WME-IMG is going to kill the sport

[Sheepdog]

Cool heads need to prevail here. And a sober assessment based on very little evidence reveals that it is time for us to all panic, crack open each other's skulls and feast on the goo inside.

WME-IMG have been fucked by Uncle Enzo and his buddies at Goldman Sachs as if they were a naive ring girl responding to a 2am facebook booty call. The UFC was never worth anything close to 4 billion and these spastics are quickly realizing that.

Instead of trying to make chicken salad out of chicken shit, they are just going to in turn try to fuck over a TV network by using Conor and Ronda to inflate the UFC's value then, in the words of Frank Reynolds, strip the whole thing down and sell it to the chinks. They are already gutting the organization and selling bits of it to their idiotic celebrity clients to try and cut their losses.

It's time for us to abandon this sinking ship early. I've registered the domain name "thebadmintoncommunity.com' so we can all embrace the sport of the future.

No slurs please. -

 

[FadeToBlack]

Fuck Zuffa!!!

Wait. Damn. I miss being able to blame everything on Zuffa.

I have no idea what UFC is worth, but I imagine Conor and Ronda are getting over 50% of the "cheese" that isn't going to Ari Emmanuel and Pat Whitesell. This is where the sport is headed. Stars will get bigger than they were before. Not a good time to be a #2 or #3 contender as you may be waiting a while before your title shot, if you even get it. Better start a Twitter war with someone quickly so the fans demand you get a title shot. Only way Dana will listen is if there's bread to be made.

 

[Ceiling Fan]

sober assessment

Today at 2:33 AM

 

[Tiiimmmaaayyy]

MMA won't be killed, but it's very likely to UFC will be gone inside of a decade. To get a return on their investment the new owners will do anything to get PPV $$$. I expect to see many many more freak show fights in the future. This circus acts may get some play for a while but it will be at the expense of the real fighters getting paid. More and more fighters will fight out their shitty deals and go over to Bellator. Bellator will eventually replace the UFC as the top promotion in the world.

No doubt the Fertita's signed a hefty no complete clause, but if they aren't able to get into NFL ownership, they may may eventually start up another MMA promotion after that clause ends. Unless something has changed, they can't buy an NFL team and move them to Vegas. Owning an NFL team and casinos would be a conflict of interest according to something i read, heard, or made up in the past.

 

[sparkuri]

Once you're at rock bottom, the only direction to go is up.
If I can ever sit at a bar again and watch a fight with semi-mma-coherent casuals, I'll know things got better.
My thoughts are, zuffa needed to diversify once they assessed the +/- of the lawsuit and even more, the aftermath in the court of public opinion, and it's aftermath.
They played Amerinopoly and got rich.

 

[BJJMMA]

Cool heads need to prevail here. And a sober assessment based on very little evidence reveals that it is time for us to all panic, crack open each other's skulls and feast on the goo inside.

WME-IMG have been fucked by Uncle Enzo and his buddies at Goldman Sachs as if they were a naive ring girl responding to a 2am facebook booty call. The UFC was never worth anything close to 4 billion and these spastics are quickly realizing that.

Instead of trying to make chicken salad out of chicken shit, they are just going to in turn try to fuck over a TV network by using Conor and Ronda to inflate the UFC's value then, in the words of Frank Reynolds, strip the whole thing down and sell it to the chinks. They are already gutting the organization and selling bits of it to their idiotic celebrity clients to try and cut their losses.

It's time for us to abandon this sinking ship early. I've registered the domain name "thebadmintoncommunity.com' so we can all embrace the sport of the future.

No slurs please. -

Ya know what? He's right. May not be what we want to hear but he's right. Actually some of us may want to hear this.

 

[Wild]

The UFC became an entertainment business a while ago. Rankings disregarded for match ups that would sell. Chael writing the blue print for how to get fights with your mouth. WME-IMG is an entertainment company; so this deal makes total sense. I expect things to get amped up big time. Casuals will love it, and it will make hardcores wanna vomit.

 

[WoodenPupa]

MMA won't be killed, but it's very likely to UFC will be gone inside of a decade. To get a return on their investment the new owners will do anything to get PPV $$$. I expect to see many many more freak show fights in the future. This circus acts may get some play for a while but it will be at the expense of the real fighters getting paid. More and more fighters will fight out their shitty deals and go over to Bellator. Bellator will eventually replace the UFC as the top promotion in the world.

