UFC reshuffle

El Guapo!

Does anybody else think the UFC could do with taking a little break for a while and having a little bit of a spring clean?

I think the UFC could do with taking a step back and having a good look at itself.
From injury plagued cards, to failed drug tests, to sub-par and too frequent cards with poor ratings, it just seems to be one thing after another.

I'd like to see the UFC take stock for a while and maybe make a few changes including:

Cut a lot of the fighters.
-This may seem harsh but I think the roster is too cluttered at the minute. There's plenty of mediocre fighters and plenty of poor fighters which could be dropped to make way for some fresh better talent.
Also, some of the weight divisions are HUGE while others are a bit sparse and lacking credible contenders and exciting fights.

Hire some new faces.
-Following on from my first point, if they decided to trim the fat, so to speak, it would make room for some fresh fighters possibly taken from other organisations like Bellator etc. I know a lot of those fighters would be locked in contracts but even a worldwide scouting campaign to introduce exciting new talent.

Introduce Grand Prix tournaments like in Strikeforce.
-I think they work really well and I'd like t see the UFC introduce something similar every once in a while.

Cut back on the number of events per year.
-I think this one is fairly self-explanatory. The number of events is leading to watered-down cards imo.

A new selection of tv shows.
-Everyone knows TUF just doesn't cut the mustard anymore and viewer numbers have seriously dropped. I think there needs to be some new shows introduced asap. Stuff along the lines of the Primetime shows they do before events would be good, but on a weekly/monthly basis following a different fighter. Or something like Fight Factory which was a great show and would work really well if they followed different gyms for a while. Or for something a bit different, why not a show that follows Herb Dean or Stitch Duran for a while and shows the events from a different perspective.


There's plenty of other stuff that I can't think of right now!

Anyone else think the UFC needs to kind of reinvent itself?

scudzilla

Do they need to re-invent themselves, i think they do, so do you, and probably quite a few more.

Will they though? No chance, so long as they keep selling out venue after venue in every city they go to they're gonna wanna keep events on every 2/3 weeks at most cos of the revenue

garhjw

Definitely agree with some of the above.

Cut fighters, bring in new faces etc. regarding the frequent cards, I would suggest having cards for developing fighters while keeping main event and championship cards separate.

El Guapo!

scudzilla wrote: »

Do they need to re-invent themselves, i think they do, so do you, and probably quite a few more.

Will they though? No chance, so long as they keep selling out venue after venue in every city they go to they're gonna wanna keep events on every 2/3 weeks at most cos of the revenue

Yeah you're probably right. That could well be their downfall though. They can't see past the money right now and by the time they realise a change needs to be made, it could be too late.

garhjw wrote: »

Definitely agree with some of the above.

Cut fighters, bring in new faces etc. regarding the frequent cards, I would suggest having cards for developing fighters while keeping main event and championship cards separate.

On the face of it, that sounds like a good idea but the problem is they'd never sell enough tickets to justify having an event just for developing fighters.
The way they used to do it was good. They'd have fight nights for the lesser known fighters and keep the numbered cards for the big guns. The difference was the fight night cards used to be brilliant. If they held one now it'd just be full of Brazilian fighters from the worst TUF in history. It'd be a terrible card.

feelpablo

either make numbered events say 4-5 title fights or no.1 contender fights across the weight divisions...
This should keep them sparse enough to not have the saturation that we are having and build the excitement that there used to be a few years back for the cards!!

cheque please Dana :D

Mellor

Dean09 wrote: »

I think the UFC could do with taking a step back and having a good look at itself.
From injury plagued cards, to failed drug tests, to sub-par and too frequent cards with poor ratings, it just seems to be one thing after another.

Injuries and failed drug tests are the nature of the sport.
I say that a decent number of failed drug tests this year came from the UFC themselves and not the ACs.

Cut a lot of the fighters.
-This may seem harsh but I think the roster is too cluttered at the minute. There's plenty of mediocre fighters and plenty of poor fighters which could be dropped to make way for some fresh better talent.
Also, some of the weight divisions are HUGE while others are a bit sparse and lacking credible contenders and exciting fights.

I think they do a decent job of cutting the fat.
The upper and lower divisions will always struggle for numbers compared to 155-170-185.
Is a full UFC roster available anywhere.

