Potato - Zuffa was weeks from selling the company, if the TUF finale wasn't a success. Lucky for them...and I mean lucky like a mothefucker...that two guys who loved to bleed, like Bonnar and Griffin, made it to the finals and captured the Spike casual audience. So it's almost like Zuffa's success is in spite of Dana, because he didn't want to do TUF at all. My question is...where are all of those casuals now?
Zuffa wouldn't have bought Strikeforce, if they didn't see them as somewhat of a threat. They could just as easy let them go belly up, and signed the guys on contract, if Strikeforce was in as bad of shape as you suggest.
Of course it was luck, Bonnar vs Griffin elevated MMA, Chuck made it mainstream, and Brock took it too the highest it's ever been. Lucks involved in all business, look at Mark Cuban, dudes the luckiest sonnabitch ever.
What's not luck is maintaining and elevating that success. Longevity
Strikeforce was never a threat, they were a B league with a ton of assets. Could they have maximized that success... maybe, but without the PPV industry and UFC brand backing it, they would have neverof been able to
Potato - Zuffa was weeks from selling the company, if the TUF finale wasn't a success. Lucky for them...and I mean lucky like a mothefucker...that two guys who loved to bleed, like Bonnar and Griffin, made it to the finals and captured the Spike casual audience. So it's almost like Zuffa's success is in spite of Dana, because he didn't want to do TUF at all. My question is...where are all of those casuals now?
Zuffa wouldn't have bought Strikeforce, if they didn't see them as somewhat of a threat. They could just as easy let them go belly up, and signed the guys on contract, if Strikeforce was in as bad of shape as you suggest.
Of course it was luck, Bonnar vs Griffin elevated MMA, Chuck made it mainstream, and Brock took it too the highest it's ever been. Lucks involved in all business, look at Mark Cuban, dudes the luckiest sonnabitch ever.
What's not luck is maintaining and elevating that success. Longevity
Strikeforce was never a threat, they were a B league with a ton of assets. Could they have maximized that success... maybe, but without the PPV industry and UFC brand backing it, they would have neverof been able to
they sure were becoming a threat. I remeber all the threads being about the SF GP and barely any about UFC at the time. UFC took notice. Even went and yanked one of the stars out of their tourney and signed him.
If the SF Gran Prix was so big, I don't think they would of sold the company right in the middle of it ;)
They were in serious debt, Showtime wasn't happy (especially after getting swindled by M1,) and they blew the CBS deal.
And on top of all of this, they didn't have PPV. How can you be a threat without PPV?
Honestly, the #1 reason is the random nature of MMA, mixed with fickle fans.
MMA just simply isn't designed for people who want to cheer for one side or another. MMA is much better suited for people who simply want to see fights.
Just look back 5 years. Here is a top 10 list from only 5 years ago.
7 of those guys aren't even relevant today, and one of them is a huge question mark.
NFL and NBA stars have a much longer shelf life. Boxers used to have a much longer shelf life. Heck, WWE stars have a longer shelf life. Throw in the fact most sports fans root for teams that are around forever.
MMA with it's ever changing cast just can't keep the attention of the average sport fan in America.
I actually compare it to the poker boom and bust. Back 6,7,8 years ago, poker had all of these "stars" that were selling books, selling poker sites, getting huge tv ratings, etc. Once people noticed these "stars" rarely win big tournaments, only real fans of poker continued to watch.
I think a lack of real personalities. Everyone comes across as rather mundane and boring. I know the fighting itself is what matters, but you need characters; personalities to come alive. People need to reason to drop $60 on a PPV. You need fighters that people can either truly get behind, or truly disdain and want to see get their ass kicked. They need to properly buildup the fights and find ways to attract the casuals. I think the problem is also the UFC brand taking precedent over the individual fighters. More people probably know Dana White over their HW champion. You need to market these fighters in a way that people would be drawn to them.
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. Every fight on the ppv main cards used to have divisional relevance or fan interest or both. When I would tell people about a card coming up I would be listing the entire line up. Now I find myself saying just the main event.
Expanding interest into other countries is a great idea but only if done without alienating the original fan base. They've signed way too many AA level fighters in order to put on more and more events with one decent fight headlining. I bet Shogun vs OSP and Rockhold vs Bisping being on 179 would've increased the buyrate dramatically. I would've bought it. Instead they build 2 more separate events around those 2 fights and throw minor league level fights in as filler. It fucking sucks and Im really truly saddened by it
They should get rid of fightpass and put everything on youtube along with new and old highlights including finishes. How the fuck do you expect to gain new fans when the best stuff is put under lock and key.
I was always the guy that bought every card no matter what. Id watch the whole event from the prelims to the main event. These days, the cards are so watered down, I refuse to purchase them anymore. I just go to my local bar and watch the 2 or 3 fights I'm interested in. Zuffa is a greedy money hungry machine, they do not listen or care about what their fans have to say. Dana basically says fuck you to the fans, and then wonders why people aren't paying for events anymore.
Fortunately the UFC is a private company so despite all the post of its demise and the legitimate decrease in profits, they're still making oodles of money and flying around in private jets with a house full of cars.
FadeToBlack - 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.
Coker put Strikeforce $22 million in debt. It's one thing to run a "fun" organization like Scott did, but it's another thing too run a smart an efficient company.
Dana put the UFC $43 million in debt before TUF1 final (which he was adamently against, by the way) saved their asses. So what's your point?
Funny you bring up TUF1. For some reason today I thought to myself "Knowing how much trouble the UFC was in financially, and how badly they needed TUF to be a success. Would it come as a surprise if down the road we found out that Bonner and Griffin was a work?"
No, not the outcome, but the way the fight played out stylistically.
When Dana White became more visible and well-known than any of the fighters, UFC was doomed. He apparently thinks fans care about him and his bald head and loud-mouth opinions, but they really don't. The president of the UFC should be behind the scenes and invisible. His public persona contributes absolutely nothing to the sport. All it does is take away from where the focus should be, on the fights and the fighters. But his rich friends bought the UFC and put him in charge, so I guess it's his toy to play with.
TheHawker - When Dana White became more visible and well-known than any of the fighters, UFC was doomed. He apparently thinks fans care about him and his bald head and loud-mouth opinions, but they really don't. The president of the UFC should be behind the scenes and invisible. His public persona contributes absolutely nothing to the sport. All it does is take away from where the focus should be, on the fights and the fighters. But his rich friends bought the UFC and put him in charge, so I guess it's his toy to play with.
Good point. He's actually a big reason why I no longer purchase anything UFC related. People say he's cool as hell in person...and maybe he is. I know he's done some amazing things for people (like paying for the little girls surgery)...but when you tell me to "fuck myself and my dollar, if you don't like it", I listen. When you shit on fighters in public because they don't kiss ass enough, or don't want to sign up for some bullshit deal you're trying to sell...I can't get behind that. These guys work too hard to have to put up with that. When you question the intelligence of fans that have been following this sport for nearly two decades, because they don't want to pay $60 for some watered down card...it's a turn off.
100% agree with having "Failed content delivery mechanisms." as the number one. Almost no one will actually jump across five different viewing platforms to watch one event.
