The UFC hasn't produced a star in over 5 years.

HolmeZy55 said:
I don't think there is much of an argument there, those two are the only ones who transcended the sport. No one on average outside the combat sports world has probably ever heard of Jones, Izzy, Volk, GSP, Silva etc.

I do hope you're kidding....
Click to expand...
Ehh I think at one point in the mid-late 2000s you could make the argument for Chuck now his star has waned but was appearing in big movies and TV shows.
 
Still waiting on the heavyweight championship between Ronda & Gina

Two idiots, yet somehow...

UFC Star material.

<31>
 
How often do you expect someone like Conor or Ronda to come along?

Khabib is a mega star after beating Conor. Just retired.

Izzy is a start and will continue to get bigger. He gained tons of attention after beating Alex, a lot of casuals tuned in for that.

Paddy is a mild star in his country.

Khamzat could become big.

Zhang is huge in her country
 
Oris79 said:
Jones joined the UFC in August of 2008
Izzy joined the UFC in Feb 2018.

These two really are the only champs with any drawing power. I know your purists are gonna tout how awesome the likes of Islam and Volk are, but these guys aren't draws. It's really a tragedy what's happened to the UFC. Dana and company pushed the brand over the fighters and the end result is this saturated brand that no one is lining up at Buffalo Wild Wings to go see as they did 2015 and before.
Click to expand...
Yet they make more profit today than ever before.

If you look at them purely as a profiteering company, it becomes obvious that creative deals and multiple revenue streams count more than stars for them. With less stars today, they are extracting/squeezing out top dollars. It may not be good for fans but, over time, they'll work this into a "Running Man" type of setup where everybody is entirely expendable except the announcers and marketing ppl.
 
O'Malley and Paddy definitely have some degree of star power, but afaik they already had that when the UFC signed them. Maybe Khamzat could be considered a recent "UFC produced" star, at least within a certain demographic.
 
Oris79 said:
Jones joined the UFC in August of 2008
Izzy joined the UFC in Feb 2018.

These two really are the only champs with any drawing power. I know your purists are gonna tout how awesome the likes of Islam and Volk are, but these guys aren't draws. It's really a tragedy what's happened to the UFC. Dana and company pushed the brand over the fighters and the end result is this saturated brand that no one is lining up at Buffalo Wild Wings to go see as they did 2015 and before.
Click to expand...

First of, one thing I don't get is "didn't produce a star" vs "these two are the only champs with any drawing power"... can't you be a star without being a champion?

Still you may be right. So I thought about it, I mean really because I rarely care more about "stars" than any deserving guy. But I realize that matters for the UFC. I don't want to do it, but the only way to know how true it is would be to check how many views O'Malley embedded videos will make compared to Izzy, Jon Jones or Conor. I also think N'Gannou or Khamzat are on that level as well.

UFC produced a star in those two guys, and after 2018. Several names may become something. In some respect, I think the more "stars" and "legends" there will be in the history of the sport the harder it will be for somebody to become a special name like that. As a mma fan, I feel the UFC is doing a fine job on that level, but then again, I never really check the "numbers", just my feel.
 
Davidjacksonjones said:
If you are interested in stars so much you can always watch Star Wars
Click to expand...

Ironically enough Star Wars has the same problem the UFC does in that the brand name has eclipsed the actual talents involved and so they just coast off of legacy value.

Both of them now just put out whatever garbage they can because they know most fans will tune in regardless so they don't even bother trying to make a good product.
 
Oris79 said:
Jones joined the UFC in August of 2008
Izzy joined the UFC in Feb 2018.

These two really are the only champs with any drawing power. I know your purists are gonna tout how awesome the likes of Islam and Volk are, but these guys aren't draws. It's really a tragedy what's happened to the UFC. Dana and company pushed the brand over the fighters and the end result is this saturated brand that no one is lining up at Buffalo Wild Wings to go see as they did 2015 and before.
Click to expand...

I think the UFC has changed course and is not banking future financial performance on stars. They want to further promote the brand as a whole, so when you give them money, you get a "plethora" of entertainment from the UFC, not just one fighter. They had to suffer through last year, where they didn't have a single PPV sell over 500K and I supposed they've decided to rely on promotion from their partners (ESPN) and boost the corporate promotion instead.
 
Who is making stars? It's not easy, and they can't be overly produced. It has to be from someone with charisma, with the will and ability to carry the ball. And the road to stardom has killers standing in your way.

