299 is a BANGER of a card. Damn.

[jeff7b9]

299 is a STACKED card.

I think that they basically decided to tank some of the fight cards in the first quarter of the year to stack 299 and 300 and I gotta say, I dig it.





MAIN CARD

Sean O’Malley vs. Marlon Vera
Dustin Poirier vs. Benoit Saint Denis
Michael Venom Page vs. Kevin Holland
Gilbert Burns vs. Jack Della Maddalena
Petr Yan vs. Song Yadong

TV prelims

Curtis Blaydes vs. Jailton Almeida
Katlyn Chookagian vs. Maycee Barber
Mateusz Gamrot vs. Rafael dos Anjos
Pedro Munhoz vs. Kyler Phillips

Early Prelims

Michel Pereira vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk
Robelis Despaigne vs. Josh Parisian
CJ Vergara vs. Assu Almabayev
Joanne Wood vs. Maryna Moroz



(Personally I would switch bout order of Barber/Chook with the Michel Pereira fight, but that is a very minor nitpicky personal preference. I know the UFC is going to for some reason jam the WMMA in there like it or not, so at least this isnt on the main card, I will take that as a win)

______________________________________

In my opinion this should be the business model (which is pretty close to what we will see from now through UFC 300)


-stack the PPVs, 1x/month.

Every fight on the main card should be top 5 ranked fighters, and almost entirely meaningful matches

*with the exception of fan friendly matchups like Holland vs MVP, or wars with Mike Perry, Chris Lytle, Chris Leben, Wandy type of fighters
- less meaningful filler fights with ranked guys, such As two names coming off losses or past prime stars can headline fight nights


- let Apex cards function like the old Bellator contender series.
Almost like a feeder to the PPV

Basically this would create a tiered feeder system functioning within the UFC, so fans would be less annoyed with sub par matches being forced in between the higher level fights we actually want to see.



Tier System:

Top Tier:

PPV Headliner

PPV CoMain

PPV Maincard / Fight night Headliner

2nd tier:

PPV Prelims

Fight night Prelims

Feeder tier:

DW Contender Series
TUF
Feeder orgs on fightpass

Outside minor league tier

Regional/local MMA
Amateur MMA

 

[FlowchartRog]

The card is much better than UFC 300, almost every fight here is interesting or compelling.

 

[KarateYeah]

Yeah, it's better than 300 on paper fo sho

 

[Megatronlee]

I excited for MVP vs Holland

 

[Vulve]

so much better than 300

 

[Bowel-forged Stool]

No women on the card! Fans rejoice!

 

[Stick upkid]

If they could have swapped our porier/BSD and mvp/holland for Bobby green/jim miller and one of the other less compelling fights, 300 might have been the best card ever

 

[HuskySamoan]

299 is a STACKED card.

I think that they basically decided to tank some of the fight cards in the first quarter of the year to stack 299 and 300 and I gotta say, I dig it.


View attachment 1030831


MAIN CARD

Sean O’Malley vs. Marlon Vera
Dustin Poirier vs. Benoit Saint Denis
Michael Venom Page vs. Kevin Holland
Gilbert Burns vs. Jack Della Maddalena
Petr Yan vs. Song Yadong

TV prelims

Curtis Blaydes vs. Jailton Almeida
Katlyn Chookagian vs. Maycee Barber
Mateusz Gamrot vs. Rafael dos Anjos
Pedro Munhoz vs. Kyler Phillips

Early Prelims

Michel Pereira vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk
Robelis Despaigne vs. Josh Parisian
CJ Vergara vs. Assu Almabayev
Joanne Wood vs. Maryna Moroz



(Personally I would switch bout order of Barber/Chook with the Michel Pereira fight, but that is a very minor nitpicky personal preference. I know the UFC is going to for some reason jam the WMMA in there like it or not, so at least this isnt on the main card, I will take that as a win)

______________________________________

In my opinion this should be the business model (which is pretty close to what we will see from now through UFC 300)


-stack the PPVs, 1x/month.

