We have champions that sit on the shelf for months if not years on end and an endless string of fights that have no clear consequence in the title picture. The market is over saturated and if the fights have no real impact on who gets a title shot or not people just kind of tune it out.
orcus - Pretty much every event has maybe one fight that makes me want to see it. And one fight on a 3-hour event is not enough to make me spend $60 or even just to devote that chunk of time on the weekend to watching. Usually, at this point, I've never even heard of anyone else on the card. Obviously, that's on me, but that's how it is.This is it for me too. I remember yelling at roommates to hurry their shit up because there would be 2 can't miss fights on the prelims along with ppv fight cards where 90% of the fights had relevance and hype.
elgringo - Your point about League of Legends being bigger doesn't mean much. League of Legends is more popular than just about any sport or activity in the world.
Weird. I never even heard of it.
Spot on cre
weak cards after weak cards after weak card. Stacked cards that turn out to be boring as fuck.
We used to buy all the ppvs, never now. Friends aren't interested, I'm no willing to pay that kind of money, which has a 50% chance of being a snoozefest.
There really isnt anything at all similar between league and the ufc. League of legends is free and fun to play, and its free to watch, always. Not to mention how many numbers their championship games pull from Korean audiences. They have their own video game tv channels there . Theres a reason why the just hosted the world championship tournament in korea. The only thing you pay for in league is in game content, and only if you want to, but absolutely don't need to.
The problem is star power, i remember when people would know chuck liddell, gsp, anderson, maybe matt hughes. Champs sitting on shelves and getting hurt all the time makes it almost impossible for their names to become more common with the non fanatic croud. The ufc wants to be a "monday night football" type of thing, and it never will be. If there could be a two hour event every saturday that just pumped out maybe 5 fights or so i would be ecstatic. But when you have such an enormous roster and fighters only fight every three months at BEST its too much for a less than extremely enthusiastic fan to keep track of, and lose interest.
Things like fighter pay, dana being a jerk at times, and the different outlets to view events only really matter with the kind of mma dorks that would pay for an app to talk about mma (myself included obviously) 
i think there are too many whiny fans that are pushing the hardcore fans away. Look at this board for an example. How many threads are there people bitching about a little thing about a fight or stupid shit that doesnt even matter. At one point, great fights were important. Now it has to be a star fighting another star otherwise "UFC is just ripping us off".
Im just against Dana fraternizing with Conor in the way he has publicly.
It creates a vibe of impropriety and outright favoritism not present in other sports.
If you want to be a boxing promoter and cozy up with a fighter it makes sense.
When you run the sanctioning body it looks bad.
Again, I'd love to see Roger Goodell making it rain with Johnny Manziel or doing a keg stand as Gronk holds his feet but you won't see that.
It's understood that the league doesn't exactly hate the Denver Broncos for being so popular but you don't see Goodell posing for selfies with Peyton Manning.
Dennis Siver is clearly the job boy in Boston and it's like Terry Gibbs getting ready to take on The Ultimate Warrior.
That type of Vince McMahon stuff works because the fights are fixed.
UFC is entertainment but it's still sport and the bouts aren't fixed so this type of fraternization only blurs that line and creates an image where a casual fan sees it as WWE and that Conor is booked to win in Boston rather than seeing it as a fight with a genuine sporting chance.
Those types of selfies are part of why it's not taken seriously and why being more professional is the ticket to competing in the marketplace with professional entities such as the NFL.
kungfugrip - i think there are too many whiny fans that are pushing the hardcore fans away. Look at this board for an example. How many threads are there people bitching about a little thing about a fight or stupid shit that doesnt even matter. At one point, great fights were important. Now it has to be a star fighting another star otherwise "UFC is just ripping us off".
Yeah, we're the problem...that's it.
M Theory -orcus - Pretty much every event has maybe one fight that makes me want to see it. And one fight on a 3-hour event is not enough to make me spend $60 or even just to devote that chunk of time on the weekend to watching. Usually, at this point, I've never even heard of anyone else on the card. Obviously, that's on me, but that's how it is.This is it for me too. I remember yelling at roommates to hurry their shit up because there would be 2 can't miss fights on the prelims along with ppv fight cards where 90% of the fights had relevance and hype.
^This
Ok CRE, you got me interested in your point of view. So stop being lazy, and type out the rest of your 15 reasons please.
Cheers.
Ps: Not getting paid in MMA eez normal mang.
Is it possible that Zuffa is doing all of this on purpose to profit in some other non-obvious way? Like the plot of the Producers where they made a play intended to lose money so they could take a tax write-off.
I have a hard time believing that they've been so stupid for so long.
The UFC worked well for a period of time because it was pretty much the antithesis of boxing.
Unfortunately, now we're seeing a rich, loudmouth promotor with no regard for the fans and fighters; a worthless ranking system that makes no sense; fight cards in which only the headliner matters; high percentage of decision victories; corrupt judging; terrible match-making; infrequent title fights... The list goes on.
The UFC does everything it can to try and promote 'stand and bang' fighting (cutting decent wrestlers from the roster, not signing ground specialists etc).
What was once a sport that highlighted boxing's flaws and provided a fresh, exciting alternative, has now become boxing 2.1.
We all know how this will end.
I agree with almost everything CRE posted. The UFC does such a shitty job taking an awesome product (cage fights) and basically cutting the balls off of it and making it the most boring shit possible. They are so corporate-minded (especially with their copyrighted content and threats to those who - heaven forbid - share how awesome the sport is without "consent") they just shoot themselves in the foot. We need fresh blood. Hopefully Lorenzo sells this fucking thing to someone who has an imagination, someone like Scott Coker who seems to think like a fight fan. These guys are just running a business with a passion for the sport of a wooden log.
Furthermore, this sport has been getting watered down (I know, we hear this every day on the UG). But it cannot be said enough how AWFUL an idea it was to dilute the quality of the product (PPVs) yet still keep the same price tag on an obviously inferior product than what we were previously acclimated to. They got this bug up their ass about international expansion that they actually turned their fight cards into boxing. One great fight and a bunch of shit, spread so thin you can barely taste the flavor of their product. It's the most bland, boring presentation of what used to be an exciting, action-packed sport. Back when Chuck, Randy et al were on top, the cards had sizzle. The UFC had buzz.
Good on you CRE
Ohhh shut up you
They should have never gotten rid of Zuffa Records and all the awesome generic NuMetal
Daddy Rorny Michael - Is it possible that Zuffa is doing all of this on purpose to profit in some other non-obvious way? Like the plot of the Producers where they made a play intended to lose money so they could take a tax write-off.
I have a hard time believing that they've been so stupid for so long.
IIRC, in The Producers they oversold shares in the play (well over 100%), thinking it would lose money so there wouldn't be any profits to distribute.
Maybe the Fertitta's had to do the same thing when their casino empire went bankrupt. They could have taken on new investors in Zuffa and then funneled that money back into their casino business, and so now they have to make sure UFC tanks or else they'll have investors representing 400% of Zuffa's equity expecting their profit distributions...
I don't think the cards are as diluted as people say.
But paying $60 to watch a broadcasted sporting event is ridiculous, plus the extra cost of FightPass.
It has become too expensive to follow the sport.