Lacks moat with alligators is the obvious answer.
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It’s fight week, blog week!
I miss those. They are on fightpass if you search for them.
For me, the fighters mostly seem generic. Same all round style, same fight kit, no individuality.
The programming is all over the place. Too many watered down shows and fight pass interface is total dogshit.
Hopefully il get back into it better oneday
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This is it. Also, not only is not style vs style, but MMA is distilled down to: 1-2, high kick, take down. Rinse and repeat.
Wrestling, BJJ and striking all keep each other at a very shallow depth.
Street fights are more interesting now.
The only time I care about MMA now is when it’s some physical monster like Ngannou, because it’s interesting to watch somebody that huge fight.
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THIS. I watched UFC 1 in 1993. There are very few stars that you can get behind. If Dana doesn’t believe in them why should we? They have short careers *(Usually) and are expendable. If Dana doesn’t pay them well, why should we pay the UFC well for their outrageously priced events?
Even if one were to stream one of these events you can never get your time back. Most cards now are just shitty boxing with both guys walking with their chin out till one of the no-bodies connects and we are supposed to care.
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I like how people say they watched UFC 1 live like it means they’re important. I remember new members doing this when TUF broke out. Why do people search for credibility here still? I remember seeing a Tank Abbott fight in the 90’s on ppv but I don’t speak like I’m a day 1 guy.
GTFO.
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UFC 3 for me, and I was 13. I’ve told the story here before, the older and much cooler kid on the baseball team was talking about this tiny guy who was breaking everyone’s arms on TV, and it sounded cool as fuck. I rode my bike home, told my dad about it (big boxing fan, would have parties for HWT title fights and shit) and we bought the PPV and watched it together.
I stopped watching when it was removed from PPV, mostly forgot it was a thing, then I saw a UFC video game with Tito on the cover and was like “hmm, I forgot all about that” and I started watching it again right around the time Rico beat Randy. I can’t remember if that was my first PPV back, but I remember watching that one after hearing a radio interview about it.
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Largely this. The event is largely personality-based and without Conner and the Diaz brothers to keep the UFC fun, it’s being dominated by a bunch of carbon copies of each other. Each fighter is basically the same, same look, same weight, same skillset, same fighting style. It’s like mid-level kickboxing with cross fit guys.
King of the streets!
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No knees & kicks to a grounded opponent, 12-6 elbows, early stoppages, too many weight classes.
Most fights don’t even “end”.
It’s fucking stupid.
I don’t recall a street fight where everyone got together for 8 minutes to “declare” a victor.
I don’t recall fights not happening because someone declared “oh, we’re separate weight classes, too bad”.
There is no “ultimate fighting championship”, there’s a gimmick cage with a gimmick name for a watered down sport with watered down rules.
And pre-fight WWE press conferences are pathetic.
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Love it.
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Does OP have any viewership figures to back up this notion that no one watches anymore? US only numbers would be fine. I’m sure it’s gone up more internationally.
I honestly believe that if Pride rules had been the worldwide standard, MMA would be a substantially bigger sport then it is today.
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I feel that the safety record in Pride and the early UFCs, would eventually of worn down any reservations over the safety of soccer kicks and head stomps.
Ortega has a slick pussy. That’s what the homeboys say, anyway.
O.o
The term is super saturation. Its all watered down anymore.
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Seems more like why “UGers turned off by the UFC now but still watch more than they let on.”
Im actually curious on actual viewership numbers by year to compare. Anyone?
Obviously “nobody watches it” is an exaggeration.
That said… many of us predicted this years ago.
Going “mainstream” was always going to be a double edged sword.
Also doesn’t help that the supposed “best fighter” has failed to finish 7 of 9 fights in the last 9 years (competing against the “new breed”) – and fights about as often as an Olympic event, while blatantly ducking anything that resembles a solid HW division.
The hyper-exaggerated hype for Ronda and Conor certainly didn’t help either.
Fighting is fighting, even when it’s watered down, it’s fun to watch.
But MMA’s best days are clearly behind it.
And yes… It was glorious… Fucking noobs.
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I love how the UFCs Brand over fighter strategy is failing.
UFC 276 reportabley did 400k buys