Oktagon just beat the UFC German attendance numbers when they did a show in June and I doubt they are even one of the top ten most globally viewed promotions in the world yet.
Although JMMA is not what it was during the PRIDE/K1 era…Rizin just did their most watched NYE event as well as far as Japanese ratings go.
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“IDK bro…the 6 guys I used to watch UFC PPVs with don’t even really care about MMA anymore, so the sports not as popular as it used to be”
-The UG
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Pretty much.
For the record, I’m pretty old school and Oliveira’s rise to championship reign, Volk’s level of excellence, Poirier’s career journey etc are as exciting and as good as anything. There is always something to be exited about imo. Yeah the cards are generally thin.
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Yup.
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How big of a sample size do you need?
How many sports bars still show the UFC? This is all way before the price increases.
To not see that it is not as popular as it use to be is naive.
I don’t have a single friend or relative that is still into it since I have been.Only new fans.
I live in California & could probably name 40 MMA promotions (at least 35) and now there are a few & they are mostly all amateur so the promoters don’t have to pay the fighters.
Check my missing forum members thread for a bigger sample size.
Ok, but you realize the way people view and talk about the product have changed, right? For example, I just pulled up the UFC’s tiktok and the video of Paddy teabagging Leavitt got 6.5M views 542K likes and 2658 comments. A video they posted of Conor a couple weeks ago (who hasn’t done anything in the recent months) knocking out Mendes got 8.8M views, 936K likes and 4010 comments. A Pat Barry vs Kongo highlight from a month ago got over 10K comments and almost 18M views.
The entire way people consume the product (all entertainment products for that matter) has changed, and the way people talk about it has changed. MMA fans are talking about the product more than ever, they’re just not doing it here.
As for your comment about not having a single friend or relative into it anymore…I don’t have a single friend or family member who is into college football. Does that mean college football isn’t popular anymore? We used to love the shit when we were in college, but nobody watches it anymore, so it’s dying, right?
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As for local MMA, the entire market has changed…and local MMA was my thing for a very long time, and I’m still very much involved there…the UFC, Bellator and PFL are signing fighters earlier than ever, and there are other shows always popping up like Eagle MMA and others that pay really well for smaller shows along with Fightpass shows that fly guys in who are like 3-0.
So yeah…the smaller, regional promoters aren’t going to have a ton of big pro fights because you rarely see guys who are like 8-1 fighting locally anymore. If you get to 5-0 and have a decent manager, you get a shot on DWCS, Bellator, PFL etc.
Most local shows focus on amateur MMA, sprinkle in a few pro fights but don’t make it a big part of their business because a bigger show will offer your 3-0 guys more than the local show wants to pay.
The difference I see in local MMA now, there are less shows popping up and dying. There used to be 10-15 local MMA shows up in the new england area, but many of them never promoted more than 3-4 events. Some did a bit more than that and stopped, but that’s about it. There are a few consistent shows now, and it’s rare for someone new to pop up.
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Yes @Rickmassmma, I think we goofs here on the UG are a diff crowd. We are the hardcore nerds and this was probably one of the few places for that type back then. Not sure about today. Social media def changed the game as it did for everyone else but that must still be for the casuals no?
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Humans are only able to perceive the world from their own perspective, and it’s natural for them to project that perspective onto other humans. Our poor guy crowbar here simple isn’t capable of recognizing this flawed thinking.
Every promotion that was on tv went down bigtime in the ratings before they folded.This goes back to Elite XC,Strikeforce & others.Promotions like the PFL & Bellator suffered in ratings & they changed networks.
40 promotions in California down the drain.I only know of 2 right now & one of them is Urijah’s that just came out.
How is TUF doing? Did they drop in ratings?
I assume you don’t watch any events, have never trained and don’t know what you’re talking about.
But there you go, each to their own.
Lol
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Sit down clown.
You can assume with a different member.
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Bellator seems to be doing well as the second show no? One FC also as the SE Asia/Asia regional org.
But the main question is how is UFC viewership now compared to back whenever?
I think even the hardcore fans argue about the shit on social media. For example, a local fighter who used to fight in the UFC is pissed off about where he’s currently ranked in the local rankings released by the website that covers local MMA in the northeast. I don’t think he posts here, don’t think the people from that website post here, and the shit talking about the rankings as well as who would beat who all took place on facebook.
Fighters in the northeast pretty regularly shit talk each other in the comment section of their facebook and insta posts, and they pretty regularly call each other out for fights on social media. All the fun shit that used to happen here is now happening on people’s social media.
There’s still some stuff talked about here, but we’re like…IDK…the fucking hipsters who loved this place when it was only us, then hated it when the new breed of people arrived, but love it again because it’s back to being only us…because all the casuals left.
I think there are possibly less hardcore fans now…but there are tons of people following the UFC on social media that are talking shit about fighters in the comment section of their posts…and those casuals pay attention enough to buy ESPN+ along with some PPVs and casually watch the fights.
I went to a UFC party for the Cerrone vs Conor fight with a VP from my software company, and he follows it enough to bet on the fights weekly and has never heard of this place…and most of the people at the party were really into a couple fights, but didn’t know who anyone else was.
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Bellator is doing worse than ever if you take a look at the ratings they’re actually willing to release.
But they hide most of their viewership numbers because they’re that bad. ONE Championship is comfortably the second best promotion in the world atm.
This place is mostly shit tho so it’s good they haven’t herd about it. 
But yeah, social media took over and for casuals and the tmz type call outs and beefs and stuff is perfect for those platforms.
Funny thing is that’s still the bulk of the convo here. Actual fight talk is maybe what 25% at best on here?
Interdasting. 
Crowbar is probably the last guy i would question about his knowledge of the sport…lol
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