What do you HONESTLY want to happen to the UFC?

Id like to see it grow, and it's the place to be for American and European fighters, with a great stable of talent and good cards

But Id like to see more options, for fighters and the viewers. There's a difference between MMA as a sport and the UFC as a brand, and Id like to see a viable alternative, maybe in Asian or Europe as any aspiring org in the States wont develop much more than a grass roots feeder company in which the UFC can poach the best talent

Competition never hurt anyone, a monopoly hurts everyone except for the guys cashing the cheques. Even the UFC would benefit, as they would have to raise their game

 

Instead of that, I like to see one promotion which is universally hailed as the big show. No HBO vs Showtime bull****. I want the UFC to pay the best money and provide the best support and care to their rostered fighters, making them unquestionably the best employer in MMA. I want them to regularly stage major shows on every continent. And, most importantly, I want them to have ALL the best fighters in the world under contract and match them all against each other, so that the fans get to see ALL the best matchups.

There will always be room for local/regional promotions, and there will only be more room for them as the UFC grows the sport. But the WORST thing that could happen to MMA is to get like boxing is, where big-name fighters and promoters hardly ever risk anything against each other, where cards are full of mismatches, where there is no incentive for anyone to put on an exciting show, and where the fans constantly get the **** end of the stick.

:hat

 

RE: achillies

That would be great. I think the do that to some extent using UK fighters as an example, Etim, Ross and of course Bisping all got the chance at the big show, but Im not to sure if that benefited the various orgs they represented at the time

If the UFC could, and I think in time they will have to, help these promotions grow it would only benefit the sport, and in the long run the UFC itself. It would grow both the talent pool and by osmosis the fan base with it, as obviously, better fighters make better fights and THAT is the draw for fans, not the logo on the Cage Mat. Well it is for me personally

Vince in the WWE is finding out the pitfalls of a monopoly and how it can hurt your product and is making a concerted effort to pump cash into the regional shows to help fund and develope talent

If the UFC could take, BAMMA for example, under it's wing in the same way the WWE did with ECW with advice, advertising and maybe funding too, then they would avoid the stagnation that the WWE is currently going through. Maybe just sending some guys over, like a Jardine or Guida, to headline shows there in exchange for the up and coming talent, would help raise MMA's profile as a sport

 

Nah, you want the reflected glory of being associated with the best 'brand' so you can fill some sort of void in your sad little life. It's like kids in a play ground dividing themselves up into Nike or Addias camps then arguing about which band is best. It's ******ed tribalism and makes you look quite sad indeed

I want to see the SPORT grow, not mock the boxing or PRIDE camp because I jumped on the winning teams bandwagon

Grow up Haggis, this type of **** is why 9 out of 10 times I skip your posts, and Im not interested in listening to your repetitive fanboyism

 

atsch

The way for the sport to grow is to have all the best fighters fighting each other on the regular, with incentive to fight in exciting fashion.

That doesn't happen if they're all distributed between 3 or 4 different orgs so that they can hide from the biggest challenges and play the organizations against each other.

BJ Penn, Matt Hughes and GSP are three of the greatest champions of recent times. They have had a total of EIGHT fights between them.

If they fought in three different promotions, all of them were simultaneously calling themselves the Welterweight Champion of the World and we saw no fights between them, or maybe just one or two, guess what? That doesn't do **** for the sport except frustrate the fans and turn off casual viewers.

Just look at Mayweather vs Pac. Promotors can't agree to risk their big cash cow in case they lose, so the fight never happens. And if it DOES happen, who even gives a **** any more? It's years too late. This is what you get in a combat sport where three or four guys in the same division can each wave a belt around and call themselves a champion.

:hat

 

Talent has to have the time, financial incentives and opportunity to develop before it gets to the big show. It wont if the jump from regional shows to the UFC is too great, the young guys will be written off as undercard bums. So logic dictates that the sport has to grow for the UFC to grow with it, not the other way around

The UFC doesnt grow unless the sport goes with it, the sport doesnt grow if the UFC is the only place to make a living. Simple. The UFC's growth was slow when they were relying on Chuck rematches, and Tito v Shamrock 3. They even got Tank and Royce out of retirement ffs. It's no coincidence that the UFC's biggest period of growth was 07-10, when the influx of Pride, WEC and now Strikeforce talent came in. That, was a one time only deal, you wont see that sort of growth again, it will be steady, but not an explosion

