When I joined the Peace Corps and lived in Central Asia back in 2002, fights in the octagon were hugely popular overseas. I assume if there is still an international market for it, UFC can make money even if its popularity declines in the US.
On Sun, Jan 28, 2018 at 2:09 PM, Steve Timko <[email protected]> wrote: > I don’t know how many of you follow mixed martial arts here. There’s > something interesting going on with the UFC ratings. > A couple of years ago the UFC sold for something like $4 billion. They > trotted out a lot of celebrities as minority owners but the rumors are that > most of the money came from China. Conan O’Brien was one of them and joked > he would be fighting in the UFC. In fact a lot of the celebrities have > since been bought out. > http://mmajunkie.com/2016/09/ufc-releases-list-of-23-new- > celebrity-owners-and-it-includes-a-bunch-of-friends-of-the-program > When I see something like that, I wonder if Vince McMahon’s ultimate goal > with XFL is to sell it to Chinese investors. > But the UFC has been in trouble. Its two biggest stars ever are no longer > active. Ronda Rousey lost twice by knockout and now has moved to the WWE > and is trying her hand in movies. Conor McGregor made tens of millions > fighting Mayweather and doesn’t seem interested to returning to fight for > only a few million a fight. > Injuries and age decimated the heavyweight ranks. Heavyweights are always > big ticket draws. It’s third biggest draw, Jon Jones, keeps getting busted > in drug tests, but is scheduled to return. No stars are taking the place > of the other stars. The second woman to knock out Rousey set the record for > the lowest-rating UFC show a few months ago with a title defense. That > record got eclipsed last night. > https://www.mmafighting.com/2018/1/28/16942314/ufc-on-fox- > show-ronaldo-jacare-souza-derek-brunson-draws-record-low-overnight-rating > Meanwhile, competitor Bellator counterprogrammed a UFC card a week ago by > scheduling a fight to go against it, and then moved their heavyweight > tournament fight onto that Bellator card. Both people fighting in the > heavyweight fight, Quinton Rampage Jackson and Chael Sonnen, are washed up. > So their fight was happened the same time as the UFC’s fight. But the > Bellator fight got double the viewers that last night’s UFC fight had with > no MMA competition. Maybe the piggybacking strategy worked, with people > turning both shows on instead of Bellator detracting from the UFC? > https://www.mmamania.com/2018/1/24/16925068/bellator-192- > rampage-vs-sonnen-tops-1-3-million-viewers-for-the-main-event > The UFC seems desperate for new stars. Dana White seemed firmly on the > Francis Ngannou bandwagon for the heavyweight title. Ngannou is a big, > muscular bruiser and was the betting favorite. But reigning champ Stipe > Miocic had an excellent strategy of wearing down Ngannou so his muscle mass > worked against him after being flooded with lactic acid. Ngannou was gassed > by the fourth round. After retaining the title, Miocic refused to let White > put the championship belt on him and took it away and handed it to his > coach. > http://metro.co.uk/2018/01/23/coach-respects-ufc- > heavyweight-champion-stipe-miocic-explains-dana-white-snub-7251981 > Heavyweight is the money division. Look at what having a couple of washed > up fighters at heavyweight did for Bellator the week before. Miocic is > likeable. He seems to be popular in Cleveland, where he was raised. But he > doesn’t have much charisma and isn’t catching on nationally. > Khabib Nurmagomedov looks fierce but took almost a year to recover from > problems he had making weight for one fight. He said his time in MMA is > limited. > Demetrious Johnson is spectacular at flyweight and had an incredible win > last year, but no one cares about flyweights. > So Dana White faces renegotiating the FOX Sports contract, or moving > someplace else, while ratings sag. This is after he reportedly made several > hundred million in the UFC sale. It may be that the glory days of the UFC > are over. The question is whether anyone can justify the $4 billion > investment. > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
