The MMA Thread: DON'T ASK 4 STREAMS & NO GIFS- Cannonier, Imavov, Reyes, Rosas on NOW

[Vincent Van Goat]

It's been said that Dana and the brothers robbed the new owners blind, legit since like a month or so after the sale haha

It's only been looking worse and worse for the new owners since then

 

[spiderjericho]

Lol. Disney bought Fox. Forgot about that.

They are a’d out.

Stars sell fights not styles. The Spike Era a UFC card bout to come on, let me plink down $60 is passed. They went from the cards being special to diluting it.

Anderson, GSP, Ronda and Connor are gone. They did a poor job of building new stars.

Love the model the NBA and NFL has. Cowboy quarterback been playing pro for two years and they started pushing him and Ezekiel. Lonzo Ball getting burn. Meanwhile DJ and Woodley get no respect.

 

[Beans]

Wonder how awkward those meetings are seeing as Dana still works for them.

 

[spiderjericho]

They wanted the continuity and he was the “face” of the company.

They need to sell the stars, highlights and say the only place to see it is UFC.

 

[mikedalton]

I feel like the push of Conor ruined the ufc honestly

 

[Vincent Van Goat]

I feel like the push of Conor ruined the ufc honestly

How so, if anything they got extremely lucky with conor and he was a large part in why they sustained popularity for as long as they did

I would counter that without conor this downfall happens a lot quicker and they obviously don't get to sell the company for 4 billion

 

[spiderjericho]

The issue was they ONLY focused on Connor.

They should’ve invested in other upcoming stars. The NBA has more than a dozen superstars like Bron, Anthony Davis, James Harden, Kevin Durant, Damian Lilliard, Russell Westbrook, John Wall, etc. Then there’s a tier below that. And now they’re promoting for a new crop of stars to supplant the current (Embiid, Ball, Towns, Simmons, etc).

Dana is supposed to be a Promoter. Yoel, Stipe, Woodley, DJ, TJ, Cody, Max, etc should be bubbling in the mainstream psyche.

 

[Vincent Van Goat]

I agree they've done an atrocious job of marketing their fighters. With that being said, those guys have all had their chance to shine, they've all succeeded in the octagon and gotten push from the UFC and it's still resulted in meager returns. By no means did they receive a Conor type push, but they've had their chances to prove themselves

I don't know if America/the world was/is ready to really embrace the sport like that

 

[dman14]

they messed up by not pushing other guys as well. you can still put conor out there, but the guy fights at most 3x a yr
it's hard when a lot of the fighters focus on fighting and not really being a huge mainstream pop icon

 

[Vincent Van Goat]

Also, the if we're talking about the topic of "Conor ruined the UFC" I believe that is a separate debate than "the UFC hasn't marketed their other fighters sufficiently"

Because the UFC pushed Conor more so than the others, that's what ruined the UFC? I don't buy that

 

[illphillip]

I see both sides. They definitely hyper focused on one guy to the point where any card without him was a dud.

But they had to ride that wave with him while they could because it was profitable.

Problem is, they also created a monster who decided to go box instead of fight in his sport and ain’t been back since.

Came to post this.....

 

[spiderjericho]

If by putting DJ on free Fox cards in the main event is an example of their promotion machine, then yes, they’re giving the paid contractors an opportunity.

But I’d say they’re doing a piss poor job. The guy is the winningest champion in the promotion. His last finish was ridiculous. The guy is an avid Twitch gamer. Highlight his strengths. And put it out there on IG, etc. And the boss shouldn’t be trashing him in interviews.

 

[illphillip]

Conor being Conor, Jones suspension and Ronda getting bodied was the perfect **** storm for them.

 

[spiderjericho]

It should be a lesson. Don’t put your eggs in one basket (s). Keep bubbling stars.

And take the approach Jordan Brand is about to take, reduce the supply to increase the demand.

Anyways, I pray Khabib/Ferguson happens.

 

[dman14]

they really should follow vince mcmahon's strategy in building characters/stars
force them down the viewers throats if you have to. guys like woodley, dj, dc, jj should be household names and stars.
i think they tried with sage by throwing him some easy fighters/wins to show off his skills and knock guys out and build his "streak" but that backfired

 

[Vincent Van Goat]

Dana and the brothers end game influenced everything. They wanted to hype up Ronda and conor as much as possible to entice buyers

Still contend that conor didn't ruin the UFC though. Has more to do with the sport itself not being embraced fully

 

[spiderjericho]

Combat Sport being embraced completely. In this climate, C’mon.

Two risky dink boxers fight. No one cares. It’s savage. Why dey do that?

Cannello/GGG. Sign me up. Even the thots conspiring. Two million PPV buys because of the names.

 

[shogun]

they really should follow vince mcmahon's strategy in building characters/stars
force them down the viewers throats if you have to. guys like woodley, dj, dc, jj should be household names and stars.
i think they tried with sage by throwing him some easy fighters/wins to show off his skills and knock guys out and build his "streak" but that backfired

Even that doesn’t work for wwe anymore, aka roman reigns.

This era is so different from the one 10 years ago. Back then barely anyone talked crap except for tito. Guys like randy, chuck, gsp, rich franklin, fedor, Shogun just had to be great fighters and act like themselves and the fans loved them. All the extra antics weren’t necessary.

 

[equality]

I know this is the MMA thread, but anyone watching the Joshua Parker fight right now?
I got my New Zealand hoodie, cap and flag wrapped around me rooting for Parker

 

[OTG]

I know this is the MMA thread, but anyone watching the Joshua Parker fight right now?
I got my New Zealand hoodie, cap and flag wrapped around me rooting for Parker

**** was a snoozefest.. somehow after the fight they'll still find more reasons for wilder/joshua to avoid each other for at least another year or two i hate hate HATE that **** about boxing.

 

[QU!K]

UFC needs to outsource their marketing, cause theit in house marketing department ain't ****.

Also Dana is an immature idiot. You don't see Adam Silver with personal vendettas against Kevin Durant. You don't see Gary Bettman with personal vendettas against Ovechkin. I think the better league presidents blend into the background and let the stars shine.

UFC needs to restructure their whole ****. Keep it to 1 PPV per month, all killer no filler. 1 fight night per month.

Kill TUF for a few years. Allow people to watch live events with subscriptions. Work out a deal with Netflix.

 

[Vincent Van Goat]

Yeah with the new owners in tow they don't need dana running the company anymore

Only problem is the new owners don't seem to know what the **** they're doing and just expect that Dana knows best

Coker would do wonders man

 

[jayt1202]

I don't think the comparisons to well established leagues like the NBA and NFL are fair. Combat sports are a different beast and we have to remember how young a sport MMA is. I mean look at boxing, it's struggling now with only a handful of guys with marketing ability right now. Plus the whole Canelo thing really hurts what would have been a huge event.

The UFC brass better hope they are able to get a good tv deal if Fox doesn't reup. Outside of ESPN is CBS or NBC a possibility? I know they pay out the a for NFL already so hard to say if they'd risk it on MMA. Especially CBS that already experienced failure with some b/c leagues.

 

[Vincent Van Goat]

No it isn't a good comparison to use other commissioners and equate them to Dana

But now that Dana is only a minimal owner the new owners have no obligation to continue having Dana run the promotion. Unless Dana wrote into his deal that he will always be in power

Otherwise I do agree that it's time to move away from Dana and on to a different kind of operational manager/promoter/president

 

[blackcease]

Coker is currently putting on wack shows in Bellator and failing to secure obvious fights like MVP vs Daley on the England card, I have zero confidence in him anymore. I expected so much more considering his Strikeforce track record.