Every fight on the main card should be top 5 ranked fighters, and almost entirely meaningful matches

*with the exception of fan friendly matchups like Holland vs MVP, or wars with Mike Perry, Chris Lytle, Chris Leben, Wandy type of fighters
- less meaningful filler fights with ranked guys, such As two names coming off losses or past prime stars can headline fight nights


- let Apex cards function like the old Bellator contender series.
Almost like a feeder to the PPV

Basically this would create a tiered feeder system functioning within the UFC, so fans would be less annoyed with sub par matches being forced in between the higher level fights we actually want to see.



Tier System:

Top Tier:

PPV Headliner

PPV CoMain

PPV Maincard / Fight night Headliner

2nd tier:

PPV Prelims

Fight night Prelims

Feeder tier:

DW Contender Series
TUF
Feeder orgs on fightpass

Outside minor league tier

Regional/local MMA
Amateur MMA

One of the best cards ever. While there isn't a huge headliner like Jones vs Cormier, GSP vs Diaz or Anderson vs Sonnen II...The card top to bottom, is just filled with great, high level and meaningful fights.

O'Malley vs Chito Vera II - Honestly one of the worst fights, Vera didn't earn the title shot nor is he elite but it's a rematch and an attempt to get O'Malley over as a star. This matchmaking is pure boxing. Still a solid title fight.

BSD vs Poirier - Well established legend at the end of his prime vs one of the few surging new faces at 155lbs vying for contention. This fight promises to be all violence and answer a lot of questions about BSD.

Holland vs Venum Page - While neither guy will ever be a contender, it's two long, dynamic strikers with big personalities. It promises to be high level and fun.

Burns vs Jack Della - Very similar to the Poirier vs BSD fight, Burns is a guy at the end or probably outside of his prime in the top 10 who's well rounded and well established as a title challenger. Jack is a surging, young prospect and this fight will answer a lot of questions.

Yan vs Yadong - Chinese on Chinese crime right here. Yan is a confusing case, he's on a 3 fight skid but he arguably won 2 of them, vs Aljo in the rematch and vs Omalley the current champion...yet you have to imagine he's feeling the halt in momentum. Yadong is young, explosive and athletic, fast and hits hard, big for the division. Quite a solid matchup vs two top 10 guys.

Blaydes vs Almeida - Almeida is the next big thing at HW and the biggest question is what happens when he can't take someone down? Well Blaydes should serve as an optimal answer to that question. It's rare we get good heavyweight fights and this is one of them.

Gamrot vs Dos Anjos - How this fight isn't on the main card is insane. I feel like RDA is aging, has always struggled vs superior wrestlers and the cut to 155 cannot be easy these days and vs a cardio machine in Gamrot. A former champ vs Gamrot who's this perennial top 10 guy trying to become a contender.

Phillips vs Munhoz - Kyler is dynamic, fluid, athletic and quick but he has the same constant problem...he gasses in every fight, he schooled Yadong yet gassed vs Victory Henry and Paiva to lose fights that he was dominating. Munhoz a top 10 guy who's slide out of his prime is still nothing if not consistent and durable.

Oleksiejczuk vs Pereira - one guys all glitter and the other all grit. Michal is a hard nosed, fast handed puncher who comes forward with violent intentions. Pereira is a showman, a wildman and dynamic. Not sure what implications this fight has but it's a fun one.

One bite, everybody knows the rules. I give this card an 8.8 out of 10.

 

[Flower2dPeople]

The card is much better than UFC 300, almost every fight here is interesting or compelling.

The 3rd tier matches and below could headline a fight night card.

 

[TheGreatReset]

299 and now 300 are both going to be amazing. Both cards stacked.

 

[McGeezle]

Whoever made that pic knows what's up, leaving that shitty women's fight out. Unfortunately the ufc doesn't though, and sticks it in the middle of bangers to ruin the momentum on fight night just like Holly Holm on 300 (and every other ppv)

 

[ipowerslapmywife]

No WMMA? Shit card

 

[civicesi]

I excited for MVP vs Holland

HOlland all day

 

[Fergelmince]

What's funny is the O'malley fight is the headliner and he'll literally bring in about 1000 16yo gamer/stoner PPV buys.

 

[dominion]

finally periera fighting someone dangerous. That mickal dude is a killer.
And that's supposed to be the worst fight on there? Damn!

 

[jeff7b9]

What's funny is the O'malley fight is the headliner and he'll literally bring in about 1000 16yo gamer/stoner PPV buys.