Hire some new faces.
-Following on from my first point, if they decided to trim the fat, so to speak, it would make room for some fresh fighters possibly taken from other organisations like Bellator etc. I know a lot of those fighters would be locked in contracts but even a worldwide scouting campaign to introduce exciting new talent.

They're coming

Introduce Grand Prix tournaments like in Strikeforce.
-I think they work really well and I'd like t see the UFC introduce something similar every once in a while.

I'd like that.
I suppose the hard part is fitting it in with the title. Do champs enter, or does the winner get a title shot. Each option has its own problems, either the champions bracket having the belt on the line, or the contenders sidelined for the duration.
But there is definitely a solution there.

At least they did a mini tourney. for the flyweights, and i'd would be good if they did it for the womens belt too.

Cut back on the number of events per year.
-I think this one is fairly self-explanatory. The number of events is leading to watered-down cards imo.

I dunno. The number of cards is probably proportional to the roster.
The days where there was less guys in the UFC meant it was easier to get your head around it all.

A new selection of tv shows.

TUF is stale.
Not sure what they could do tbh.

Xlami

The main problem seems to be 10 fight, fight cards. If you look at boxing rarely will you get a pro card where people will buy tickets based on the 7th or 8th fight (except family). The UFC however are producing shows with 20 plus pro fighters almost every week. This is what is increasing the injuries. They can either keep doing what they're doing or else smaller cards leading to smaller gates.

Dietsquirt

Dean09 wrote: »

Does anybody else think the UFC could do with taking a little break for a while and having a little bit of a spring clean?

I think the UFC could do with taking a step back and having a good look at itself.
From injury plagued cards, to failed drug tests, to sub-par and too frequent cards with poor ratings, it just seems to be one thing after another.

I'd like to see the UFC take stock for a while and maybe make a few changes including:

Cut a lot of the fighters.
-This may seem harsh but I think the roster is too cluttered at the minute. There's plenty of mediocre fighters and plenty of poor fighters which could be dropped to make way for some fresh better talent.
Also, some of the weight divisions are HUGE while others are a bit sparse and lacking credible contenders and exciting fights.

Hire some new faces.
-Following on from my first point, if they decided to trim the fat, so to speak, it would make room for some fresh fighters possibly taken from other organisations like Bellator etc. I know a lot of those fighters would be locked in contracts but even a worldwide scouting campaign to introduce exciting new talent.

Introduce Grand Prix tournaments like in Strikeforce.
-I think they work really well and I'd like t see the UFC introduce something similar every once in a while.

Cut back on the number of events per year.
-I think this one is fairly self-explanatory. The number of events is leading to watered-down cards imo.

A new selection of tv shows.
-Everyone knows TUF just doesn't cut the mustard anymore and viewer numbers have seriously dropped. I think there needs to be some new shows introduced asap. Stuff along the lines of the Primetime shows they do before events would be good, but on a weekly/monthly basis following a different fighter. Or something like Fight Factory which was a great show and would work really well if they followed different gyms for a while. Or for something a bit different, why not a show that follows Herb Dean or Stitch Duran for a while and shows the events from a different perspective.


There's plenty of other stuff that I can't think of right now!

Anyone else think the UFC needs to kind of reinvent itself?

I don't agree with this, the UFC has a lot of top fighters, particularly at middleweight and welterweight. With Dana saying the UFC is going in to India soon; they're bound to find a few future champions there. Granted, some events aren't as appealing as a Silva/Sonnen or GSP/Condit card but i still enjoy them all.

Just my opinion though

El Guapo!

Dietsquirt wrote: »

I don't agree with this, the UFC has a lot of top fighters, particularly at middleweight and welterweight. With Dana saying the UFC is going in to India soon; they're bound to find a few future champions there. Granted, some events aren't as appealing as a Silva/Sonnen or GSP/Condit card but i still enjoy them all.

Just my opinion though

I'm not saying the UFC doesn't have top fighters. Of course it does. It's the top promotion in the world and they have some of the best fighters in the world.
What I am saying is that every business, no matter what it is, must keep evolving and changing to keep it fresh and appealing. You can't stick with the same business model and over saturate the game, and expect the money to keep rolling in.
Now I'm not suggesting the UFC is stuck for money. They clearly aren't. But I just think there's room for a few changes.

