UFC Oversaturation?

[spykelee]

The problem with stacking cards, is injuries...

The UFC covering guys who got injured was the right call to make from a company perspective, but when you have a chopping block like the UFC does, you get guys pulling out all the time with injuries because they can't risk the loss...

How many stacked PPV's with 5 awesome fights would make it to fight night with 2 or less of the original fights intact?

Isn't that the problem with not stacking cards?

Make a mediocre card, and all of a sudden you have 4-0 Pat Cummins fighting in a UFC PPV co-main event.

Make a strong card and you can move things around and still offer something worth buying even if two or three guys pull out.

I guess, but the proposal was stacking 4-5 PPV cards a year. If your going to put all your eggs in 1 basket like that, you can't be losing 3/5th's of the card.

[REDDzone]

Quick sidenote, I was hanging out with a buddy yesterday and he showed me the wwe fight pass equivalent. I'dbe willing to pay more than $10 if the ufc rolled out something that impressive.

[CPT]

Great quote from Jordan Breen (somewhat ironically, in support of having Nikita Krylov in the UFC)

"The worst part about MMA, the real bane of its existence, is the mass production of the kind of stuff we see in the UFC now...well-matched, slightly above average fighters...you're bound for 15 minutes of ****."

[REDDzone]

I saw an interesting point on the UG Blog. In 2013, only one ppv was headlined by a non title fight. In 2014, there are 13 ppvs left. The ufc has 9 champs, and of them 4 are injured (Weidman, Hendricks, Pettis, Cain) and 1 (Ronda) is busy with movies at the moment. Does the ufc have enough champs to highlight the remaining ppvs? The remaining ones, Barao/Aldo/Mouse, don't really seem to be draws outside of Bones. Additionally, other big draws in the company are injured or otherwise not available (Anderson, GSP, Edgar, Rashad, BJ, Condit, Nick Diaz, Vitor off the top of my head).

It'll be interesting to see how all this shakes out, this isn't even including any remaining fox cards.

[CPT]

That will be interesting.

While I usually like to see title eliminators on the same card as the title fight on that weight class, they might have to get creative with the way they build cards featuring a Mouse or Barao main event.

Maybe you do something like (haven't really thought about timetables or specific matchups)

Mouse vs Makovsky
Rory vs Woodley
Relevant big name MW-HW fight
FLW eliminator

[Jasen777]

It'll be interesting to see how all this shakes out, this isn't even including any remaining fox cards.

Sonnen will headline half of them.

[REDDzone]

It'll be interesting to see how all this shakes out, this isn't even including any remaining fox cards.

Sonnen will headline half of them.

Speaking of things that will be interesting to see how they shake out...

The remaining careers of TRT Sonnen, TRT Hendo, TRT Vitor, and TRT Mir (did I miss anyone?).

[Jasen777]

The remaining careers of TRT Sonnen, TRT Hendo, TRT Vitor, and TRT Mir (did I miss anyone?).

Outside the Lines has a list: http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/ ... stosterone

[REDDzone]

The remaining careers of TRT Sonnen, TRT Hendo, TRT Vitor, and TRT Mir (did I miss anyone?).

Outside the Lines has a list: http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/ ... stosterone

Holy hell does that mean Hendo had been on TRT since 2007? A lotttt of his biggest wins were in that timeframe. I wonder around when he stopped being known as Decision Dan and how closely that coincides...

Hell maybe Bisping is right and the dude has never lost to someone not on PEDs.

[SDM]

Todd freaking Duffee... he started at 24 years old.

Was he taking roids in diapers?

[REDDzone]

Todd freaking Duffee... he started at 24 years old.

Was he taking roids in diapers?

He's an interesting case because he was on it and went off and he seems to be doing fine without out. I wonder if that will carry over with the older guys. I wonder how different mma history would be without TRT Sonnen/Vitor/Hendo.

I'm neutral on Randy Couture but it really does make what he was doing pretty crazy at age 47.

[cowboyronnie]

Hallman discovering his "gluten allergy" (Rogan's mentioned this in 2-3 fights) and beginning TRT coincide perfectly.

[CPT]

So, for all the whining I do about there being too many cards, this weekend kind of felt weird without one.

I think that's still consistent though. They had back to back weekends with two cards each. Why not spread them out a bit?

And since I've bumped the thread after about 3 months, how are people feeling about UFC oversaturation these days?

[Jasen777]

2 cards this week.

[REDDzone]

Luke Thomas continues to be one of the mma media members that I respect most. He was arguing on the mmabeat that his personal issue with the number of events is that the ufc used to be THE premium provider of mma content. You could watch strikeforce, bellator, onefc, etc. to get your fix of mma, there are always events going on. But if you wanted PREMIUM mma content that nobody else could provide, you had to wait for the next ufc. They had time to promote those cards, and they felt like an event.

Marquardt/Te Huna was the first ufc event ever to be headlined by two fighters coming off two straight losses. The ufc just had to cancel their second event in 1.5 years due to losing the one draw on the card. This is the way its going. Although there are still good events and if the ufc so chose, they could put on a card that wsof, bellator, etc. could not touch. But it is no longer NECESSARILY a premium product and that's unfortunate imo.