I feel like they are pulling a "fake it till you make it" with O Malley

They stacked the card top to bottom including Poirier who has headlined Million plus PPVs with Conor, plus MVP Holland will generate a lot of buzz...

Then if they DO get good sales numbers, then in the future they will use them to talk about how big of a draw Sean O Malley is, presumably with the hope of hyping him to casuals to eventually make him into a draw.

 

[Blanqa Blanqua]

299 is a STACKED card.

I think that they basically decided to tank some of the fight cards in the first quarter of the year to stack 299 and 300 and I gotta say, I dig it.


View attachment 1030831


MAIN CARD

Sean O’Malley vs. Marlon Vera
Dustin Poirier vs. Benoit Saint Denis
Michael Venom Page vs. Kevin Holland
Gilbert Burns vs. Jack Della Maddalena
Petr Yan vs. Song Yadong

TV prelims

Curtis Blaydes vs. Jailton Almeida
Katlyn Chookagian vs. Maycee Barber
Mateusz Gamrot vs. Rafael dos Anjos
Pedro Munhoz vs. Kyler Phillips

Early Prelims

Michel Pereira vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk
Robelis Despaigne vs. Josh Parisian
CJ Vergara vs. Assu Almabayev
Joanne Wood vs. Maryna Moroz



(Personally I would switch bout order of Barber/Chook with the Michel Pereira fight, but that is a very minor nitpicky personal preference. I know the UFC is going to for some reason jam the WMMA in there like it or not, so at least this isnt on the main card, I will take that as a win)

______________________________________

In my opinion this should be the business model (which is pretty close to what we will see from now through UFC 300)


-stack the PPVs, 1x/month.

Every fight on the main card should be top 5 ranked fighters, and almost entirely meaningful matches

*with the exception of fan friendly matchups like Holland vs MVP, or wars with Mike Perry, Chris Lytle, Chris Leben, Wandy type of fighters
- less meaningful filler fights with ranked guys, such As two names coming off losses or past prime stars can headline fight nights


- let Apex cards function like the old Bellator contender series.
Almost like a feeder to the PPV

Basically this would create a tiered feeder system functioning within the UFC, so fans would be less annoyed with sub par matches being forced in between the higher level fights we actually want to see.



Tier System:

Top Tier:

PPV Headliner

PPV CoMain

PPV Maincard / Fight night Headliner

2nd tier:

PPV Prelims

Fight night Prelims

Feeder tier:

DW Contender Series
TUF
Feeder orgs on fightpass

Outside minor league tier

Regional/local MMA
Amateur MMA

Great card for real. Cannot wait. Wish it was on this weekend.

 

[Fergelmince]

I feel like they are pulling a "fake it till you make it" with O Malley

They stacked the card top to bottom including Poirier who has headlined Million plus PPVs with Conor, plus MVP Holland will generate a lot of buzz...

Then if they DO get good sales numbers, then in the future they will use them to talk about how big of a draw Sean O Malley is, presumably with the hope of hyping him to casuals to eventually make him into a draw.

YES, DEFINITELY.

Also, I think they are betting that the stoner/gamer demo will grow up to buy PPVs in 5-10yrs, and maybe O'malley will be around to reap the benefit, or they can gr00m another fighter like him to capitalize off the new demo they've developed.

 

[jeff7b9]

YES, DEFINITELY.

Also, I think they are betting that the stoner/gamer demo will grow up to buy PPVs in 5-10yrs, and maybe O'malley will be around to reap the benefit, or they can gr00m another fighter like him to capitalize off the new demo they've developed.

Ufc has done a terrible job connecting with new fans born this century and they are going to overcompensate like crazy with OMalley as a guy getting a huge push.

 

[Fergelmince]

Ufc has done a terrible job connecting with new fans born this century and they are going to overcompensate like crazy with OMalley as a guy getting a huge push.

True, I think I saw on here (in the last couple of years) that the average age of the UFC fan is in the early 40's. But is that much different from the big 4 in the United States? That being said, that may indicate why they've worked so hard in international markets like China and elsewhere. I'd argue more of the newer accounts on Sherdog are fans of Russian fighters, for whatever that's worth. Maybe the UFC see's easier market growth in those markets than the younger demos in the US. Given all that, yes, the O'malley-type fan has the highest potential and probably makes the most sense to spend marketing dollars in the US, as you say.