UFC needs to start writing scripts and choregraphing fights. It would be so much easier.
 
There's been only one star in UFC history and that is Conor. A star is someone who is recognized by people who don't watch the sport on any street anywhere. Lebron, Tiger Woods, Mike Tyson, Ronaldo, Messi, Brady, Beckham and Conor all fit that criteria. Paddy the baddy and Izzy sure as hell don't.
 
Ghostoftheville said:
Now you're setting unrealistic standards. Conor's star power isn't comparable to most, he honestly became bigger than the sport. Ronda at her height wasn't that far from him. Maybe you should set clear standards of what you mean by stars and star power
Click to expand...


Ronda was definitely there. She got onto movies and talk shows and even the women I knew who never watched MMA knew her name.
 
Iroh said:
I wouldn't put too much stock in those kind of comments. People love to show how much of a fan of the sport they are, by shitting on anything that concerns the business side of the sport. They see it as a dualistic or binary matter, but it's not obviously. You can like MMA for and from any number of given aspects, simultaneously.
Click to expand...
This.


You cant make a star,you cant make people care about someone they dont wanna care about. The stars are people who the fans ALREADY liked,and UFC will do their best to amplify it.
 
Seismic said:
There's been only one star in UFC history and that is Conor. A star is someone who is recognized by people who don't watch the sport on any street anywhere. Lebron, Tiger Woods, Mike Tyson, Ronaldo, Messi, Brady, Beckham and Conor all fit that criteria. Paddy the baddy and Izzy sure as hell don't.
Click to expand...
Ronda is just as known as him if not more so.

Khabib is a star

GSP is a star

Brock is a star

all of these guys get talked about even by non fans

on the show Letterkenny some guy said "other than Georges st pierre,every french guy is a fuckin pussy!"


you just being a contrarian hipster because Conor hit a new height,but there of course are other stars,you just made up this adorable criteria in your basement

Even Kimbo was talked about by non mma fans
 
Produced is the key word. Dana will produce a star when he needs a star. At this point, the brand doesn’t need a star like they did then.
I always felt the Rhonda and Conor push were company based, not on the fighters own accord. We see dramatic KO’s on almost every card but only those two were worthy of the Today Show interview? look at the value of the company and selling out each event and ask yourself whether Dana needs a star that could leverage the company the way those two did in the past
 
Why do fans think the UFC has all the control over who is star and who isn't???

If they did, we'd have 50 Conor's on the roster. Even in pro wrestling where they control every single aspect they can't just create a star.

All the promotion can do is help push a fighter that has created a lot of buzz around themselves. A guy like O'Malley is perfect example. None of us think his skills are world class and he is going to be a champ 3 years ago or to this day. But look where he is at today with the way the UFC brought him along(that is the part they control). A guy like Sage Northcutt is opposite and an example of the UFC trying to push someone down the fans throats. Sage was having problems performing in the cage and Sage never gave fans a reason to care outside of being what seems to be a really great person. Fighters have to have that "IT" factor in them that gets you and I to give a shit about them beyond just being good fighter. Biggest stars are always the fighters that some fans love and others hate.
 
I love how the emphasis is on the UFC to make the star and not the fighter themselves. Tf do you think the UFC is trying to do by giving them "
  • events nearly every week
  • unlimited access to the PI
  • fight week interviews
  • Countdowns, Embedded
  • press conferences
  • features on social media
  • locker room footage
  • in-cage post-fight interviews
  • post-fight press conferences
  • POTN bonuses
The UFC is trying to get you to care about their fighters. It's not their fault if the fighter then uses the opportunity given to them to say "I'm just happy to fight whoever's next" with all the enthusiasm of a wet blanket.

Let alone what the fighter's can do on their own. Use your social media, hire a vlogger if you can or just record everything with your own phone. You're not some random youtuber who has no idea where or what to start filming and discussing. You already have your niche in that it's your MMA career.
 
Oris79 said:
This is the type of cynical dismissive post that annoys the hell out of me. Stars are a vital part of the sports and entertainment industry. The UFC isn't producing any draws. Instead of being a butt hurt cheer leader for the UFC, why not acknowledge things it needs to do to remain popular ?
Click to expand...

How do we know when we haven't seen any PPV numbers in years?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,237,180
Messages
55,474,439
Members
174,787
Latest member
Biden's Diaper

Share this page

Back
Top