Zuffa Shows

Looking forward to tonight, a decent looking card. Main event and chief support both look good fights and a couple of well rated prospects getting a fight on the undercard.

Great to see boxing back on sky, people can question Zuffa but the reality is their first UK show is going to have higher viewing figures that 95% of shows on DAZN. All this in just a few months, Just wait until the stable is built and we will see the real potential of this outfit

 

A week after the Pierce O'Leary fight seems a bit mad.

No idea the fella he is fighting but Walsh vs Denny should be good.b

 

Looking forward to tonight. It’s a decent enough card. Was surprised to see Dychko on the undercard.

 

It'll be like Boxxer but with proper funding and an experienced promoter!

 

And Max Kellerman voice overs

Please no Kellerman here

 

I absolutely can't bear the shouty motormouth American style of presenter / pundit. And also that super weird thing where a presenter asks a pundit a question and they turn to the camera to answer it - it's all so contrived!

 

Going back to the show last night, I don't think many would complain if that's what Zuffa and Sky put on regularly. The bitterness coming out of Hearn for the last 3 months kind of shows they know this is a well-resourced competitor. The obsession with Aspinall's pay just makes Matchroom look like sore losers, meanwhile others just put fights on. Sky will be happy with a promoter that actually knows what it's doing, even if last night was rinse-and-repeat of previous CBS shows in his home town.

 

Well said. Clearly Zuffa are a threat, but look at the difference in the way the UK promoters are handling it. Frank is keeping his head down, putting on regular shows and talking up his fighters, Hearn on the other hand starts every interview with a rant about Tom Aspinalls pay, its got painfully tiresome! Matchroom currently have 0 shows scheduled for the UK and in the last 7 weeks have only done Padley and Walker/Eggington. Keep that up then of course Zuffa will get a foothold, because fans want fights.

Last night was a decent card, flowed quickly between fights, plenty of action which I guess will be helped by these KO and fighter of the night bonuses that were being talked about. Early days, but its a good concept. The youtube interviewers will never dare ask the questions but the reality is the viewing figures for Zuffa last night will have absolutely dwarfed the Sheffield show. With the exposure the Zuffa fighters will get in comparison it isn't going to take long for them to gain some traction.

 

You can't complain about that pacing, that's what UFC always do well too.

Boxing sometimes can be an absolute slog, you could go out for a 3 course meal in between fights and come back and see pundits still waffling about stuff no one cares about.

 

Back in the day you'd have a couple of floating four rounders to fill in the gaps. That seems to have stopped now so if you're actually there you've got half an hour or more of dead time.

 

Exactly how i see it.
Zuffa will do well over here with the Sky machine behind them. Turki's cash and the Sky machine should turn out pretty high quality shows over here.
That been said us Brits are proven to be the most gullible fans in the world paying PPV for some shocking fights in the past so will they be looking to exploit that.
But also as Zuffa gain more traction and pinch a few fighters from Eddie and Frank they could quite easily become the top UK promotor. When Fury AJ happens Turki will get rid of both Frank and Eddie and then just pay whatever it takes to take DDD and Itauma off Frank and move both to Sky with Zuffa.
Then we will be back to the same old same old of Itauma fighting washed up old fighters on Sky PPV for bags of money.
Although for me the decline of Eddie and the car crash that will come with it will be something i really sit back and enjoy, he will be out of the sport in the next 3 years i think Frank Smith will take over as a bit part Mick Hennessey type.

 

Yeah that was a much better system, at least gave you something to look at, and not just PR based punditry.

 

This is the thing. People have rightly praised the pacing of the show too, that's super important for the sustained TV audience as long as the main event has a well established start time for the one-fight casuals. Matchroom always did well with their "get people at 10.30pm" Sky schedule.

You do wonder what's going on under the bonnet here. Warren has *always* been known for nurturing talent and the sons seem to have split the role between fighter management and commercial. They have the right credible network inside boxing too. Matchroom was always known for star power and getting totally behind a smaller number of big shows, in their bubble with their own gym and so on, and so for those that can't be with Queensberry you wonder if Zuffa (and its cash, and Sky TV) have quietly taken their place.

The UK is a great place to get a foothold in boxing because you get the rest of Europe thrown in; the US will take longer but Europe would be a benchmark to use in doing it.

 

Tbf to Hearn he is responding to White antagonising him and making claims about promoting Hearn’s fighter (AJ v Fury). I thought Hearn humiliated White when he accepted his challenge to a fight and then White laughed it off and claimed he wasn’t being serious. Straight out the Big John playbook. You just can’t call someone out to fight and then laugh it off as a joke when the other party accepts it.