I love MMA. I love the UFC and what they have done for the sport of MMA, especially over the last few years. They have taken MMA from the laughing stock of the sports world to being legitimate and mainstream. This being said, over the last few months I have begun to find myself a little less energized at the prospect of an event, and almost somewhat relieved when a weekend (such as this one just passed) comes and there is nothing scheduled. With an event for fifteen out of the last twenty weeks, this fan is starting to feel a certain sense of UFC overload. The real question that stems from this is: Is the UFC over-saturing the market?
Let’s look back to 2009. The UFC was really starting its break into the mainstream. The hardcore fans had stuck with the sport through its transition from the TUF years, and new fans had joined the MMA/UFC collective through natural osmosis. In response to the growing fan base, the UFC brass decided that one pay-per-view event a month was warranted, to not only satiate the hunger from the growing fan base, but also to help continue to build the sport. Event cards were stacked with premium fights (i.e. St. Pierre v. Penn II, Lesnar v. Mir II). Every so often we would be treated to a free event on Spike, just to help the sport maintain some momentum amongst the masses. There was anticipation before every event.
Fast forward to 2012, and with a month-and-a-half in the bag we’ve been treated to an event almost every weekend thus far. Sounds great, right? Not-so-much…
The formula is this: draw in regular lay-people to the pay-per-view events with a better than below-average line-up for FOX/Fuel/FX events. However, with approximately three events every month of the year, can the cards really stay that fresh?
Let’s get something straight – the UFC is not the NFL. Having almost one event a weekend is too much; especially when on more than half of those events you’re asking people to put out fifty-dollars to watch. The sport doesn’t have that level of popularity or presence yet that it can afford to frustrate and alienate fans with too many events – or give them too many lacklustre events. A less than exciting event similar to “Evans v. Davis” (from a few weeks ago) can slip by every so often with forgiveness – but, too many of these events in a row, and those new fans that you’re trying to draw in to the PPVs will dismiss you altogether. All you’ll have a left is a mass of people saying: “UFC? Yeah, I watched that for a little while… it was pretty boring, think I’ll pass”.
The UFCs response has been to integrate more weight-classes; a good idea in principle, but the problem is the lack of familiarity with each weight class. It took close to a decade to build up the lightweight to heavyweight divisions and the personalities within each of those weight classes – adding in featherweight, bantamweight and flyweight will take at least as long. It’s still a hard sell to fans to get them to buy in to headliners with Aldo, there’s apathy towards Cruz, and who even knows what the plan is for flyweight (I think I heard a rumour of a tournament).
So far in 2012 the results have been positive. Most of the more recent events have been great, and there has been buzz growing. The goal is a sustained a level of interest, and not a flash in the pan – can the UFC maintain this momentum? I am not going to mention the WWE, but I think some of the parallels between the two organizations are evident (and where’s the WWE now?)
Only time will tell if there is defection and/or an over-saturated lack of interest in the sport. I just hope that in five years I am not writing about the “Rise and Fall of the UFC”.
… and that is the last word.
