Media Demetrious Johnson: "Flyweights Should NEVER Main Event" At UFC

[HerpDerp]

He is completely right, like usual. Hard for casual fans to get invested in a division filled with title contenders that most of them have never even heard of before.

There's just no proper divisional context of the overall skill level and pecking order, and it's really hard to gauge a fighter's previous quality of opposition by glancing at records, cause everybody is chronically stuck fighting "nobodies" ad infinitum. This also results in the champion inevitably getting dubbed as a can crusher.

 

[El Panteron]

Boxing fans have gone through severe psychological abuse for decades which has conditioned them to treat literal midgets seriously and call them 'P4P kings'. People are on this very forum acting like a 5'4 "Tank" is the baddest man on the planet.

While we can all respect his skills, I would rather scrub my balls with a porcupine than watch a WW+ Floyd Mayweather fight replay and yet the whole world tuned in for it.

If boxers aren't incredibly defensive and boring, then particularly American boxing fans aren't interested because of how the media gaslights them. Who needs KOs when you can watch a dwarf hug and cheat all fight?

MMA fans have gone through their own trauma that causes their own forms of retardation, but aren't quite as far down the road of insanity as boxing fans when it comes to paying to watch midget fights. Yet.

Don't worry brother, the most important thing is how you use it.

 

[thelovacluka]

 

[theincognito]

I said it in a post right above yours, the only 2 i see if they can get to the title possibly being a "star" at flyweight is Muhammad Mokaev(Undefeated from England/Muslim) and Manel Kape(Portugal/Talks Shit) that make people want to watch.

Mokaev doesn't have it at all. He's fighting on Apex cards. England nor Muslims care about him. They both have bigger, better options (Aspinall, Leon, Islam, Khamzat, etc).

Erceg would have been decent (Australia sells out no matter what so it would have looked good for the division to have him fighting there).

Other than that, 125 is only going to have a star if a Mexican or Asian champ emerges. Taira is on the rise so we'll see if he can be it.

 

[Black9]

Mokaev doesn't have it at all. He's fighting on Apex cards. England nor Muslims care about him. They both have bigger, better options (Aspinall, Leon, Islam, Khamzat, etc).

Erceg would have been decent (Australia sells out no matter what so it would have looked good for the division to have him fighting there).

Other than that, 125 is only going to have a star if a Mexican or Asian champ emerges. Taira is on the rise so we'll see if he can be it.

The crowd was cheering pretty hard for Mokaev in England when he fought there even on the prelims.

I think Manel Kape is another one, he brings Portugal and the talking skills to make it interesting.

 

[Adamant]

He says its mainly cause they never promote it and to just make it co-main.

Is there any flyweight main event they can make that be interesting?

Flyweight and WMMA. Keep that shit out of the main event.

 

[HHJ]

There's just been zero star power at FLW. Pacquiao is the size of a modern FLW and he was one of the biggest stars in boxing. I don't buy that "too small to care" stuff. Maybe the average FLW will never get the same buzz as the average higher weight but a star is a star no matter what.

Manny was extremely exciting and also had a personality that worked as the perfect foil for those who hated Mayweather. So there you had a story brewing even though the fight didn't happen when it should have

 

[ticho123]

Perhaps it's that they're not promoting it enough as DJ suggests (despite what the clickbait headline is making it seem like he's saying) or it's just that the division is very weak. Considering two of the UFC's largest stars in recent times has been a featherweight and a woman I don't really buy that casuals could never care about flyweights though.

For me personally they're a bit on the small side, technical as hell but almost too fast and with not enough pop in their punches. Really enjoy DJ as a fighter but if he was a welterweight he might have been my favorite of all time.

 

[chinarice]

It has nothin to do with shit talking. GSP was not a shit talker and sold PPV's. Alex is not a shit talker and sells PPV's. It's the fact that FLW is not a popular weight class in MMA outside of Asia.

Canada supports their stars and we had 1 so we went all in.

It's exactly what I said. Why was Conor popular? He looked like holocaust survivor at 145 and was the most popular ever.... why was that? You know it was his shit talking that he just needed to back up then he was off to the races.

Shit talking resonates with the average fan. If you don't fall into this category, so be it but it's a long time proven fact that this is what draws people

 

[Darkavius]

Flyweights go from #1 contender fights on the prelims, to main event spots in a UFC title fight.

The division is treated like a prelim division by the promotion.
You're fighting for the title, or near the bottom of the card.

Fans have been conditioned. They know they're getting fights that would be a prelim bout, if it wasn't for the gold belt with a ufc logo.

Before fighting for the title, Alex Perez was fighting on the EARLY prelim. Then we're supposed to take his next bout as meaningful? he's a champion level fighter?
The UFC doesn't even pretend they're special, or lie to us. 125 is treated like the step-child division.

You can go back and see a lot of the #1 contender fights for the 125 title. Very few of them are on PPV main cards. They're prelims, or at best, opening Fight Night cards.

So after reading this I am wondering should all potential #1 contender bouts be a main event of a fight night card or a co-main event in a PPV unless it's stacked crazy like UFC 300? This way FLW's get treated better and get better promotion.

 

[CatchtheseHands]

Canada supports their stars and we had 1 so we went all in.

It's exactly what I said. Why was Conor popular? He looked like holocaust survivor at 145 and was the most popular ever.... why was that? You know it was his shit talking that he just needed to back up then he was off to the races.

Shit talking resonates with the average fan. If you don't fall into this category, so be it but it's a long time proven fact that this is what draws people

I'm not saying that shit talking doesn't sell and bring people in. You are 100% right. People love that shit but my point is just that shit talking isn't always necessary for someone to be a draw as long as they're exciting to watch. Another thing is that it's not just shit talking that makes guys like Conor a draw, it's their charisma. Fighters shit talking with no charisma mostly comes off as cringe and falls flat. Anyhow, I think it's going to take more than a charismatic shit talker to fix the FLW division. I think what they need as well is a deeper division that can make for more exciting fights that aren't the same guys re-matching over and over again. Like I can't imagine people were rushing out to buy another PPV of Moreno vs Figgy for the 4th time or whatever.

 

[HatKick]

Wouldn't mind Flyweight for main event if the division had great talent. Naoya Inoue's fights feel like historic events and that guy is tiny. I like Pantoja, Royval and Moreno but they don't bring that level of excitement.

 

[ComeChooDaddy]

Thank God we have guys like Pantojdog. That fucker just bites down and keeps coming forward.