[Cammo101]

Luke Thomas continues to be one of the mma media members that I respect most. He was arguing on the mmabeat that his personal issue with the number of events is that the ufc used to be THE premium provider of mma content. You could watch strikeforce, bellator, onefc, etc. to get your fix of mma, there are always events going on. But if you wanted PREMIUM mma content that nobody else could provide, you had to wait for the next ufc. They had time to promote those cards, and they felt like an event.

Marquardt/Te Huna was the first ufc event ever to be headlined by two fighters coming off two straight losses. The ufc just had to cancel their second event in 1.5 years due to losing the one draw on the card. This is the way its going. Although there are still good events and if the ufc so chose, they could put on a card that wsof, bellator, etc. could not touch. But it is no longer NECESSARILY a premium product and that's unfortunate imo.

I think there is a middle ground to be had here, the UFC just has not found it. There needs to be a clear difference between the quality of cards. PPV/Fox cards are way more stacked than FS1 cards, which are then way more stacked than Fight Pass cards. This may mean less PPV cards and more lower end Fight Pass cards, but it would still make for a much better product.

Obviously this isn't the perfect example because in WWE guys wrestle every night, but I think the UFC needs to learn from WWE. PPV events are much better than Monday Night RAW, which is much better than Smackdown...

You can flood the world with product and still put on elite PPV and Fox cards IMO, you just can't do it with guys like Gustaffson and Roy Nelson fighting on Fight Pass.

[High 5]

Luke Thomas continues to be one of the mma media members that I respect most. He was arguing on the mmabeat that his personal issue with the number of events is that the ufc used to be THE premium provider of mma content. You could watch strikeforce, bellator, onefc, etc. to get your fix of mma, there are always events going on. But if you wanted PREMIUM mma content that nobody else could provide, you had to wait for the next ufc. They had time to promote those cards, and they felt like an event.

Marquardt/Te Huna was the first ufc event ever to be headlined by two fighters coming off two straight losses. The ufc just had to cancel their second event in 1.5 years due to losing the one draw on the card. This is the way its going. Although there are still good events and if the ufc so chose, they could put on a card that wsof, bellator, etc. could not touch. But it is no longer NECESSARILY a premium product and that's unfortunate imo.

That's a good point. I remember when I was first getting into MMA I was always pleasantly surprised by the WEC and Strikeforce events. I didn't know much about any of the fighters, but most of the fights were exciting and they would hold me over until the next big UFC event. There was a certain charm to the smaller shows, they offered a change of pace, and like you mentioned, they made the UFC events feel grander by comparison.

Now we're just getting bombarded by UFC. There were 20 events in 2009 and we've already had 24 in 2014 with 19 more planned. And it seems like there has been a serious lack of star power. The UFC can't be blamed for injuries and natural declines, but it just sucks.

[cowboyronnie]

Marquardt/Te Huna was the first ufc event ever to be headlined by two fighters coming off two straight losses. The ufc just had to cancel their second event in 1.5 years due to losing the one draw on the card. This is the way its going. Although there are still good events and if the ufc so chose, they could put on a card that wsof, bellator, etc. could not touch. But it is no longer NECESSARILY a premium product and that's unfortunate imo.

But that was a regional event w different goal than just any FN card: them trying to make their money at the gate and stimulate interest in a smaller, far-flung market. A FN in, like, Houston has higher, more broadcast-based goals.

They wanted a NZ fighter against a serious name...2 losses or not, TH against Nate meets that standard.

[CPT]

Luke Thomas continues to be one of the mma media members that I respect most. He was arguing on the mmabeat that his personal issue with the number of events is that the ufc used to be THE premium provider of mma content. You could watch strikeforce, bellator, onefc, etc. to get your fix of mma, there are always events going on. But if you wanted PREMIUM mma content that nobody else could provide, you had to wait for the next ufc. They had time to promote those cards, and they felt like an event.

Marquardt/Te Huna was the first ufc event ever to be headlined by two fighters coming off two straight losses. The ufc just had to cancel their second event in 1.5 years due to losing the one draw on the card. This is the way its going. Although there are still good events and if the ufc so chose, they could put on a card that wsof, bellator, etc. could not touch. But it is no longer NECESSARILY a premium product and that's unfortunate imo.

Yeah, that's pretty much the point I've been trying to make. He (or maybe you) just did a better job.

I wonder how the UFC's new business model is doing financially, compared to a few years ago when they seemed more popular.

[Jasen777]

But it is no longer NECESSARILY a premium product and that's unfortunate imo.

That's an issue with me. I don't remember the last time I watched a whole main card (probably wasn't really that long ago, but...). If this wasn't the age of DVR's and downloading I don't know if I'd bother much at all. (Though to be fair now I wonder how I ever watched football without a DVR).

Though if their champions could fight 3 times a year they would've pulled it off much better. 3 fights from Cain, Jones, Weidman, and Hendricks (or whoever takes their belt), maybe a couple Rousey ones if you want more than 12 PPVS, and those are all legit PPV mains that people care about, and then you could have a one of the lower weight classes' title fight on the card also. I'd still prefer a clear separation, make fight nights a true minor league and not put people like Gus on them...