The ESPN deal has been awful for MMA fans

[Doctor Grudge]

This reminds me when people said UFC 200 and 100 were more stacked than 300 even though it really wasn't lol. Shit is stupid.

Learn about the sport, yes there were good fighters at last weekends PPV.

 

[MMAProfessional]

It’s basically the same amount of cards. The problem is they aren’t building many names because guys are fighting in a warehouse with lower viewership

That's what I don't think people are realizing. COVID/Apex is what ruined it. ESPN has just due to their quota of cards they demand but a lot of it is they don't have to worry about selling tickets at the Apex so those cards are a lot weaker than those that are at event centers. I guess it depends on quantity vs quality. Personally I'd rather have more events than like 5 events a year stacked from top to bottom like they use to do.

 

[MMAProfessional]

shit spike tv fight night cards were better than espn. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFC_Ultimate_Fight_Night_2

UFC Ultimate Fight Night 4 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

UFC Fight Night: Silva vs. Irvin - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

UFC Fight Night: Diaz vs. Guillard - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

these espn cards can deliver but so cant PFL, cage warriors, or one fc. i just expect a better pool of fighters from the "premier" fighting organization. some of these fighters are ranked 220 or higher in the world. hell tito ortiz fought little nog on spike tv free fight night.

I'm fine with them watering down events because realistically it's something they have to do to make it possible to fullfill their ESPN deal I just wish they would at least make the main even and comain meaningful. These next 2 events have little to no significance especially Lewis vs Nascimento. I guess you could say Murphy will propel himself if he beats Barboza but that's a stretch.

 

[blaseblase]

And the fox cards were like 4x a year 3 months is a pretty long time to wait for a "free card"

What are you talking about, there were the same number of events. There was Fox, FX and Fuel cards.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

I don't think it's ESPN to blame, it's more due to the pandemic and Dana realising how much he and his staff enjoyed staying at home rather than being out on the road all the time.

Thus the Apex cards became kind of like the old Strikeforce Challengers cards and are full of fighters coming off losses and debutants, propped up by a couple of fighters in the lower end of the top 10 of their division as the main event. Most FN's they have with crowds are still pretty good.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Tbf there were some dogshit cards in the past too though although the Apex ones are probably consistently worse now.

However

UFC Fight Night 34: Saffiedine vs. Lim | MMA Event | Tapology

UFC Fight Night 34 took place Saturday, January 4, 2014 with 10 fights at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. View fight card, video, results, predictions, and news.

www.tapology.com

About 75% of the card were making their UFC debuts on this one and it wasn't even a TUF finale.

UFC Fight Night 69: JÄdrzejczyk vs. Penne | MMA Event | Tapology

UFC Fight Night 69 took place Saturday, June 20, 2015 with 11 fights at 02 World Arena in Berlin, Germany. View fight card, video, results, predictions, and news.

www.tapology.com

Did get a title fight in the main of this one tbf, but this was an awful card at the time.

UFC on FUEL TV 5: Struve vs. Miocic | MMA Event | Tapology

UFC on FUEL TV 5 took place Saturday, September 29, 2012 with 11 fights at Capital FM Arena in Nottingham, England, UK. View fight card, video, results, predictions, and news.

www.tapology.com

Shit at the time, mostly dudes coming off losses.

 

[nonoob]

Anyone who bothered to sign up to a karate forum should be considered an OG by now.

Solid tune from Ice T - hespect to all still here.​

 

[philweed]

Ever since the UFC went mainstream it went down. Definitely not as fun as it once was.
I don’t like too many fights. Too many fighters and too hard to keep track of rankings. I watch way less than what I once did.

 

[HHJ]

Ever since the UFC went mainstream it went down. Definitely not as fun as it once was.
I don’t like too many fights. Too many fighters and too hard to keep track of rankings. I watch way less than what I once did.

