The UFC becoming the new WWE?

[Mentor]

when people stop watching and putting up with the ufc bullshit they change.Cant see it changing anytime soon due to the amount of idiots with money to spend .I mean really paying to here conor macgeror talk at a press conference for 50 dollars a pop is retarded.Even more idiots paying over 2000 dollars to go to a ufc event .

 

It will change if they start feeling the real competition from Bellator or another promotion. The only problem i see there is that i think Bellator is basically the same thing, the biggest difference is that they usually do not put titles on their celebrities.

[Timqwe]

Fighters the UFC lost: Bader, Phil Davis, Rory, Ben Henderson, Rampage. Honestly

Are you talking about the first or second time Rampage left? He doesn't really belong with those others.

[kenlow73]

Barboza or Dariush

you couldn't put that all in one post instead of six in a row?

[Erik]

you couldn't put that all in one post instead of six in a row?

 

Indeed, I had to burn all my negs for today on his shit.

[MasterLeader]

Are you talking about the first or second time Rampage left? He doesn't really belong with those others.

Heck you may as well throw Ortiz & Sonnen out there also

[TAYNE]

You guys Bellator picked up Benson Henderson! All is lost! How will the UFC survive?

[Curix]

I watched TNA and there was decisions and points like in MMA. I think that was time and rounds to. Lol.

[TAYNE]

Wow. TNA is really fucking dumb. "Hey guys, this MMA thing is popular... let's adopt the WORST part of it that everybody hates"

[Curix]

Wow. TNA is really fucking dumb. "Hey guys, this MMA thing is popular... let's adopt the WORST part of it that everybody hates"

True. Copy of WWE too.

[Mentor]

Since i wrote this, things got worse. I read that in the new womans division the champ refuses to fight Cyborg and Bisping first defended against Henderson (who should not be fighting for the title) and now is avoiding the top contenders to fight GSP. Honestly speaking, i see Bellator becoming a real threat to them within the next 18-24 months, there has already been quite a few good talent move over and i see that continuing, the new UFC owners care less about MMA and care more about the quick $.

[JakeF]

UFC is seriously declining because of the ridiculous match making recently, but Bellator fights are freaking boring. Havent watched a lot to speak more about Bellator, but we have one sports television that shows Bellator events replays from time to time and every time I catch some fight on the TV the fighters are circling around each other for the whole fight and keeping very big distance between themselves with the crowd booing them all the time. From this said, Bellator wouldnt be a replacement of the UFC, at least for me. Yeah, UFC really books some shitty fights looking for the money and neglecting the competitiveness of the sport, but still you can see a lot more exciting fights there, the fighters for example look like 5 times more aggressive compared to Bellator, there are more finishes etc. Personally, Id rather stop watching mma than switching to Bellator cause fights there make me fall asleep. Dunno, maybe i just had bad luck with the fights I have seen in Bellator, but on the other side, I have seen at least 50 Bellator fights, 45 of which sucked ass big time.

[carlosdanger]

Bellator has great talent evaluation but lousy matchmaking. They build their stars too slowly, they make predictably boring freak show main events, etc. Their undercards are just overflowing with former wrestling champs and other blue chip prospects though. I could see a world where they end up developing young fighters who are actually as good or better as the young fighters the UFC develops more easily than I could see one where they actually threaten UFC's ratings.

[Mentor]

Bellator is some way away still, as i said, they are at least 18-24 months away from really threatening, and that is assuming they do everything right and the UFC continues to suck. What i am really scared of? K-1....................................not so long ago, kick boxing in K-1 was something huge, the K-1 finals tourney in December was one of the most anticipated calendar events for me. I see the UFC repeating a lot of their mistakes. K-1 started to go away from developing new talent and started to give the big name fighters virtually instant qualification to the finals, eventually they stopped developing new stars and slowly we saw a decline in numbers and interest. Added some bad financial moves and the financial crisis and that was it. Kick boxing essentially died when K-1 went down. Glory is slowly helping it get back on track, but we are some way away from the peak of K-1. With MMA at least we have Bellator as well (so there is 2 major companies), but both representatives seem to be making lots of mistakes, i think they could end up ruining the sport's potential.

 

I think the UFC needs to find a new way to develop stars. You cannot simply rely on "whoever can promote" or trash talk, i think they need to learn how to hype fighters in a different way. Maybe they can take some things from WWE. In the WWE they have managers (who promote their fighters, this could particularly be the case with foreign fighters) and are much better in building storylines via video material, i know that to a MMA fan this is all bullshit, but it is the route the UFC seems to be going anyway.

 

Maybe i am over reacting, possibly this could be good news. If the UFC continues to screw up, we could see some other org sprout up and fill in the void, anyway, i cannot see the UFC turning around from their new path.

[AdamHolland]

I feel about Bellator much the same way I feel about TNA (Impact Wrestling), at this point the brand is so tarnished in my eyes it would be better to just hit the reset button, if Bellator was smart it would fill the void of competition based match making and go the entire legitimate route pointing out how much better there system is at every turn, but even then the quality of fighter is significantly lower in most case's so its hard, Bellator has to appeal to the youth coming into the scene so that the best up coming fighters WANT to go to Bellator and not simply doing so because the UFC did not pick them up yet.

