It's good that UFC 215 and 216 had such low PPV numbers

[Dessyboy]

While 2016 was a banner year for UFC Pay-Per-View events, 2017 has seen a tremendous reverse in fortunes.

Industry insider Dave Meltzer is largely credited with acquiring the most accurate estimates for how the fight promotion’s PPV buys perform. His insight doesn’t paint 2017 in a good light. Meltzer’s early estimates for the promotion’s two most recent efforts put them among the lowest draws in modern UFC history.

In his WrestlingObserver's newsletter Meltzer reports UFC 215 at an estimated 100,000 PPV buys, while UFC 216 is only expected to do around 120,000 PPV buys. Those numbers, when combined with the rest of the 2017 UFC events represent a staggering downturn for the UFC year over year.

To make matters worse, UFC 216 had a live gate of about $678,000, Dave Meltzer said it was “the lowest gate in more than a decade.” The UFC 216 preliminary card on FX was also a ratings abomination pulling in just 653,000 viewers. Not surprisingly, that number is the lowest in the history of the channel.

 

[Dessyboy]

This is important

The UFC can't feed us manlets, women and non PPV worthy main events and expect people to pay

 

[Dessyboy]

yep for sure

 

[Aberlour]

We will look back on this as another pivotal moment in the MMA landscape. UFC is now all about the money fights, belts have been de-legitimised, 'everybody's on steroids', everyone is trying to play the same character.

Things will come to a head sooner rather than later. The model it despised for so long (boxing) will end up providing the answer. More divisions, more cross collaboration between promoters etc

 

[Irishwhiskey119]

While 2016 was a banner year for UFC Pay-Per-View events, 2017 has seen a tremendous reverse in fortunes.

Industry insider Dave Meltzer is largely credited with acquiring the most accurate estimates for how the fight promotion’s PPV buys perform. His insight doesn’t paint 2017 in a good light. Meltzer’s early estimates for the promotion’s two most recent efforts put them among the lowest draws in modern UFC history.

In his WrestlingObserver's newsletter Meltzer reports UFC 215 at an estimated 100,000 PPV buys, while UFC 216 is only expected to do around 120,000 PPV buys. Those numbers, when combined with the rest of the 2017 UFC events represent a staggering downturn for the UFC year over year.

To make matters worse, UFC 216 had a live gate of about $678,000, Dave Meltzer said it was “the lowest gate in more than a decade.” The UFC 216 preliminary card on FX was also a ratings abomination pulling in just 653,000 viewers. Not surprisingly, that number is the lowest in the history of the channel.

That'll happen when the spoiled fucking brat Dana White talks shit about his headliners to appease the garbage group of MMA fans.

 

[DC23]

More divisions will happen because of the belt obsession.

 

[Crotalis]

This is important

The UFC can't feed us manlets, women and non PPV worthy main events and expect people to pay

Eh ... If this is the predominant attitude of the majority of so-called "fans", the sport is doomed anyway. Personally, I'll watch fights all day long if they're good. I'm a fight fan. I don't care at all whether it's women, 130 pound men, as long as the fights are good, I'm there.

The problem for me has been that between the fight cancelling injuries (that have plagued the sport for years now), constant failed drug tests, and the fact that the UFC's own leadership don't seem to take the sport seriously anymore, I've lost interest.

 

[Dessyboy]

We pay for names and matchups we want to see

The best MMA fight this year might have happened in a local high school gym, that doesn't mean we want to pay for it

Just like the best American football game might have been a high school game, people watch the Superbowl as the biggest game of the year

 

[WhuffieCollector]

This week's fight night event might be the weakest card of all time.

 

[Dessyboy]

You aint kidding ! only one fighter anyone knows !

 

[Verace]

Remove usada.

