UFC is the largest and most influential MMA org by a country mile, much like CNN once was in TV news. But as money grew bigger, both discovered that perception is more important than reality.
The perception that you're the most trusted name in news, or the ultimate proving ground of MMA is at least equally as important as actually being those two things in reality. Actually, if you can convince people that you're the best, you can get away with not being the best for a while until you recover.
UFC is not quite at CNN's desperation point yet. Their credibility with casual fans is high because people still love the fights.
But when the shine of McGregor wears off and new stars don't emerge, it will be because the UFC abandoned it's principles much like CNN abandoned theirs. Rankings matter, and journalistic standards matter. Once you abandon those, you lose credibility and undermine your entire reputation. If the UFC doesn't follow a predictable ranking system to determine the majority of their title shots soon, their champions will be paper champs. In other words, UFC will be fake news.
The perception that you're the most trusted name in news, or the ultimate proving ground of MMA is at least equally as important as actually being those two things in reality. Actually, if you can convince people that you're the best, you can get away with not being the best for a while until you recover.
UFC is not quite at CNN's desperation point yet. Their credibility with casual fans is high because people still love the fights.
But when the shine of McGregor wears off and new stars don't emerge, it will be because the UFC abandoned it's principles much like CNN abandoned theirs. Rankings matter, and journalistic standards matter. Once you abandon those, you lose credibility and undermine your entire reputation. If the UFC doesn't follow a predictable ranking system to determine the majority of their title shots soon, their champions will be paper champs. In other words, UFC will be fake news.
