DFW and the UFC talk have mentioned countless time they think they can be on the NFL, MLB, NBA (etc) level....
they won't be, because...
1. Trying to manipulate, intimidate, control the media.... Banning a media member for breaking a relevant story.... don't ban a media member because they did their job, you want the media there to give you the exposure that has made you billions, but don't want them to fully do their job.... banning someone and effectively removing a large part of their lively hood is nothing more than a tactic to intimidate the rest of the media members into being easily manipulated.... you didn't do your job by keeping the story under wraps and now you are taking it out on someone else who did do their job
2. discouraging a union - EVERY major sports league has a players union. I guarantee if the UFC didn't have some hand in intimidating fighters out of a union, there would be one
3. NO guaranteed money - Even the NFL has rules around when and how a player can be cut and most players have some sort of guaranteed money (i.e. if you are on a roster at the beginning of the season, that seasons salary becomes fully guaranteed). Most other leagues have fully guaranteed contracts. This will eventually hurt the UFC as other sizable leagues like Bellator are offering this to fighters...
4. The uniforming policy - While they claim the NFL, MLB, NBA (etc) players have to adhere to the same thing, they don't.... every other league allows their players to use their preference in shoes and equipment..... Bisping wasn't even allowed to carry out a British flag at 199 because it conflicted with the "uniform policy"...
The UFC is becoming the best place to fight for ONLY the top few guys/ladies
Stupid to compare the UFC to any of these leagues when they're valued as much as 1 out of the 30 teams or so in each league. They will never be on the level of any of them. 
MillhouseMMA - Stupid to compare the UFC to any of these leagues when they're valued as much as 1 out of the 30 teams or so in each league. They will never be on the level of any of them.
the post is why the UFC won't get to that level, even though they constantly talk about wanting to be there
UFC (mma in general) will be lucky to be around in 30 years.
With the way society is headed it's pretty clear
I won't even get started on brain/health reasons.
UFC will never ever be on mlb, NFL,nba, or nhl level.
i dont understand why people point to the nfl/nba etc as the model of how to do things...dont most of those clubs lose money?
why not try to be better than the nfl/nba?