Comments on: The UFC’s Future as a Television Property

By: Accomando

Accomando — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 20:47:03 +0000

(Taylor/Pavlik was a great fight)

No doubt, fight of the year, just awesome.

Something just came to me, the “Texas Hold Em’ shows” hit thier all time low point when it had the lame-ass “Celebrity Poker Challenge” or something like that on Bravo, it was just bad, bad show.

Anywho, I thought I read something somewhere about Mark Cuban kicking around the idea for a celebrity MMA show?

I might be mistaken, but that could spell the end of MMA as we know it if that were ever took place, no matter how obscure the show is.

By: SCOTCHYDOW

SCOTCHYDOW — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 18:22:49 +0000

I always have been, and always will be a fan of MMA. I really miss being a fan of an obscure sport. Now everybody thinks they know something about the sport, and most of them don’t know ****. I used to be a boxing fan, but I can hardly watch it anymore. Aside from a few exceptions (Taylor/Pavlik was a great fight) it is boring to me. I enfoy the big fights the sport is coming out with now, but it seems the popularity is hurting the sport. I would be happy if they slipped back in the shadows, but I would be happier if they started taking care of the fighters and kept the sport pure for the fans.

By: Accomando

Accomando — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 17:48:47 +0000

“…Time to cut back, and start fresh. You had it going, then made a couple of BIG mistakes, but it’s not to late…”

I agree, I think the market is suffering from MMA-overlaod.

UFC is no longer “unique” in the eye of the Public. MMA had its sprint, and it is definitely on the decline.

Seriously, they pushed too much crap out too fast, its starting to remind me of the explosion and drop off in popularity of Texas Hold Em’ poker.

Seriously, a couple of years ago you couldn’t find a channel, (A & E, Travel Channel, ESPN, ESPN 2, BRAVO, Fox Sports Net, ect).. that didn’t show some form of poker, and the same is starting to go for the UFC and MMA overall.

I am beginning to see a downward trend in MMA just like Poker has seen.

MMA has over-saturated the market, and it is losing its luster for sure.

Dana is dumb for not giving into HBO, that could have up-righted the ship.

By: SCOTCHYDOW

SCOTCHYDOW — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 17:13:41 +0000

I think this desision to boost the selling of the product was made when the UFC was going to be the only dog on the block. They (along with everyone else) thought they would have all of the top fighters, and enough stars to pack a years worth of events on 20 channels. Had that been the case, it would have worked. Now that other promotions are taking some huge talent away from the UFC, the “Superbowl” of MMA will never happen, and there is no way the UFC can satisfy all of these obligations with great events like they have built themselves on. Time to cut back, and start fresh. You had it going, then made a couple of BIG mistakes, but it’s not to late.

By: Red

Red — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 15:20:10 +0000

I hope the UFC does get a deal done with ESPN. It would be great to have Rogan come on more often on shows like Sportscenter and give his insight on upcoming fights.

It annoys me so much when the sports anchors on ESPN who don’t know anything about MMA talk about it like they know the sport. Also, what annoys me even more is how they sometimes make fun of the UFC (they don’t flat out make fun of the UFC, but their remarks are not supportive of the UFC and they take jabs at the UFC).

I think the more coverage MMA gets the better the sport will be and the more compensated the fighters will be. Fighters would be able to quit their full time job and train full time. Hopefully this Saturday night, Dana White makes a huge announcement regarding a deal with ESPN.

By: Leland Roling

Leland Roling — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 13:38:45 +0000

HBO is simply a deal that will lock up HBO into airing the UFC and not another promotion. HBO is more of a status deal than anything else. Many people put HBO along with legitimacy in a sport, ie. Boxing on HBO.

I am very skeptical about ESPN now that White has said some stupid stuff in the public eye. ESPN aired a story, basically threw him under a bus, and the UFC lost Randy Couture, one of the ambassadors to the UFC. I just don’t know if ESPN is really ready to come into that market.

By: Joe Osborne

Joe Osborne — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 13:10:16 +0000

It’s obvoius with November’s main event of Bisping vs. Evans that the UFC is simply pushing out to many events. Although, these two are good fighters, there is no way they should be headlining a PPV. The UFC is a great product, but in their case too much much of a great thing can be bad.

Take the Ultimate Fighter reality show for example. When the show started a few years back, it put the UFC back on the map. It helped create some starts that have gone on to become household names. Now in it’s sixth season, it seems like there’s a new one starting every three months, and the format is just getting old. Declining ratings show that the show could be becoming somewhat of a fad. One ‘Ultimate Fighter’ a year would be great, and enough to draw interest and bring viewers back. Not even Survivor and Big Brother push out show’s at this rate.

Bringing the UFC to ESPN would be great. ESPN is mainstream, and the UFC is almost there. However, there’s simply not enough talent to have regular live shows on ESPN, and Spike, plus the PPV’s. If the UFC can come up with some type of format where the shows wouldn’t become watered down, it would be great. But I can’t see that happening, as the talent just isn’t there yet. Exposing casual fans to non ppv worthy fighters seems like a bad move, as it could turn them off of the UFC all together.

With more programming on the horizon, and contract disputes on the way, I just hope the UFC hasn’t become to big for it’s own good.