The MMA Thread: DON'T ASK 4 STREAMS & NO GIFS- Cannonier, Imavov, Reyes, Rosas on NOW

[Vincent Van Goat]

 

[Barbados Slim]

I'm gonna miss this entire card.

 

[alchemist]

Im pumped for the rematch. Cody was seconds away from putting TJ away in the first in their previous fight.

TJ is just a much more well rounded fighter but Cody’s boxing is easily top 5 in UFC. Quick, powerful and no wasted movement.

Cody’s win over Cruz was one of the most impressive bouts I think I’ve ever seen. Granted it’s an older post-injury Cruz, it was still a phenomenal performance.

Gonna be a good one.

 

[Vincent Van Goat]

The Fox card did horrible ratings and it had no major competition

Not gonna blame Dustin nor Eddie, I think the sport is just fading

 

[Cashflow]

Dustin is definitely not getting a title shot anytime soon now

 

[Vincent Van Goat]

Ariel:

Hasan Magomedsharipov, Zabit Magomedsharipov's 17-year-old brother, is currently in New Jersey training with the Ricardo Almeida BJJ team. Like his brother, he has competed in amateur wushu sanda, but he has no amateur MMA or boxing experience. His coach Mark Henry tells me he‘s been sparring Frankie Edgar, Marlon Moraes and Zabit and more than holds his own. He's impressing everyone. The plan is for him to enter the Diamond Gloves boxing tournament in August. Everyone is glowing about his potential. A name to remember.

 

[Vincent Van Goat]

Dustin is definitely not getting a title shot anytime soon now

I wouldn't be surprised

It's wild too, the card had Aldo and JJ, names that should have brought numbers in

 

[alchemist]

It would be smart if MM called out the winner of TJ and Cody.

If he smashes Cejudo again and cuts a mean promo ,he and the UFC could really capitalize on it.

Imagine MM being like “People think I’m scared of TJ!? I’m not scared of TJ! You better get a win tonight boy so we can make this fight happen, or Cody, you can get this work too you scrub!”

Place would go wild.

 

[SORIANOTRON]

The Fox card did horrible ratings and it had no major competition

Not gonna blame Dustin nor Eddie, I think the sport is just fading

dont get caught up in that BS, MMA is not fading...who cares about numbers, views, tv contracts

I feel like dudes been saying this every year now for the past 5-6 years.

Just chill, relax and watch these foos punch each others face off, easily some of the most entertaining live product available.

Everyone wanna be a GM or UFC president nowadays

 

[OTG]

i don't think it's fading ufc just don't promote ****

 

[Cashflow]

dont get caught up in that BS, MMA is not fading...who cares about numbers, views, tv contracts

I feel like dudes been saying this every year now for the past 5-6 years.

Just chill, relax and watch these foos punch each others face off, easily some of the most entertaining live product available.

Everyone wanna be a GM or UFC president nowadays

Dustin’s going to care when he doesn’t get that title shot

It’s a business and you’re in it to make money. So of course fans of the business are going to speculate on the reprecussions of cards bombing

 

[Vincent Van Goat]

dont get caught up in that BS, MMA is not fading...who cares about numbers, views, tv contracts

I feel like dudes been saying this every year now for the past 5-6 years.

Just chill, relax and watch these foos punch each others face off, easily some of the most entertaining live product available.

Everyone wanna be a GM or UFC president nowadays

Yeah the sport isn't fading in terms of growth, interest could be fading though. Due to the FOX deal, as many benefits as its yielded, there are way too many cards

Nobody questioned the entertainment value

Also, it's combat sports, a major component for the fans is playing match maker and debating how the promotions are being run. If you can't understand that, sorry. Dana is making a ton of money, so I can't criticize him on that front

 

[Cashflow]

Take for instance, Khabib’s manager has already come and said they won’t fight Conor for a penny less than Nate Diaz

All that stuff is connected! So now you possibly can’t see two guys punch each other’s face off because of the business side of things

 

[SORIANOTRON]

i honestly dont give a **** how much money they make or who's A side who's B side

I just want to see as many 50/50 fights as possible, and the UFC provides that.

I see alot of doods in here talking about star power, but I personally enjoy watching unknowns or up and comers put on really good fights

Stylebender for instance, dood is a UFC absolute must watch right now, dude really has no hype or push, he doesnt "move the needle" but if your a fan of the sport you know.

maybe 5 years ago I had a few MMA buddies I could chop game with, or watch fights with but today it seems like most people are familiar with the sport and big names.

Its came along way from spike TV, I dont see this thing slowing down waaaay to much money and machine involved at this point.

New kids are coming up training MMA chasing that UFC dream now more than ever, the talent pool is ripe and getting riper everyday

I bet if there was a tangible statistic that could count all the new MMA gyms opened just here nationwide in the last 5 years....the numbers would be shocking

 

[spiderjericho]

Have to remember FS wasn’t a household name (and still isn’t) when this started. Feel like ESPN will bring more shine/promotion but at the expense of more cards.

When I first got into MMA, it was just a card a month. And the cards always seemed special. TUF wasn’t in a hospice waiting to take its last breath.

It also doesn’t help the promotion doesn’t have the cache of stars they did e.g. Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, GSP, Matt Hughes, early TUF alumnus and the Pride dudes.

