And Pride itself is a good example of that where Mirko Cro Cop and Wanderlei Silva were far bigger stars than Nogueria or Fedor despite having inferior win/loss records.
Good points,and you are spot on, the UFC has always been dominated by wrestlers, and probably always will. But I think the UFC had a massive shot in the arm when Anderson and the PRIDE guys came over, with Chuck v Wandy, Big Nog finishing fights after his trademark beating, GSP actually finishing fights, BJ running through the LW's, and so on, was the 'Golden Age' for growth in the UFC. Obviously PPV's have been increasing since, but I think that's mainly word of mouth (And Brock) from fans who watched this era. Roughly about UFC 60 to 100. As well as TUF being fresh, there is no coincidence to me that this was the most exciting time to be a UFC fan. Not saying there arent great fights now, but maybe Im just jaded and the novelty has worn off a bit
The only problem with that theory is that 2007 was the year the Pride guys came over and that like this year was very much a transitional, rebuilding year with top guys (Hughes, Liddell, Franklin) moving out of title contention and pay per view buys dropping off. Not saying it wasn't great to see those dream fights but I'm not sure they meant as much business wise as people think. UFC is certainly flat at the moment but I think its more to do with the injury crisis. This period reminds me of September 2009 to April 2010 where it seemed like every fight you were looking forward to was getting cancelled and so the overall quality was down. Once everybody was fit again the quality shot right back up and the UFC went on an unbelievable run. I'd imagine the same will happen here - if no one pulls out the fourth quarter looks great (Ultimate Brazil II, Rampage going for the title, Florian trying to do the impossible against Aldo, Edgar-Maynard III, GSP-Diaz in a Clash of the Champions, Velasquez-Dos Santos in San Jose)
Maybe the numbers were down, I'll admit I know nothing about that. But dont underestimate the power of the medium like Youtube where you could see, for example, Page ko'ing Chuck and pass it around to your friends via social networking. That helped build a fan base of people who probably wouldnt have bought a PPV otherwise, but made sure they bought future events. Zuffa wasnt nearly as strict as it was now with taking these vids out of circulation, and even though it's understandable why the did it, it may hurt the business. Look at how tough a sell some boxings cards are, using Amir Kahn as an example. I know the undercards/opponents are ****, but he's not half the star he was when he was fighting on ITV on a Saturday night imo.
I think the internet is overrated in terms of importance. You look at how much the UFC has expanded its own internet offering this past year and its made no difference to the numbers. Maybe they're taking down old fights (but let's been honest we all know how to get the fight we want within minutes) but this year they've shown upwards of 50 fights on the internet to attract new fans. The problem is not the internet but falling television numbers - fans in the States aren't seeing those great moments from pay per views because they've stopped watching Unleashed. The increase in pay per views and the decline in TUF has hurt the quality of television cards. But above all the UFC isn't taking seriously the issue of falling television numbers partly because they're primarily focused on pay per views (and this was true even when they were setting TV records) and because they're likely to leave Spike and so don't want to do them any favours, with Spike returning in kind.
That's putting the cart before the horse though fella. I agree with the other post about TV, but I do think you are underestimating the internet a little. True, there are plenty of ways to avoid a PPV these these (which I do not condone one bit mods) but I think the point you made about taking down youtube vids and the lack of interest in the free fights on the UFC site when you have to pay a fee for the rest is a bit contradictory if I understood it correctly Anyway....K1...
Before we get back to K-1. My point on youtube is not that the UFC isn't interested in the internet - they are obviously very interested in it. But that such interest doesn't significantly translate into increased business.
Business increases according to exposure. Not the other way around. The various streaming sites represented exposure. The UFC has put pay to that.
I watched entire PRIDE events on youtube back in the day, certainly helped my interest to grow. Now I understand how streaming and torrents hurt PPV sales, and I begrudgingly accept the UFC's stance on these issues. But Im now a paying customer due to being able to watch Wanderlei knee connect with Rampage's face and Mirko treating Igor's head like a ball on a penalty spot Again I'll return to the point about Amir Khan. And Joe Calzaghe was a nobody on Sky until his fight with Lacey was broadcast on ITV (AM I remembering this correctly?). Sometimes squeezing every $ out of a product hurts your income in the long term. To use a bad annalogy, a heroin dealer often gives a mark his 1st dose for free. And TUF has obviously lost it's lustre
This is the only reason why Khan put's bums on seats because of the deal Frank did with ITV which gained him notoriety and invaluable exposure when he turned pro. Once fans know who you are and you get the exposure on terrestrial TV and deliver results then you become a PPV star much the same way Naz was back in the 90's. Problem is promoters and fighters want to do it the other way around.