“I hate to disappoint everybody. We didn’t get it done in time for this.”
Second verse, same as the first.
Yesterday the UFC held it’s ‘The Time is Now’ press conference from their home-base of Las Vegas, Nevada. Along with releasing their full 2015 schedule, the company promised a major announcement. The quote above is UFC President Dana White’s response when asked about that announcement in the opening question of the evening.
This latest last-minute disappointment was perhaps the most fitting way to end a year filled with them. While 2012 was thought to be the height of the injury plague, 2014 was worse. This year the injury bug developed a certain affinity for the taste of main eventers and top contenders.
This constant stream of injuries is what provided for the superstar-caliber dais of fighters present at the event. And sure, the early-2015 lineup looks stacked, but that’s more a result of 2014’s bad luck than any planning on the UFC’s part.
Of the seven matchups presented at the event, two were bouts originally scheduled for 2014. Both the Jon Jones/Daniel Cormier and Chris Weidman/Vitor Belfort had to be rescheduled due to injury, the latter multiple times.
Furthermore, women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is coming off of multiple injuries and top contender Cat Zingano is one bout removed from a year-plus-long layoff. These women have something in common with future opponents Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz, as both men spent 2014 on the shelf due to an injury and sabbatical, respectively. Top light-heavyweight contender Anthony Johnson also spent the latter half of this year on the sidelines dealing with domestic violence allegations.
In fact, the Conor McGregor/Dennis Siver and Lyoto Machida/CB Dolloway bouts were the only ones represented at the event that haven’t encountered any road blocks (yet).
This doesn’t even take into account the fact that champions Anthony Pettis and Cain Velasquez will both have well over a year between title defenses.
Injuries are bad enough on their own, but they were further exasperated by the UFC’s quest for “World F—ing Domination.” Oversaturation has plagued mixed martial arts this past year, but with 45 events scheduled for 2015 there seems to be no end in sight. 13 of these events will be on pay-per-view and roughly half will be overseas.
One would hope that the UFC would’ve learned from their failings in 2014, but alas, that doesn’t seem to be case. Injuries are currently an inevitability (for now), but watered-down cards and lack of suitable replacement fighters are now. After one of the worst years in company history, the ‘The Time Is Now’ event goes to show that UFC brass are sticking to the same bull-headed approach that got them here in the first place. What brought you to the dance and all that.
Whether they’re eventually able to turn things around remains to be seen, but hey, things can only go up from here, right? Right?
Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on Twitter – @LWOSCarlucci. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter –@LastWordOnSport – and “liking” our Facebook page.
For the latest sports injury news, check out our friends at Sports Injury Alert.
For more great MMA interviews with the biggest fight stars on the planet, remember to check out Hammer MMA Radio on 93.3 CFMU or find their latest episodes on LWOS. Hammer Radio features interviews from some of the industry’s biggest stars. You can find the latest on the Hammer @SteveJeffery.