Which leads me on to the the BJ, MH, GSP point. It's interesting that also in that time frame, Tito, Chuck and Hughes fought a total of 8 times as well, all home grown UFC products it should be noted. But both the WW division and LHW really got exciting with the influx of guys such as Rampage, Shogun, Hendo & Machida got thrown into the mix and LHW has been on a roll ever since. And what state would the WW division be in if you didnt have the likes of Shields, Diaz and Condit adding fresh blood to challenge George. All these guys had the opportunity to develope their TALENT and PROFILE outside of the UFC, and they are the guys providing the most exciting fights within that organisation as well as adding to the PPV revenue by bringing their fans with them. Without them you'd have Fitch and Rashad challenging for the title over and over again, and it's a pretty safe bet business would decrease in that scenario

Do me a favour, go glance at the top 10 ranking for each division from 155-205, then take the Strikeforce, WEC & PRIDE guys off the list. It doesnt look as rosy does it. These guys all had time to develope a skill set and profile outside of the UFC, and the UFC is benefiting greatly from this once they are brought into the fold

Do you really want to see guys like Bruce Leeroy and Court McGee and other TUF'ers challenging for the straps. Because without multiple organisations, you will have no basis on which to form an opinion as too when the best are fighting the best other than when Zuffa tells you this is the case

And the boxing arguement is a misnomer as well. The death of boxing was from a lack of exposure from free TV for the $'s generated by PPV's. But over time the profile of the sport went down. As the profile went down, the talent pool decreased. Pac & Floyd is a symptom of this not the cause. Both would substantially lose PPV revenue if either lost that fight. MMA fighter dont lose respect in the same way boxer do when they suffer a loss

 

Surely the fact that the light heavyweight division became MORE exciting when there was an influx of fighters from Pride shows that the optimum format for the sport is one major league with all the major fighters competing within it? If competition the sport then surely it should have been entertaining when there were two competing leagues?

To me I'd like to see the UFC continue to grow and develop. Eventually moving away from the boxing-pro-wrestling hybrid model it has currently to one that is closer to something like the NFL or NBA with the league responsible for developing its own regulations and handling enforcement. As part of this, I'd ultimately like to see it move away from pay per view being its main revenue source and for the creation of a Professional Fighters Association that not only allows for collective bargaining within Zuffa but becomes the mechanism for the delivery of benefit packages such as insurance and pensions, so allowing upcoming fighters outside of Zuffa to gain access to these benefits.

I'd obviously like to see the international expansion continue a pace, perhaps with Zuffa ultimately opening affiliates in other countries so it can maintain a regular presence there. The need for that to a certain extent depends on whether regional promotions continue to do well (and experience with say WWE suggests that far from being in competition with the major league, the business for local shows ebb and flows with the popularity of the brand leader). What is needed is more investment in the sport's infrastructure in other countries - unless Zuffa steps in to help my sustainable world leading training facilities then Europe and probably even Asia are always going to be one step behind the Americas.

 

But now, there's no other avenue in which these other fighter can come in from to make it more exciting is there. No avenue to gain experience, no avenue to gain a fan base, it's UFC or bust. There's regional shows, but guys like Haggis arent going to go out and show their support financially for these types of events are they.

Are the next generation going to be able to earn a living outside of the UFC in those types of shows?

Are the next generation going to be getting the maximum revenue they can if only one organisation are offering them the opportunity to get over on an international stage?

The ''Two orgs, two Champs, we dont get to see them fight'' point is a valid one. I agree it's frustrating. But it will be moot if the grass roots isnt there for fighters to establish themselves.

The audience for WCW and WWE combined was higher than the current WWE ratings and both products were stronger than WWE is today, even though Vince has the monopoly on talent and TV revenue. After the Hendo fight, there's a real danger of Jon Jones becoming UFC's John Cena.

MMA is about the fighters, full stop. Zuffa needs to grow the sport or the brand will suffer

 

Get rid of dana white and bring someone who's actually nice and won't just cut you cuz you said something stupid in twitter.

 

I agree that you can't rely on the UFC alone. But to me the major league investing in the regional feeder leagues is a better way to address market failure in local MMA should it ever happen.

 

I agree. I think the only other avenue as it stands is high level but raw talent joining high level and experienced Gyms. Such as Jones at Jacksons, but both are few and far between. I think this will increase when fighters, such as Florian, retire and concentrate on Coaching

 

:deal

 

Stoo taking care of business in this thread! PREACH brother PREACH! thumbsup