Personally I think you're vastly underestimating how much streaming companies are willing to splash out on live sports, especially one like the UFC which shits out regular content all year round. I think they're also gonna be helped by the fact there's not really any other big sports rights packages up for grabs this year. Whether that will be enough to get them the frankly ridiculous $1billion a year they're apparently aiming for is a different question.
They are also paid by locations/governments to hold events and bring the UFC over. This means they have zero incentive to put on good cards. Paid up already. Only the Saudis have done this and then told the UFC to fuck off when they were offered a shit fight night card.
The fanbase of the UFC has changed a lot in the last decade. They are selling out every venue with mediocre cards with unheard of fighters. And selling out with continually higher ticket prices. The hipster douches and tiktok fags have invaded the sport. The fanbase basically consists of the same retards and sewer rats that watch Power Slap.
Absolutely correct. This is what is happening, the PPV buys may be bad, but the in person events have been going strong af. The kids who know Sean O Malley but think Pride mean homo, are the people the UFC is targeting. Thats why with O malley there was such a manufactured push. They want the young casuals.
I think you are confusing the reason why we have slop cards. The ESPN/Disney deal is the REASON we have slop. They have X amount of events they have to fulfill for their obligation to ESPN. Thats why we have all these no names, and low level fighters throw in to make up all these cards. When the ufc didnt have an X amount of events per year, they could be more choosey. DWCS was such a great idea because it's a prospect farm for the UFC, but using your own name, so you dont boost any competition. (He came from DWCS not from ONE Chamionship). If you notice so many mid level fighters are coming out of DWCS because they just need more and more fighters. They are also starting to cut fighters from the roster who just dont have an entertaining style. I think that's a sign they are trying to make slop cards a bit better to watch.
Influx of Covid-19 fanbase who had nothing else to watch. Got accustomed to the low level of cards and cards being held at the Apex, which the UFC quickly realised they could do to fulfill their obligations to ESPN at a fraction of the cost, which is why we still get them instead of the pre-Covid international cards/cards in weird places in the US that we got. TKO formation with WWE has only made it more corporate. There was one wanker (Mark Shapiro iirc) who’s complaining about cost of putting on stadium cards - wants to return back to more Apex events.
They also have a minimum number of championship bouts and PPV events as well. Hence the reliance on interim titles or the BMF belt or WMMA title fights being the main or co-main. The HW belt situation with Jones and Aspinall just shows how unprofessional the UFC is compared to most other sport promotions. They are basically like the WWE in that they are more of an entertainment show than an actual legitimate sport at this point.
hmm almost like he started as a kickboxer. Not every dagi is a grappler bro (0 subs).
I don't even pay for the shit and I still feel like I'm getting robbed most of the time.
ESPN and Disney probably lost money on the UFC deal. How many people do you know who actually pay for ESPN+ and PPVs all year round? ESPN supposedly gives the UFC a guaranteed buy rate of 500K for each PPV and then only makes money after that. Meaning they probably have lost money on all but a handful of PPV events.
I'd pay for a (reasonably priced) monthly subscription including PPVs ala the WWE network(now Netflix), provided it wasn't almost as spotty or worse than pirate streams. From what I've heard ESPN+ sucks, and I haven't used Netflix in years. Preferably they'd stop spreading talent across shitty fight nights, but I dont expect that cat to go back in the bag.
