I think Kevin’s on the money. The UFC is truly international, and while they might struggle with some of their stars, they can basically contain their costs. Conor McGregor’s fight was widely considered a bit of a joke, and while he can sit tight having earned his millions, I doubt many more will be queuing up anytime soon.
XFL would be incredibly unlikely to have any non-US traction. The NFL struggles with just pockets of interest here and there, so who’s going to want an inferior football product? The UFC *is* MMA on the other hand. Personally I have little to zero interest in the UFC or MMA in general, and my sports package includes most of the PPVs. But it still feels like it’s on upward trajectory, especially compared with boxing, or even WWE. The NBA is the only major US sport that feels truly international, although without supersonic flights developing ex-US markets is tough! Adam On Sun, 28 Jan 2018 at 22:28, Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote: > 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. > -- 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.
