Is MMA in the West growing, at its peak, or dying?

Ive answered this and asked who will take the mantle, received no answer yet

 

Top Chuck Liddell main events on pay per view

Liddell vs Ortiz - UFC 66 - 1,050,000 buys
Liddell vs Jackson - UFC 71 - 675,000 buys
Liddell vs Franklin - UFC 115 - 520,000 buys
Liddell vs Babalu - UFC 62 - 500,000 buys
Liddell vs Evans - UFC 88 - 475,000 buys

Top Georges St. Pierre main events on pay per view

GSP vs Penn II - UFC 94 - 920,000 buys
GSP vs Dan Hardy - UFC 111 - 850,000 buys
GSP vs Jake Shields - UFC 129 - 800,000 buys
GSP vs Josh Koscheck - UFC 124 - 785,000 buys
GSP vs Matt Hughes - UFC 70 - 750,000 buys (Liddell/Wanderlei was on the undercard)

 

You've missed the point entirely, but hey, let's keep throwing numbers around

UFC 127 - 260,000 - AUSTRALIA - NO TAPE DELAY
UFC 128 - 445,000
UFC 129 - 850,000
UFC 130 - 300,000
UFC 131 - 325,000
UFC 132 - 350,000
UFC 133 - 310,000
UFC 134 - 335,000
UFC 135 - 450,000
UFC 136 - 250,000

 

Brock Lesnar, Georges St. Pierre, Anderson Silva would be the big three at the moment and all appeal to different parts of the fanbase.

Predicting these thing is tricky but Jon Jones has made a good start to his run at 205Ibs and the fight with Rashad if it happens could be the thing that puts him over the top. Chael Sonnen and Nick Diaz both have charisma and could by this point next year be champions, although equally both could screw up. Cain Velasquez, Junior Dos Santos or Alistair Overeem all have the look and the fighting style to be the mean guy who knocks people out you're looking for. While Edgar is something of a bust charisma wise at 155Ibs, the likes of Guida, Henderson, Melendez or Cerrone could all grow into something meaningful if they're able to go on a run with the title. Urijah Faber could be a big-time draw at bantamweight if he can work out a way to defeat Cruz.

 

What was your point that I missed? I've already said that these year has been a bad one due to injuries (UFC 133, UFC 131, UFC 130) and Frankie Edgar (UFC 136 and UFC 125).

 

A few people have went full ****** in this thread, particularly Stoo. Trying to talk about how co workers are talking about Liddell. Arent you from Wales? How can you judge how the average American sports fan talks about the current superstars comparing them to a couple of Welsh blokes who watched Liddell? The proof is in the ratings.

 

I think those guys all have a decent chance of breaking through. With the caveat that they can go on a decent winning run and look impressive doing so

 

Btw, if the argument was about whether the UFC peaked in the UK I wouldn't disagree with that. They've never recovered from losing Setanta in 2009. They need a new television deal like yesterday.

 

How many times have you moaned about how boring wrestlers are, especially GSP. And how many fighters break through in the UFC without being predominately a wrestler. And how popular is Colliegent wrestling as a spectator sport in the US?

They point about Liddell was merely to point that out of 500 co-workers, Ive only heard MMA brought up once, and there was no mention of Jones, GSP, Frankie in ''the fastest growing sport in the WORLD''.They didnt even know there was a UFC being held in England this week. Ive heard Pac v Floyd and Hopkins and the Klictchko's discussed nearly every day though

 

More than that hopefully the Fox deal is the point where the UFC massively overhauls its presentation, because while I don't think they've peaked they have become massively stale due to not changing how they present their product.

 

Maybe they're just boxing fans?

 

Id agree with that. The only thing I think that doesnt need an overhaul is Rogan doing the colour commentary as he explains the ground game well for those who may be tuning in for the 1st time

 

Maybe, but they could probably spell Klitschko better than me
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