I agree whole heartedly, and may shed a tear later at what should be, but we are most certainly in the IG model, cut a shitty scripted promo, cartoon character era in MMA.
Notice how WME promotes their shit. Its these odd promos where it has nothing to do with fighting, but people walking down a road towards each other, children playing in the street with a soccer ball, with concession stands. Only for the big cards. The “smaller cards” they just say “Hey, this card is happening.” They promote MMA like its some trendy niche thing, where it may very well be the pinnacle of sports in terms of physical endurance, strategy, teamwork (before the fight), and overall discipline.
I hate Joe Rogan sometimes, but he brought up a great point on a podcast. Mentioned how fighting is the most basic form of dominance. Someone isnt going to kick someone’s ass, then the loser isn’t going to say “Yeah, but I can dunk hoops around you.” This sport is the legit toughest of the toughest. Yet they promote it like WWE. I love WWE, but goddamn that isn’t MMA. Colby Covington gets more publicity than someone like Mousasi for some shit promo? Really?
The problem is that the higher ups do not respect the sport, and only promote what they view as larger than life personalities, not the sport itself. Which would lead someone to reasonably speculate why they dont promote certain fighters.