Pussy

 

[Blastbeat]

the obvious reason is UFC having to fulfill contractual obligations to ESPN to put on a certain number of events.
the mentality seems to be "make these events" more than "make good fights", and the end product shows.
honestly, when the pandemic hit and the lockdowns were in place i really enjoyed the Apex; it reminded me of Pride and how the audience was just silent and you could hear everything happening.
but now that the lockdowns are over, the Apex just feels sad and hollow. its like the UFC is an overconfident dude just cheering himself on in the mirror and no one else is around.
there are also too many fighters on the roster. it can be hard to keep track of fighters due to having a glut of them.

 

[FreedomCricket]

Threads like this are ridiculous.

Most of the posters complaining about fight night cards do not even watch them.

I watch pretty much every FN and for the majority of the booked fights are entertaining. I think a lot of people look at the names on the cards and pass judgement.

Even the Jerome/Justin fight, wasn't all that action packed until the last 30 seconds. There have been FN fights with similarly entertaining moments.

My biggest gripe about the FN cards is the lack of crowd at the Apex. Even 5,000 fans in a small setting could make the energy even better at these cards.

Someone tag @Dana and tell him to message me.

 

[philweed]

Pussy

Ok, liberal boy.

 

[whocares]

The next few months of events look pretty damn good. Some of these fight night cards are terrible on paper, but whether they deliver or not doesn't have much to do with the names on the card, same goes for higher profile events that don't always come through.

My beef with the UFC and the overabundance of fighters, especially new fighters to the company, is that they don't do enough to promote or at least make us aware of the other 600 people on the roster. The way they do endless promo leading up to main events of PPV cards, they should do a little bit of that for the FN cards too, lord knows the events are long enough to do it. Just let us know who the fuck these guys are, maybe a refresh on their last fight. Remind me. I can't remember every 1 off fighter on the roster. And yeah, the Apex blows.

Besides that, it's been a good year.

 

[TJ Dillashank]

there's a large majority here of fans who think that just because there is more, that it's better, and that as fans in 2024, we should be eternally grateful, because back then there wasn't a lot of MMA. but that's a stupid ass assessment, obviously. it's always been about quality vs. quantity. no one, besides these morons, wants to watch watered down cards, every weekend, full of nobodies, at unexciting weight classes, or ganders, nobody. besides these fools. no, you don't have to be grateful for mediocre watered down cards, no you don't have to immediately like all divisions, or WMMA for that matter. we all want to see the best. that has always been the case since day one. the worst fans are these guys who look down on those who don't want to watch crap, as if watching this crap somehow makes them better at sherdog or MMA, and then get violently offended when people say "hey, this actually sucks ass," as if having an opinion all of a sudden threatens their ability to enjoy watered down nonsensical hoo-haw. no one cares. either side. but my opinion is right.

If we wanted to watch crap fights every five seconds we would just go hang outside a bar or nightclub. The UFC is supposed to be the best in the world.

 

[Killer Kadoogan]

If we wanted to watch crap fights every five seconds we would just go hang outside a bar or nightclub. The UFC is supposed to be the best in the world.

street beefs is pretty damn exciting

 

[blaseblase]

street beefs is pretty damn exciting

The Apex cards are the equivalent of watching a D tier promotion. No one wants to dedicate 8 hours to watching that every week. But because it has the UFC branding we are supposed to pretend it is worth watching?

 

[Killer Kadoogan]

The Apex cards are the equivalent of watching a D tier promotion. No one wants to dedicate 8 hours to watching that every week. But because it has the UFC branding we are supposed to pretend it is worth watching?

i'm right there with you and i actively shit up the APEX PBP threads every chance, lol.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

The Apex cards are the equivalent of watching a D tier promotion. No one wants to dedicate 8 hours to watching that every week. But because it has the UFC branding we are supposed to pretend it is worth watching?

At the risk of sounding obvious just skip the Apex shows then.

 

[HunterAcosta]

“ Miss the days of Indian Casinos and events 4 x a year. The good ol days. “