No doubt the Fertita's signed a hefty no complete clause, but if they aren't able to get into NFL ownership, they may may eventually start up another MMA promotion after that clause ends. Unless something has changed, they can't buy an NFL team and move them to Vegas. Owning an NFL team and casinos would be a conflict of interest according to something i read, heard, or made up in the past.

Nevada legislature just signed off on building a stadium in Las Vegas. I too thought the conflict of interest would prevent this, but they're building it in hopes of luring the Raiders. And if the Raiders don't come, someone else will. I think it's a shitty idea, and counterproductive for the players themselves who will be living in the mecca of partying.

I'm not sure how the gambling thing works. I presume you can't bet on the home team when they're playing in Vegas. It just seems weird though. How about we have an Abu Dhabi football team? Monte Carlo, anyone?

 

[SCADA]

It amazes me that people actually think Bellator is any different.

 

[Ryann Von Doom]

It amazes me that people actually think Bellator is any different.

Since Rich Chou is there, things are far better.

 

[BJJMMA]

Nevada legislature just signed off on building a stadium in Las Vegas. I too thought the conflict of interest would prevent this, but they're building it in hopes of luring the Raiders. And if the Raiders don't come, someone else will. I think it's a shitty idea, and counterproductive for the players themselves who will be living in the mecca of partying.

I'm not sure how the gambling thing works. I presume you can't bet on the home team when they're playing in Vegas. It just seems weird though. How about we have an Abu Dhabi football team? Monte Carlo, anyone?

I saw where Davis has filed the paperwork to move to Vegas now. Looks like the Las Vegas Raiders will be a thing soon.

 

[Sheepdog]

I'm bumping this shit.

WME have turned into boxing promoters in boxing's most successful period in many years, and now MMA is being treated in the media like the retarded ginger step-son of boxing like it was 10 years ago when boxing types first felt threatened. If the UFC itself is going to present itself in the media as the junior sport, despite kicking boxing's ass in PPVs in North America for much of the last decade, then why should anyone else take it seriously?

Dana's always had dreams about being a boxing promoter - just look at his failed boxing TUF rip off - and his clueless bosses are letting him try to set up his next venture on their dime.

The UFC is exuding desperation and vulnerability at a time it can least afford to.

 

[Robbie Hart]

The UFC became an entertainment business a while ago. Rankings disregarded for match ups that would sell. Chael writing the blue print for how to get fights with your mouth. WME-IMG is an entertainment company; so this deal makes total sense. I expect things to get amped up big time. Casuals will love it, and it will make hardcores wanna vomit.

This is a great point and is the rough edged, "real" summary I would expect from a seasoned executive following a SWOT test and preaching to his team

 

[Wild]

I'm bumping this shit.

WME have turned into boxing promoters in boxing's most successful period in many years, and now MMA is being treated in the media like the retarded ginger step-son of boxing like it was 10 years ago when boxing types first felt threatened. If the UFC itself is going to present itself in the media as the junior sport, despite kicking boxing's ass in PPVs in North America for much of the last decade, then why should anyone else take it seriously?

Dana's always had dreams about being a boxing promoter - just look at his failed boxing TUF rip off - and his clueless bosses are letting him try to set up his next venture on their dime.

The UFC is exuding desperation and vulnerability at a time it can least afford to.

They made this deal for two reasons: One, their 2017 has sucked. Two, WME has debt out of their ass on this thing and they need every dollar of revenue they can get. They will probably make $50+ million off of this fight and Showtime will do all of the heavy lifting.

Don't be surprised if we see them do more of these in the future. I think this will open the door for future cross promotion...something Zuffa refused to do.

 

[Sheepdog]

They made this deal for two reasons: One, their 2017 has sucked. Two, WME has debt out of their ass on this thing and they need every dollar of revenue they can get. They will probably make $50+ million off of this fight and Showtime will do all of the heavy lifting.

Don't be surprised if we see them do more of these in the future. I think this will open the door for future cross promotion...something Zuffa refused to do.

I know that's why they are doing it, and I'm saying short-term desperate moves like this will only cause or hasten the sport's relative demise. I was also going to quote your post from earlier to say that what you are getting at is not what I am getting at.

