Article: MMA in a mid-life crisis
- Thread starter FrankieNYC
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"So there I was yawning my way through the middle of Bellator 194" at this point in
the article I'm already thinking to myself " Yeah Dis Gon B Good"
the article I'm already thinking to myself " Yeah Dis Gon B Good"
Yep, it nailed it.
I agree about Bellator 194, and that the org in general isn't quite the smash hit I thought it was going to be over the long term. I'm not really on board with crisis-driven views about MMA though. This sport and the UFC in particular has been declared either dead or on life-support too many times to take those kinds of claims seriously, and ditto for claims of stagnation/aimlessnes/confusion/growing pains.
I agree with a good deal of this article (I'm also LMAO at many of the moves made by both Bellator and UFC in the last year) except the overall sense that what is happening now is an indicator of MMA being suddenly lost. Just looking at the UFC, what is happening now is just one direction of the trend pattern that has been dictated since Zuffa took over in 2001.
Their refusal to institute a ranking system that determines matchups necessarily meant that the UFC would be an entertainment-driven (as opposed to competition-driven) affair. The org's freedom to pick matchups out of thin air and to reserve the right to determine the consequences of any given bout as it pertained to title-shot pathways (including the right to go back on their word) guaranteed that what we're seeing now was bound to happen now and then, and sometimes for long stretches.
Unskilled lady bouts, CM Punk type fighters, worthless interim belts, divisions being held up on the whims of McGregors, and all this bullshit is a consequence of the refusal to make the sporting aspect the priority, and not of some crisis relating to the direction the sport is now threatening to take. It's not at a make-or-break point. It's just going through a particularly clumsy phase, with lots of weird things going on in a short period of time.
Shitty decisions are built-in to the method of operation, but good ones are too Sometimes we're blessed with brilliant stretches, like when Conor went on his run. But then he decided to fight at 170, the UFC allowed this, and, you know...we all know what happened after that.
This is just a valley. There are peaks as well in the trend-pattern, and we're due for a good stretch here in a few months. A stretch where we get great fights while things in general make very good sense. It will then fall apart after that, and then...you get the idea.
I agree with a good deal of this article (I'm also LMAO at many of the moves made by both Bellator and UFC in the last year) except the overall sense that what is happening now is an indicator of MMA being suddenly lost. Just looking at the UFC, what is happening now is just one direction of the trend pattern that has been dictated since Zuffa took over in 2001.
Their refusal to institute a ranking system that determines matchups necessarily meant that the UFC would be an entertainment-driven (as opposed to competition-driven) affair. The org's freedom to pick matchups out of thin air and to reserve the right to determine the consequences of any given bout as it pertained to title-shot pathways (including the right to go back on their word) guaranteed that what we're seeing now was bound to happen now and then, and sometimes for long stretches.
Unskilled lady bouts, CM Punk type fighters, worthless interim belts, divisions being held up on the whims of McGregors, and all this bullshit is a consequence of the refusal to make the sporting aspect the priority, and not of some crisis relating to the direction the sport is now threatening to take. It's not at a make-or-break point. It's just going through a particularly clumsy phase, with lots of weird things going on in a short period of time.
Shitty decisions are built-in to the method of operation, but good ones are too Sometimes we're blessed with brilliant stretches, like when Conor went on his run. But then he decided to fight at 170, the UFC allowed this, and, you know...we all know what happened after that.
This is just a valley. There are peaks as well in the trend-pattern, and we're due for a good stretch here in a few months. A stretch where we get great fights while things in general make very good sense. It will then fall apart after that, and then...you get the idea.
Mid-life crisis is perfect
It needs to figure out how to be an important entity now that it is no longer considered the shiny new sport
I like the term "Mid-life crisis" for mma & the UFC... this is very true as the UFC is in a process of changing itself from the young upstart that it once was & in essence, it is reinventing itself.
I found that article a bit too dramatic for my tastes. It's a very negative review on everything that's been going wrong & the quirky match ups n stuff.
I also feel like the author does not have a real grasp on what WME is capable of when he says stuff like this:
"No, this is solely on the people behind the scenes, grasping at anything that may prop up a slumping business."
If WME wanted to kick it in... they would. We don't know why they're not doing it... but they don't "have" to do all this crazy stuff. They could easily solve the viewership problem by ramping up the promotional engine, & the casuals they gather from that will put the UFC right back in its hey day again. Casuals won't get excited unless WME tells them to. I don't understand why they're not doing that, (though I have theories) but I do understand that they could. They don't need to rely on publicity stunts & weird cash grabs to raise business.
So my main problem I have with his statement is that a nice cash grab is attractive whether you're in a slump or whether business is booming. So I don't like the way the author made it out like doing cash grab fights is only the result of a slumping business.
I found that article a bit too dramatic for my tastes. It's a very negative review on everything that's been going wrong & the quirky match ups n stuff.
I also feel like the author does not have a real grasp on what WME is capable of when he says stuff like this:
"No, this is solely on the people behind the scenes, grasping at anything that may prop up a slumping business."
If WME wanted to kick it in... they would. We don't know why they're not doing it... but they don't "have" to do all this crazy stuff. They could easily solve the viewership problem by ramping up the promotional engine, & the casuals they gather from that will put the UFC right back in its hey day again. Casuals won't get excited unless WME tells them to. I don't understand why they're not doing that, (though I have theories) but I do understand that they could. They don't need to rely on publicity stunts & weird cash grabs to raise business.
So my main problem I have with his statement is that a nice cash grab is attractive whether you're in a slump or whether business is booming. So I don't like the way the author made it out like doing cash grab fights is only the result of a slumping business.
Biggest thing to remember is WNE-era is still working within the confines of the Fertitta-era.
Won't be able to fully grasp what they want to do until 2020.
but I agree the article leaned heavy, but op-ed usually does.
A "UFC is doing OK" piece won't get hits, so you lean a certain way & focus on that.
But mid-life was a perfect term.
His opinions are his & while he has knowledge, I agree that more focus should be on the actual financial status, but most in media are clueless & just look at the last PPV buy & last ratings.
Remember after GSP/Bisping, people started with "UFC is back" & now after 221, they are dead again.
How to become big, and how to stay big (as a sport) are two different things. And like you said, when you're new and fresh you've got momentum, but that has turned into depseration by now.
