Each UFC card should only Feature 1 Weight Class

Underground
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Eventually, each UFC card should only feature one weight class.  An undergournd member (i believe client 9) mentioned this idea and I thought it was brilliant.

Everyone from the hardcore fan down to the casual fan will be able to visually see where every fighter stands in each weight class, and how relevant every fight is to the title picture... this also mitigates the injury problem because you'll have a batalion of guys in the same weight class who are prepared and who you can move around.

It would be like a round robin ladder system... a never ending tournament if you will... 

Let's take a fight like Eric Silva vs Jotn Fitch..  to a casual fan this is just a fight.  However, hardcores understand the relevance this fight has in the division and thus the importance.  place that fight on a card with all the other top welterweights and casuals will easily understand and see the relavance of this fight.

the divisions will also become the product... not just the fighters.  and the casuals will be able to follow along no matter when they begin following the sport.

You schedule 3 events a year per weight class.  if you have 9 divisions (115lb to HW) that means 27 events a year.  if someone cant make an event the next guy in line takes their spot and they'll have to wait for the next event in 4 months (including the champion, in which case interim titles will be awarded).

main cards should be 3 hours with 5 fights... (which consists of the top 10 guys who are presently active in that weight class) prelims should be 3 hours with 6 fights (guys who want to break into the top 10)

as guys fall out of the top 10 they get moved to the prelims and as guys get  into the top 10 they get moved to the main card.

let's look at what the next WW card could look like in this strutcure:

Main card:

GSP vs Hendricks (title fight)

Diaz vs Nate Marquart (title eliminator)

Rory vs Condit (winner to potentially be in next title eliminator)

Jon Fitch vs Damian Maia (winner to potentially be in next title eliminator)

Ellenberger vs Josh Koscheck (winner to get back into the mix)

Prelims:

Siyar vs Dong Hyun Kim

Hardy vs Matt Brown

Pierce vs Seth Baszinski

Mike Pyle vs James Head

Eric Silva vs Jay Heiron

Thiago Alves vs Che Mills

and then 4 months later the next welterweight event with mostly the same guys shuffled around, some new guys shuffled in and some guys shuffled out based on who won, who lost, how, and new comers.... who can still fight and who's out with an injury, etc...

People think in chunks.... they could follow 20 weight divisions if you chunk and present the participants together consistently. you mention the welterweight division their mind will automatically picture the top 10 guys up to the top 20 guys, the same for the HW division and every other division because they are chunked together.  if they can remember GSP they can remember every other guy who is consistently on the same cards as he is.

This would revolutionize fight sports.

This would mean around 27 events a year.... but these would be mega events.  there are logistical challenges like which cards are ppv and which cards are free on fx or fox, or fuel...  which cards are domestic and which cards are held overseas... and how do you effectively grow globally with this structure?  .

for one, i believe this structure translates across all cultures, languages and customs so you wouldnt need to be so dependednt on customizing local events to build a tv audience.

secondly tuf is already being customized to the local market and you can revamp tuf to be a 4 man tournament aired on a one hour episode every week customized to the local market.  the winner gets a ufc contract and enters the prelims for these mega events.

As far as the TV distribution... for now you keep the 170 and above main cards on ppv and the lighter weights on fx, fuel and fox. I believe with this structure you can eventually do away with ppv... the UFC would be a mega sport... I believe the divisional centric fight cards would be so popular the licensing fee's and/or a subscription model would more than replace the ppv model.

Imagine if every viewer had the same divisional understanding as a hardcore fan?  they'd view the sport differently, they'd view each fight with more interest and they'd understand the sport more like you and i do.   

This would revolutionize fight sports.

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I approve this idea. Phone Post

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Sounds good to me!

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5

Very interesting, pretty cool idea but I doubt they take a chance like this.

6

The thin divisions would be kind of hard to build a card with no?

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^ yes... but really all you need is the top 24 to 30 fighters in a division.  go to russia, eastern europe and guam if you have to.

I would start with just one division.  170 or 155.  then move every division into this structure once you see how successful it is.

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Rear Naked Chode - Very interesting, pretty cool idea but I doubt they take a chance like this.


all they would have to do is set up a pilot program with just one division... keep just one division in this structure and see what happens.