Problem solved

 

[Crotalis]

We pay for names and matchups we want to see

Your other two lines from that post aren't really related to what I was saying, but this one is. You're right, people pay for fights they want to see. Unfortunately, like I said, if the attitude of the average "Fan" is "I'm just paying to watch Nate fight Conor again, or "I want to see GSP take a title fight after being retired for several years, and you had better not put anyone on the the card who isn't male and also over 155lbs because "manlets", then the sport will fail no matter what.

As an example, this is the same attitude that allowed Conor to log-jam two divisions and not defend a single title before leaving the sport entirely. Short term, that made money for the UFC. It's also a pretty good strategy for long-term failure. Conor didn't bring new people to MMA. He brought new fans to Conor (as evidenced by the difference in PPV buys when he's not on a card). That's great for Conor but when leadership has decided to throw everything behind him, and he decides he's either done, or at least done w/MMA, what are they going to do?

Same deal w/GSP. I would actually like to see Bisping defend against someone in the currently active top 5. But yeah, let's go ahead and screw those guys and let GSP walk right out of retirement and into a title fight. This is the kind of stuff I mean when I say leadership doesn't take the sport seriously. It just makes me feel like nothing really matters as far as the real rankings go because you can just get on the mic and be a d-bag and talk yourself into title contention, or play on past legacy, etc etc and suddenly the rankings are meaningless. As a fan, if it means that little to the people who are actually running the sport, I'm not sure why I should care either. If people want to see that kind of thing, then go for it. You're not "wrong" for liking or disliking something. Just realize that the reason numbers are dipping has a lot less to do with "women and small fighters" and a lot more to do with the attitude that seems to be expressed in you OP. You can't create a sustainable sport off of super-fights and freak shows, and that's exactly what the UFC has tried to do since around 2014/15.

 

[kimocomplex]

the sky is falling

the ufc is dying

what else is new?

 

[Sakuraba7]

They put all their eggs in like 2 or 3 stars. And now one of 'ems gone. Casuals don't even take the other fighters seriously cuz they dont know who they are. They just know Conor.

Meanwhile for many hardcore fans, WMMA and interim title fights simply aren't interesting cuz we see through the facade. We can tell that its an inferior product.

 

[Unthinking Majority]

This is important

The UFC can't feed us manlets, women and non PPV worthy main events and expect people to pay

100% agreed.

 

[Congo66]

It just shows MMA isn't a real sport, people only pay to watch freak show fighters like Brock or over hyped celeb fighters like Ronda or Conor.
If you have the best fighting the best, no one cares.

It's why ranking and belts don't matter, just fill cards with popular fighters.

 

[VVarhead]

If you have the best fighting the best, no one cares.
.

Well, the #2 Lightweight against the #7 Lightweight and MM vs Ray Borg aren't exactly the best versus the best.

But otherwise I agree with your post, most people wouldn't give a shit even if Tony fought Khabib and MM fought TJ. Hardcores would give a shit, though.

 

[grimballer]

UFC will probably go wwe route n have all their ppv included on the fight pass n free tv (who ever they sign with).

Ppv will be reserved for those who can sell close to 1 mil

 

[daltonames]

They did it to themselves completely. They turned the UFC into the Mcgregor show, and then when he took a year off ... surprise, all those fans go away. remember the build up to Rousey vs Nunes? barely mentioned Nunes. Rousey gets blown out, and Nunes coming off that win, scores 100K PPV in her next fight. Does this surprise anyone.

 

[dertdent]

The UFC cannot create stars and you cannot predict when the next will come along. Throughout Zuffa's run there were only 2 or 3 big stars at a time. But what the UFC did was market fighters so at least the general public knew who they were. You had a bunch of the Franklin, Machida, Hughes, Koschek,..etc types. People actually watched the Ultimate fighter. You could look at a UFC PPV main card and know who all the fighters were. Now, the talent is so spread out that casuals barely know the headliner's opponent. There are too many shows, too many belts, and too many fighters to keep track of.
Let the stars shine, but you cannot surround them with an anonymous cast.