MMA, looking like a bit of a joke right now?

Notice I ddint say "terrible events" but rather unsatisfactory ones where the quality of the action, the level of competision, the hype or the judging made them less than satisfying.

I'd say its less a case of "stealing" WWE fans and more a case of targetting the same demographic with similar methods. I don't think its a coincidense that Brocks sucess in the UFC came about 4-5 years after his time in the WWE, alot of young teens who were watching on TV back then and have since grown out of pro wrestling are now potential PPV buyers.

Its no secret that Dana has been trying to emulate Vince's business model either, he's openly come out and admited it. Not in terms of fake fights or pryo displays but the creation of a self contained and largely self promoted enviroment that makes the brand stronger, allows for greater control of the fanbase/fighters and makes it much harder for any rival to compete with him.

Yeah thats much the way I see it, the UFC devolped a cash cow and there not keen to make any changes. As with the WWF/E I think its a mistake to believe that sucess is going to last indefinately, unsatisfactory events cannot be covered by brand loyalty forever.

I disagree as to the quality of action though, really classic fights have been hard to come by in the UFC over recent years and perhaps more importantly big matches that turn into classic fights have been even rarer(Randy/Nog is the only one that springs to mind). Alot of the "evolution" of the sport has IMHO not actually been an improvement in technique as its been hyped but rather a move towards fighters exploting the enviroment to win boring decisions.

 

The problem is that the "bad judging" is actually having a big impact not just on the results but much of the action we see with guys like Maynard clearly looking to exploit it.

I'd contend that rather than giving the fans what they want Dana is actually very good at telling the fans what they want. He's also very good at distracting attension away from the inevitabley disapointing fights such unrealistic hype creates(Lesnar is the baddest man on the planet, Rashad is going to try and finish Rampage, Crocop is back! etc).

The UFC's self promoted nature and an ineffectual fawning MMA media make it much easier to do that in comparison with boxing. Just look at Haye/Harrison for example, highly criticiszed before and after it happened by large sections of the media/fanbase where as something like Randy/Toney is let slide(and mysteriously sanctioned in the first place).

Beyond the rules/judging/tactics I'd say a large part of the problem is that Zuffa often arent willing to accomodate the demands of the more entertaining fighters. They clearly have the best roster in the sport but its noticble to me that they have far fewer of the really entertaining fighters than you'd expect. If its a choice between signing Maynard and paying him $5 to start with or signing Alvarez and paying him $25K then they tend to go for the former and use their influence over the fans and the strenght of the brand to sell him.