[Mentor]

Yeah, at this point they are essentially the TNA of MMA.

[Guest]

UFC lost me when they pulled that bullshit with Ariel Helwani in the announcement for 200. An announcement so bad no one who actually didn't know Lesnar was coming back.. knew he was fighting at 200. Then come to find out he got a pass on the drug shit, turns out he is just another jacked up WWE guy trying to go legit. McGinger rightfully so gets nailed to the wall for not promoting... yet Ronda gets a complete free pass on pressers because she put it in her contract. I'm sure if McGinger knew he could get away with that.. he would have done it too. And the Reebok deal.. complete shit. I'm just meh about UFC.

 

Then Bellaturd.. yeah, ummm, they are a non factor, when DooDoo5K and Dumbo Slice is your advertised fight and you damned near kill them both in a shitty hugging match you got issues. Tito Ortiz vs Sonnon, Ortiz vs anyone really.. Daley getting a chance, Coke fiend Guillard.. it's just a horrible promotion. There may be good fighters on it but they aren't highlighted.. instead its retreads at best.

[novaman]

I would watch a promotion that allowed its fighters to wear rash shirts, as suggested by 10th Planet Jujitsu's Eddie Bravo. This allows for more aggressive, more entertaining attempts at submissions, because your shirt absorbs the skin-pore oil of slippery, sweaty strikers, some of whom sneakily soak their skin in baby oil in the week before the fight.

 

Rash shirts would also allow more colourful, customised fighter attire. Or nascar-style sponsor logo saturation, to earn fighters more sponsorship money. Or just one hundred reebork logos if you prefer.

[TAYNE]

I've literally been reading threads about how some shitty B League MMA org will overtake UFC soon for 10 years. Ten. Years.

 

If it didn't happen with Ronda Rousey and Nick Diaz on CBS in Strikeforce, it isn't going to happen with Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz on basic cable.

[Mentor]

The UFC is a 4.2 billion $ business, so whoever does compete is years behind.

[kenlow73]

so, what if Bisping fights GSP instead of the top contenders, if McGregor can do it why not Bisping.

[Timqwe]

so, what if Bisping fights GSP instead of the top contenders, if McGregor can do it why not Bisping.

Because MCG is actually taking the most dangerous fights: Aldo (p4p #1 at the time, FHW champ), Diaz (Short notice, was going to fight RDA, LW Champ), Diaz again (Guy he lost to, bad style matchup), Alvarez (LW Champ) and next we don't know, but most likely Ferguson (#2 ranked LW, 9-fight win streak, beat former champ) or Mayweather (Different sport, undefeated, one of the all time greats)

[AdamHolland]

It's just one big slippery slope and they have nobody but themselves to blame when the fighters act up wanting the same concessions others have been given. The Ariel situation, the Rebu$$ck thing the Stitches thing, the Joe Silva thing, Mike Goldberg been gone... all of this just makes me ask myself twice when I have the option to pay to see the product or just stream it later, I used to feel an obligation to pay for my MMA to support a growing sport I loved, I would buy T-Shirts of the guys and girls I loved, but I don't feel like I need to pay off this new company's bills while it jacks off the little fighters who are the future of the sport and turns it into a freak show.

The soul is been gutted from something that could of been amazing but there's no other show in town... I honestly don't know what to say or do about this.

[Mentor]

The soul is been gutted from something that could of been amazing but there's no other show in town... I honestly don't know what to say or do about this.

 

That is where a lot of fans are now. The UFC had the product fighting people wanted to see, the best vs the best for the biggest prize which was the belt, then fighters started to reject fights they felt they would lose, belt value dropped in favour of "money fights" and now we are in serious risk of having 2 freak show orgs.

 

I think that if an org popped up in some place like Japan, Russia or Brazil with aggressive rules and focus on action instead of hype, i would seriously consider watching that instead, but seriously i doubt that will happen. I guess we do not have much of an option but to watch the bullshit they are selling us.

[TAYNE]

 

That is where a lot of fans are now. The UFC had the product fighting people wanted to see, the best vs the best for the biggest prize which was the belt, then fighters started to reject fights they felt they would lose, belt value dropped in favour of "money fights" and now we are in serious risk of having 2 freak show orgs.

 

I think that if an org popped up in some place like Japan, Russia or Brazil with aggressive rules and focus on action instead of hype, i would seriously consider watching that instead, but seriously i doubt that will happen. I guess we do not have much of an option but to watch the bullshit they are selling us.

 

Belt value hasn't dropped. Each UFC champion is still pretty much the legit best in their respective division or arguably close, with the exception of one women's title just now getting off the ground.

 

UFC hasn't stopped giving us the best fighters against the best fighters. That still eventually always happens, with few exceptions. They've just continued having occasional marquee fights of dubious legitimacy like every fight promotion in history.

 

What HAS dropped is divisional depth in some divisions, in particular the 205 division. That's a problem but not one without solutions.

[Lefty]

In North America you will always see hype and sensationalism being opted towards for the sake of moneymaking, that is the way our entertainment and society is built. As Tayne is saying though, there is still the best at the top the way it should be. It's not like we have tons of amazing fighters sitting at the bottom of the rankings and stagnating and being overlooked due to what is happening.

In the end the best will always rise to the top.