggested.

To the other poster: If you don't like "scrubcards" don't watch them, and the people who enjoy them can keep watching them.

The use of the word "scrubcards" is disgusting. Who are you to call a fighter in the ufc a scrub because they are ranked #7 and #11? **** yourself. Even if referring to the other fighters on the card, still disgusting.

I specifically said that 7 vs 11 should be on the main card. The scrubcards are all the other fights on those cards that 7 vs 11 "main event " on

This is the whole point

I will watch them like yourself but from the business angle that's a horrible POV

Dariush v Johnson headliner on TV I think did pretty well though, rising Ronda lifts all boats

The biggest thing besides injuries was Connor and Ronda weren't the stars they've since become. Brock brought people into the tent, these two now are also. They wanted Pettis to be that guy but, regardless of his loss, he just wasn't going to be.

Not sure why so mad. My proposal doesn't change anything for you. You still get to watch all your fights. They just consolidate the bigger fights together.

If you're gonna watch every fight anyway, what do you care if a card doesn't have w big main event while ppv cards have more appealing fights for the casual viewer?

I'll never become a hardcore. I'll never have any interest in watching two people I've never heard of fight.

But I would buy a few ppvs a year if they had sick deep cards. I'm sure many people would do the same. I haven't bought a card in years because the ppv product has been massively watered down.

The people like you and mad Andrew here should want my money pumping into the ufc because it could only help the product and sport.

It doesn't cost you literally any viewing pleasure. Nothing would change for you at all. The number of viewable fights would not decrease

WTF TuT I've been bolstering your case

I'm on your side

You're the casual they should be catering to, how could you read my posts and come to any other conclusion? I'm really surprised at your reading comprehension when I thought we were simpatico on the issue (we are you just seem to not realize it somehow).

I'm literally saying you and Luke Thomas are right in the post you quoted

UFC 194 is the card you've been waiting for also

You represent the market. My mistake.

I represent a signigicant contingent of fans who have completely stopped spending any money on a product we used to spend hundreds of dollars a year on.

I'm not saying the UFC is going to die, but it has quite possibly peaked, and given the fact that it's still relatively young, that's some pretty piss poor management imo.

Maybe their Fox Sports 1 ad revenue on John Doe vs Mike Whogivesadamn Fight Night is a better source of revenue for them than ppvs and I'm wrong, but I doubt it.

I wish the ufc would shoot for 4 mega cards every year. Multiple title flights and exciting fighters galore.

I think they just went through a valley in terms of marketable stars

Add another name or two to Conor/Ronda and they're back to their heights or close to it

Where are you getting the data that you represent a "significant contingent of fans" who stopped spending hundreds of dollars a year? How many fans have stopped spending $100's a year?

Confirmed by thinking about it?

Right, because if you take #7 v #11 off the headliner (to put on a PPV to strengthen it), the same # of people will watch. Maybe, just maybe, less people would watch the #7 v #11 headliner card if you took off the #7 v #11 fight.

But of course, you know better. So I'll ask. How are you calculating the loss of TV money on the #7 v #11 cards vs the gain in PPV sales if they moved the fight in your scenario?

Nobody is watching those cards now so there couldn't be much less ratings. They'll only be able to scam ad revenue with no ratings for so long.