They tried something similar with ufc 146 (all HW main card) and the ppv was better than expected even with one of the main eventers dropping out.



Just try it with one division... schedule just one division using this structure consistently and see what happens.

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Average fans wouldn't give a shit about flyweight, bantamweight or even featherweight only cards.

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Also a problem with this is if the UFC is coming to your town and you wanna go but don't like that weight class. Current UFC PPV's have different weight classes to suit all preferences.

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NorthFromHere - Average fans wouldn't give a shit about flyweight, bantamweight or even featherweight only cards.


the wec pretty much only the lighter weights and they pulled over a million viewers on versus.  I would place the lighter weight on fuel or fx.



you're telling me



Barao vs Mcdonald (interim title fight)



picket vs wineland



faber vs menjivar



etc...



cant carry an FX card?  that wont pull 1.2 million viewers?  I bet if you builf that division on fx it will start pulling 2 million plus viewers because people will become more familiar with these guys and this division.



Edgar vs Aldo title on fox?



siver vs swanson, etc... on the undercard...



people dont care about the lighter weights or guys not named gsp, anderson, jones, etc... because these fights are scattered around and mixed.... there's no context.



with this structure there would be context and relevance to every single fight.



 

12

But then the little guys never get their ppv % and that would kind of suck for them.

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I like this idea but I think doing 2 or 3 weight classes a ppv is more realistic. Casual fans will not want all little men cards, even for free. This will curb the growth of those divisions because they will be seen by even less eyes if left on their own cards Phone Post

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I would hate this. Plus injuries would ruin it Phone Post

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TheBulgarianAssassin - Also a problem with this is if the UFC is coming to your town and you wanna go but don't like that weight class. Current UFC PPV's have different weight classes to suit all preferences.


there are logistical challenges like the one you mentioned... but i believe this would be far superior.  people primarily buy tickets not because they like a certain weight class, but because they like certain names on the card.



So cards are developed and targeted to a market based on names and what the gate that market can produce... bigger names go to the markets with bigger potential gates.  lower names to smaller markets.



you'd do the same but from a divisional standpoint.  less popular divisions go to smalle markets... more popular divisions go to bigger markets, etc... 



the biggest problem i see is that you're not gonna have enough events to service the gate demand... but if you look at it from an 80/20 perspective (top 20% produce 80% of the results) I would just stick to the top 20 markets that prodduce 80% of the revenue. 



around 27 mega events a year is more than enough to service the top 20% of the markets that produce 80% of the revenue. 

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Rear Naked Chode - But then the little guys never get their ppv % and that would kind of suck for them.


the little guys and their divisions will be household names if their consistently on free tv so the ppv will come.  but eventually I believe this structure will be so successful ppv will go away as license fee's through free tv and/or a subscription component will more than make up for it.

17

I like this idea a lot. Maybe 2 weight classes on display though.
IE. WW top 10 on main card and flyweight below top 10 on prelims. Cycle through and so on Phone Post

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Troll Hunter10 - 

I like this idea but I think doing 2 or 3 weight classes a ppv is more realistic. Casual fans will not want all little men cards, even for free. This will curb the growth of those divisions because they will be seen by even less eyes if left on their own cards Phone Post



the wec put on some of the most exciting and best cards and they were all little people.  and they also happened to be the only org able to pull over a million viewers on basic cable.

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I like it Phone Post

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since the lighter weights are the sticking point for some here... let's look at what the next FW card could look like in this structure:

MAin card

Jose Aldo vs Frankie Edgar

Siver vs Swanson (title eliminator)

Erik Koch vs Ricardo Lamas (also a potential title eliminator)

Korean Zombie vs Darren Elkins (also a potential title eliminator)

Chand Mendes vs Hacran Diaz (winner gets into the mix)

Prelim

Clay Guida vs Hioki

Nick Lentz vs Diego Nunez

and you can mix and match the rest :

Diego brandoa, Charles Oliviera, Darren elkins,dennis bermudez, jonathan brookins, hacran dias, akira, max holloway, rony jason, nam pham,   justin lawrence, porier, etc...

You put this main card on Fox and the prelim on FX the babies will get on their knees begging for buttermilk.

you put the next 2 on fox and this division and the guys in this division will become household names.  this will become a premiere division.