How Big Will The UFC Be in 5 years with ESPN now Behind it?

The brand ufc cant get much bigger imo.. i mean it can but ultimately ppl arent fans of the nfl or the nba they are fans of teams and players
Mma needs more stars.. who arent just popular but elite level. Ufc at the moment is the only oeganization big enough to create such stars. But the true future of the sport depends in multi oeganization champs. Cross promotion fights etc. Ufc isnt willing to do this so itll peak and when their stars fade.. It will fall and rise again.. but never transcend boxing no boxing fan cares about wba wbo ibf ibo wbc.. they are about the big names.
 
Are they going to be on the Ocho next to MLS, logging cutting championships, and old Magnus Bet Magnusson clips?

Fight sports are driven by stars. So the Ufc will grow as the stars grow. Ufcs problem is they can't market for shit.

Take Stipe he's an American Midwest wet dream. Firefighter, ko artist, wrestler, but he's not marketed at all.
 
It will remain the same. It's always going to have a certain niche

So many people do not like to see people intentionally hurt each other.
 
same as it is now

dying
 
All their popular personalities with the exception of Steven A Smith are in Fox now.
Ya they all on Fox and who’s watching them lol their numbers are terrible fox threw crazy money towards them and no one watches them
 
I don't think ESPN will make much difference. If you like watching UFC/MMA you will watch it no matter what channel it's on. I once swithched from DIRECTV to DISH just because one dropped the channel the WEC was on!

true dedication to mma fandom
 
You gotta tip your hat to the Fertittas...

First off they built an amazing org, then sold it for astronomical profit with impeccable timing then got out and left WME with the bill.
 
You gotta tip your hat to the Fertittas...

First off they built an amazing org, then sold it for astronomical profit with impeccable timing then got out and left WME with the bill.

They sure did. Insane profit and sold at just the right time.
 
I don't think ESPN will make much difference. If you like watching UFC/MMA you will watch it no matter what channel it's on. I once swithched from DIRECTV to DISH just because one dropped the channel the WEC was on!
When I have gotten or switched cable the first thing I check is whatever station is carrying UFC other MMA.

Back in the day my cable package had to have Spike, then FS1, and Axis for Bas and that other dude's weekly MMA show and tachi palace fights etc.

Wife checks for HGTV, I check for MMA.

I'm probably switching to no cable soon and just streaming, so I assume I could get espn streaming and be fine (and maybe fightpass which I recently canceled and don't miss...).

Does anybody have experience streaming UFC through Kodi?
 
I think it’s only good for the sport to gain more fans... espn is in pretty much every household not everyone knows where fs1 is... boxing on ESPN has done some solid ratings so I think ESPN will be able to market better to the mass bout fights better than FS1 did
 
You gotta tip your hat to the Fertittas...

First off they built an amazing org, then sold it for astronomical profit with impeccable timing then got out and left WME with the bill.

lol
UFC is worth more now than it was at the time of the sale
What a silly post
It will be worth $6b in 2019
 
didn't you hear the ufc is dying?

seriously tho i think mma was at its peak a few years ago and i dont think espn will change the ufc's popularity that much. not with its current model anyway.
They will need stars or it stays the same or declines from too many events nobody cares about.
 
Who knows?
you cannot predict things like that

But ESPN will promote/cover UFC a lot more than Fox, so it is good in that regard.
I hope they can build some stars. and with 30 cards a year on ESPN I hope we don't end up with a bunch of UFC Chile or UFC London fight night type cards
 
We used to worry in the 90s that UFC was getting shut down... but now, no matter how much money they lose, they will always be around.. so fuck ufc's popularity. Everyone's just bitching about money anyway. Let this go underground again, fine with me.
 
didn't you hear the ufc is dying?

seriously tho i think mma was at its peak a few years ago and i dont think espn will change the ufc's popularity that much. not with its current model anyway.

I agree, Conor and Ronda have been the biggest stars they've had, if they didn't get non MMA fans interested, I don't think there's much else that will get the sport new fans really, TV channel aside.
 
We used to worry in the 90s that UFC was getting shut down... but now, no matter how much money they lose, they will always be around.. so fuck ufc's popularity. Everyone's just bitching about money anyway. Let this go underground again, fine with me.

Lose?
They make more than ever now & haven't lost money since 2004
 
Lose?
They make more than ever now & haven't lost money since 2004
I know Frankie... I meant "If'. You have to admit though, there aren't any superstars or million ppv buys in the near future though..
 
I know Frankie... I meant "If'. You have to admit though, there aren't any superstars or million ppv buys in the near future though..

They don't need any
They are over a $200m+ profit company (a year) without one PPV sold.
PPV = icing on cake (these days)
 
If Conor never comes back it will be exactly the same, maybe worse
 
Biggest sport in the world. Kids from all over the world will give up football and will all try to be ultimate fighters. Dreaming of that Reebok pay day.
 
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