UFC was losing money like crazy. PPV sales were terrible.
UFC only did 5 shows that year, each show only had 7-8 fights.
The big fight for the year was Chuck vs Tito and 11k people watched it live, the gate barely cracked $1M and it only sold 110k PPV’s.
GSP, Serra, Genki Sudo, Nick Diaz, Karo etc… were “prelim fighters” that year.
Even bringing Shamrock and Kimo back to headline only got the promotion 110k PPV sales and the gate didn’t even break $1M.
So UFC held around 40 fights that year.
In 2024 alone UFC has already held around 130 fights in the 1st quarter of the year.
So in 20 years UFC went from holding 40 to around 550 fights a year.on their standard cards and they do another 50 fights a year via the Contender Series.
So what you are saying is Penn who went the distance with Machida, beat Hughes in the 1st and some say should have beat GSP in their first fight would be unable to beat Dan Hooker, Dariush, Turner, Bryce Mitchell and Calvin Kattar.
That is a Penn who really didn’t lose a LW fight for almost a decade.
There are some great talent pools and exciting fights for sure but lets not get crazy with the “so and so wouldn’t scratch the top 10” talk.
Obviously its an apples to oranges comparison because of how much more UFC there is these days. 5 cards a year is nowhere near enough, but the average level of entertainment value in 2004, and the general vibe and atmosphere of events > today.
The sweet spot was 2008-2011 when it was 20-27 cards a year.
Only the UFC themselves should care about numbers. All I care about is entertainment and quality of fights.
Yesterday was a UFC apparently. I didn’t even know about it. It’s quantity over quality now, with watered down events.
Check the depth of talent at each division. There are barely any heavyweights.
Probably even less people watched this fight. Yet, it’s a classic.
Modern MMA is also boring. All styles keep each other at the basics. Can’t kickbox at an advanced level because you’ll be taken down. Can’t grapple at an advanced level because you’ll get pounded out. Can’t wrestle at advanced level cause you’ll get submitted or knocked out.
You lost your right to speak on any topic in a rational manner with your obvious bias and delusion with BJ Penn. He had a few very impressive fights but would get beaten handily in today’s talent pool.
