They are a business, use the employees as much as possible until they wake up and move on.
I get that, but I really think he's been all used up at this point, even before this point. And in the Zuffa era I was actually much more likely to criticize the UFC for the opposite, for not giving certain fighters an extra chance.
But it undermines the promotion's credibility when they do shit like this. Maybe not with casuals, who don't pay attention very much, but with the hardcore fans for sure, and what's more
—and I really don't think WME gets this
—the hardcore fans are disproportionately important. They're the ones who are much more likely to be in it for the long haul, through thick and thin, as long as the product is good, who will go out of their way to watch second and third-tier headliners, and who are the most likely to try and convert their friends, and also the most likely to spend a huge chunk of change to see the fights in person.
WME should not only be trying to pander more to the hardcore fans, they should be growing that fanbase, particularly if they wanna keep growing the sport and getting more money. How many active players does your average NBA or NFL or MLB season ticket holder know about on a deep level? It's dozens. The "hardcore" fanbase in those sports is completely gigantic and self-reinforcing. The flip side of that is that scandals like deflate-gate, or using incompetent referees or during a strike, or home run record breakers pissing hot can do a lot more near-term damage than the scandals in MMA.
Putting a way-past-his-prime B.J. Penn in the ring isn't nearly as bad as having to admit that the reason they're moving an entire card to another state on 6 days' notice is because Jon Jones pissed hot
but we're still letting him fight, but it's still ugly, and the sort of thing that shoots themselves in the foot to pop a slightly higher prelim rating.