That card last weekend was legit. Maybe it was fatigue and poor promotion. Aldo, JJ and the Porier/Alvarez rematch should grabbed millions.

 

[jt83]

I think being able to stream for free hasn't helped either. Kind of what Napster was doing towards record sales back in the day

 

[jewseejay]

It would be smart if MM called out the winner of TJ and Cody.

If he smashes Cejudo again and cuts a mean promo ,he and the UFC could really capitalize on it.

Imagine MM being like “People think I’m scared of TJ!? I’m not scared of TJ! You better get a win tonight boy so we can make this fight happen, or Cody, you can get this work too you scrub!”

Place would go wild.

That would move the needle by about 13 viewers hahah

 

[jewseejay]

dont get caught up in that BS, MMA is not fading...who cares about numbers, views, tv contracts

I feel like dudes been saying this every year now for the past 5-6 years.

Just chill, relax and watch these foos punch each others face off, easily some of the most entertaining live product available.

Everyone wanna be a GM or UFC president nowadays

What are you talking about. If hundreds of thousands of less eyes are on your sport its fading....

If you did percentages ud say its fading precipitously. The nfl numbers decline 5% its a conversation. UFC viewership on some of these cards has been 50-60% decline. Not good.

That doesnt mean its going anywhere, its not our concern either. The fighters are gunna be getting less soon tho if the trend continues... if the money isnt being brought in theyre not going to be shelling it out. And they alrdy do everybody dirty that isnt ESTABLISHED.

 

[jewseejay]

Have to remember FS wasn’t a household name (and still isn’t) when this started. Feel like ESPN will bring more shine/promotion but at the expense of more cards.

When I first got into MMA, it was just a card a month. And the cards always seemed special. TUF wasn’t in a hospice waiting to take its last breath.

It also doesn’t help the promotion doesn’t have the cache of stars they did e.g. Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, GSP, Matt Hughes, early TUF alumnus and the Pride dudes.

That card last weekend was legit. Maybe it was fatigue and poor promotion. Aldo, JJ and the Porier/Alvarez rematch should grabbed millions.

Us serious fans are they only ppl who even know Aldo/JJ/Alvarez/Diamond even exist. Just the way it is. None of these fighters are mainstream.

They want a card to do numbers at this point they got like 4 golden ponies. Connor, Brock, Diaz Bros

 

[P A Z]

Beating a dead horse at this point, but there's just way too many cards and too many fighters. When they had one event per month, they had time to promote the card and people had time to get excited.

It's like shoes how Jordans and Yeezys release every week now.

Over saturation is killing both.

 

[QU!K]

Even if streaming didn't exist, how many people would drop $50 on a ppv per month?

There's way too many cards and not enough promotion.

I bet most people don't know who the champions are.

DJ, TJ, Max, Tyron, Whittaker, Cormier

The average American doesn't know who these people are.

 

[alchemist]

I see both from fans and fighters alike, the lack of promotion line and I don’t really understand it.

It gets thrown around a lot but what do people want the UFC to do? I never hear solutions, just complaining.

When it boils down to it, some fighters are stars and some aren’t. Some become stars just because they fight well, some become stars because of their looks, some become stars because of their antics in and out of the cage and some will just never be big draws no matter what.

There are fighters that take it into their own hands and they understand the business and physiological aspect of the sport, but most don’t.

Most of these fighters want to be liked, they want to appear as the guy/girl next door. Let’s just be frank, they are cage fighters. They get locked in a cage half naked with another maniac who’s trying to cut their light off. This nice guy persona route that so many fighters take is uninteresting to both casual and hardcore fan bases alike. You need the audience to feel something whether they hate you or love you. That connection is what puts asses in seats and draws PPV buys.

It also doesn’t help that the hardcore fan base, which I consider myself apart of, doesn’t even support the sport monetarily. The same people who will comment on the poor ratings and PPV sales are the same people who stream every event.

I don’t know if the sport is fading necessarily but the Ferttita brothers sold when they did for a reason. It isn’t coincidence that they signed the Reebok deal and brought USADA in then quickly turned around and sold to the highest bidder.

 

[Vincent Van Goat]

As long as Dana’s and managements pockets are being lined with that ESPN money, the motivation to put more quality cards/content will always be an uphill battle

It’s not really about presenting “solutions” because it’s the promotions goal to make money. They’ve done that in spades

It’s more so about understanding motivations of the powers that be and having to come to grips with the consequences

Again the sport itself isn’t fading but interest in the sport overall could be. That’s not to say the ufc is going under or anything close to it because again, with fox and now ESPN behind them, it’ll continue to be a machine

I would like to see a case study on fighter pay over the past 10 years. I saw the fox card salaries and I saw Dustin has a 100k contract which is pretty good for him in relative terms

 

[Vincent Van Goat]

I always wonder how the dynamic of coaching opposing fighters (also through association) plays out in the gym

For instance, Brandon Gibson coached Cody in his first fight against tj. I also believe Gibson may be a friend to Cody

Gibson is now training cub at a gym in Orange County that is run by tj and cub. Gibson said that hes been watching tj train for the rematch with Cody

That’s an interesting dynamic

 

[Vincent Van Goat]