I'm not addressing the argument that the sport becoming a WWE-lite shitshow perverts the integrity of the sport, I'm saying that the WWE-lite shitshow it is becoming is not working and it is what is going to send it back to the pre-TUF dark ages. The 'titles don't matter, everyone be heels on twitter' era isn't showing itself to be a massive success post-Ronda/Conor but rather the opposite.

MMA didn't send itself back to the relative dark ages in Japan because Pride fucked with its product or because its popularity had dramatically declined, it died because the companies that delivered this product collapsed due to financial mismanagement and other external reasons (Yakuza unpleasantness). Here we have a situation where North American MMA is in danger of collapsing because of product mismanagement and financial mismanagement simultaneously.

 

[Wild]

I know that's why they are doing it, and I'm saying short-term desperate moves like this will only cause or hasten the sport's relative demise. I was also going to quote your post from earlier to say that what you are getting at is not what I am getting at.

I'm not addressing the argument that the sport becoming a WWE-lite shitshow perverts the integrity of the sport, I'm saying that the WWE-lite shitshow it is becoming is not working and it is what is going to send it back to the pre-TUF dark ages. The 'titles don't matter, everyone be heels on twitter' era isn't showing itself to be a massive success post-Ronda/Conor but rather the opposite.

MMA didn't send itself back to the relative dark ages in Japan because Pride fucked with its product or because its popularity had dramatically declined, it died because the companies that delivered this product collapsed due to financial mismanagement and other external reasons (Yakuza unpleasantness). Here we have a situation where North American MMA is in danger of collapsing because of product mismanagement and financial mismanagement simultaneously.

I dont disagree at all. Me quoting your post wasn't intended to come off like I disagree. I was just pointing out the reasons this particular fight is happening. It isn't because "Conor's done so much for the UFC, I respect the kid so much, and he deserves this" like Dana claims. It's all about WME making a quick buck because they have billions of debt up their ass.

 

[Hong Kong Phooey]

interlasting

 

[Sheepdog]

I dont disagree at all. Me quoting your post wasn't intended to come off like I disagree. I was just pointing out the reasons this particular fight is happening. It isn't because "Conor's done so much for the UFC, I respect the kid so much, and he deserves this" like Dana claims. It's all about WME making a quick buck because they have billions of debt up their ass.

For sure, I was only clarifying that I understood that mainly in order to address your post from months ago that I understand why they are making these bad decisions, but they are bad decisions nonetheless. Your point then was completely valid as well, I was just adding to it by saying that it is not just killing it as a legitimate sport, but killing it as something people will watch.

I'm also adding a new conspiracy to proceedings by suggesting Dana has individual motives independent of WME to potentially set up an individual run as a boxing promoter. There was one line in the joint presser with Mayweather's guy where he talked about enjoying working with the boxing pros compared to the amateurs in his sport. That can be dismissed as his usual degradation of his sport and fighters in order to stroke his own ego, but in the wider context of him actually currently being a boxing promoter, it raised my eyebrows.

 

[Dat Pre-HollyHolm Ronda $]

They made this deal for two reasons: One, their 2017 has sucked. Two, WME has debt out of their ass on this thing and they need every dollar of revenue they can get. They will probably make $50+ million off of this fight and Showtime will do all of the heavy lifting.

Don't be surprised if we see them do more of these in the future. I think this will open the door for future cross promotion...something Zuffa refused to do.

As long as Conor doesn't get embarassed and stretched in the early rounds its a win for the UFC and MMA
All Conor has to do is look like he belongs there and MMA gets a HUGE push.

 

[Haulport]

You cannot kill that which is already dead...

 

[Haulport]

As long as Conor doesn't get embarassed and stretched in the early rounds its a win for the UFC and MMA
All Conor has to do is look like he belongs there and MMA gets a HUGE push.

And that won't happen because he doesn't belong there. Floyd was able to dance away and frustrate Manny. Conor is going to look foolish as hell and KO'd in the 2nd or 3rd Ricky Hatton style.........

 

[Ed_Stark]

This one really got me. the quotes, the tasteful and perfectly placed macgruber gif. Good on you sir.

 

[Mix6APlix]

Bellator can survive.



And prosper with the UFC's sloppy seconds.