The End of the UFC?

[PocketAces]

According to a story in mmaweekly.com, the PPV buy rates for the UFC have been dismal and could lead to the UFC going belly up. Click on the link below, then click on "Daily News", then click on "Wednesday." The excerpt that follows is in a column entitled "LIDDELL IN GRAND PRIX, WHO'S NEXT?"

http://www.mmaweekly.com/

[snip]

Former UFC Broadcaster Jeff Osborne came on MMAWeekly Radio with some interesting thoughts about the past few pay per views from the UFC.

Osborne has some connections with the cable industry and reported that UFC 42 which was headlined by Matt Hughes vs Sean Sherk drew just over 34,000 buys according to Osborne.

Jeff said that the cable industry source "believes the UFC is done" and "the end could come to a close maybe by the end of the year". Osborne went on to say that only 6,000 tickets were sold at UFC 43 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas and just over 9,000 fans were in the building. Osborne said he felt the sport is at a "fatal stage" and he hopes it can survive. He believes without a television deal the sport is in serious jeopardy.

[MrPoopy]

I'd rather watch Pride anyhow.

[Tom Yum]

Why is the UFC drawing such few buys?

You're guess is as good as mine, but I think there are 2 reasons.

First being that people have less disposable income today compared to the hay days in the 90s because of a weaker economy. Special event subscriptions are probably dependent on the general economy (sponsors,advertising have smaller budgets) and disposable income (households, bars etc. have tighter wallets).

Second, UFCs happen so frequently and the no. of fighters grow so quick that the non-MA public can't keep up with who is who in the MMA world. With tighter rules and competent fighters, you won't see thai boxers like Orlando Wiet get a non-stop skip knee on some ninjitsu guys head, draw blood, kick out his teeth and knock the guy unconscious. I think the no-contest, blood lust appetites are what drew people into the UFC in the first place.

The Japanese NHB buyers watch Pride and K-1 as spectator sports with an appreciation for technique - funny how an auditorium of 50,000 Japanese are dead silent during a bout and cheer in sync when the fighters get a clean takedown, pull off a reversal or land a solid thai kick.

Now that it has become a competitve sport, it takes a fine understanding of grappling/striking, which non-MA viewers can't appreciate. So their appetite for NHB sinks.

What do you guys think?

[JaredExtreme]

Tom is correct. I think the main reason why they have lost their appeal is because they happen so frequently. I used to keep track of the main events and who was champion, but now I really don't care.

Also, something else to consider is the homogenious stye of fighting that has emerged. Everyone does BJJ/Wrestling/Boxing/Muay Thai now. I think it wold much more interesting if they could go back to the old days and find some traditional martial artists who still believe their one style is best.

So basically if they could reduce the frequency of their ppv's and make the fights more interesting, they might be able to save the UFC.

[Tom Yum]

How about a stand up MMA format with limited grappling? That might draw some fighters out of the woodwork. You want traditionalists who will fight in a format that will favor their style - scoring goes to clean kicks (from legs to head), punches, getting the clinch, striking from the clinch and getting a takedown. Once the takedown is awarded, fighters stand up again. Is it totally realistsic - NO, but if you score higher for a harder takedown it would be cool to watch and maybe catch the eye of a non MMA viewer.

For example a Kyokushin Karate champ vs. a silat master, a real TKD fighter from Korea vs. a well known pro-boxer, some Chinese gong-fu grand master vs. an olympic judoka, jkd instructor vs. Tank etc.

We still haven't seen real style vs. style events - in the old UFCs TKD guys would throw haymakers. Competitors must use strict technique; get Manson Gibson in there - he has competed in Thailand with his flashy spin kicks and has won by KO!

We need some folks to rock the UFC world with their strict fighting style and ability regardless of style.

[Nick]

...

That'll be hard, though, since everybody wants to win.

Later...

[BJJ_White_Boy]

Maybe it's because in the eye's of the common man, it's gone "soft". UFC used to be constant hitting and blood and all that good stuff the common man really likes. Most people don't care that one guy has better technique and stuff like that. Used to be a street brawl, and that was entertaining. Now they have more rules, gloves, and all that stuff. Just my opinion, I happen to still like UFC.

[Tom Yum]

I don't think we've seen the best in style vs. style NHB. Too many karate BB throwing haymakers...

[Toudiyama[NL]]

I personally think UFC lacks the sportiveness of Pride, especialy when I hear one of the commentators say that he doesn't like the gesture of touching eachothers glove just before starting to fight
Also the style versus style doesn't seem to work in individual fights because fighters have adapted their style
Do for instance a team of karatekas against a team of Silat fighters and you might get a better impression of which style works best against a certain other style