Mr. Manager

I'd like to see a more structured 'shot at the belt' system instead of this bullshít of "Maybe, if he wins 2 more fights, and 1 is a really good performance, and 1 is against a top level blah blah blah, he might get a shot" Then said person wins those fights and they don't get a shot at the title.

This is complete and utter bullshít IMO.

p to the e

Mellor wrote: »

Injuries and failed drug tests are the nature of the sport.
I say that a decent number of failed drug tests this year came from the UFC themselves and not the ACs.

I think they do a decent job of cutting the fat.
The upper and lower divisions will always struggle for numbers compared to 155-170-185.
Is a full UFC roster available anywhere.

I found this a while back. Some guy just did it up on Google Docs himself and he regularly keeps it up to date.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgRF_uTWus4FdFZlTDJsMkRQV2tNdi1CRUE3bTRwMVE#gid=0

Xlami

Cereal Rapist wrote: »

I'd like to see a more structured 'shot at the belt' system instead of this bullshít of "Maybe, if he wins 2 more fights, and 1 is a really good performance, and 1 is against a top level blah blah blah, he might get a shot" Then said person wins those fights and they don't get a shot at the title.

This is complete and utter bullshít IMO.

Dana said in 2010 UFC were 5 years away from having Continental Champions. This might be a complete failure but I'd love to see it tried. With local TUF's building local rosters. Like a European belt at each weight class. It might mean more European fight cards too.

Mr. Manager

Yea, he said he'd love to have different country ranked systems by 2014 last I read. Don't see that happening any time soon. Sure how would it even work? The UFC would basically be divided into 3 groups - USA, Brazil, Rest of the World.

Xlami

Could get messy with mandatory defences and if fighters held regional and world titles etc. but would still be open to trying it.

MartyMcFly84

I would be interested in a all female TUF . Ronda and Cyborg/Tate as coaches.

If the UFC are serious about women in the UFC it would be a great way to bring in some vets, find new talent and market them.

It would also be refreshing and add a new dynamic to the house.

Would be a nice change from "Let me bang bro!" "I'm letting you bang"

ATMatm

Simply put the problems now all boil down to "Lack Of Stars." Too many cards mean that promising guys get on a show with no viewers (or Facebook) and don't connect with the fans as they should.

Everyone comes across as just another guy. Cutting down shows will lead to short term decreases in profit but will make more huge PPVs. It won't be as profitable as 09/10 in the long run but the company will stay profitable for much longer.

Fan burnout is a real problem. The casual fan won't watch every show on FX or Fuel and as such will miss the rising stars etc. it's not the hardcore fans UFC needs to cater to, they'll be there regardless. They need to look at the casual fans and cater to them instead.

Ush1

I'm not sure I agree with the number of cards being reduced.

I think one of the problems lately anyway is quite a few of their main stars are getting injured and the big names aren't fighting often enough. The need to really figure something out with the injuries situation.

I see lots of great fighters and loads of great fights being announced but how many come to fruition? You watch a fighter get a great win, are hyped to see his next fight and then yep, he's injured and his next fight isn't for months.

El Guapo!

Ush1 wrote: »

I'm not sure I agree with the number of cards being reduced.

I think one of the problems lately anyway is quite a few of their main stars are getting injured and the big names aren't fighting often enough. The need to really figure something out with the injuries situation.

I see lots of great fighters and loads of great fights being announced but how many come to fruition? You watch a fighter get a great win, are hyped to see his next fight and then yep, he's injured and his next fight isn't for months.

I'd agree with this to an extent. 2012 has been a very unlucky year regarding injuries. It seemed like almost every card had 1 or 2 changes due to injury. I'm not sure if anything can be done with it though. If an injury happens then its just tough luck I suppose.
I do still think some cards are very weak and I think the cause of this is having so many events throughout the year. With the events being so frequent, they are being filled with lesser known fighters. Plus if a big name pulls out of a card due to injury or whatever, there's rarely another big-ish name available to step in. Mainly because they only fought on a recent card and are either injured, on medical suspension, or don't have enough time to prepare.

Mr. CooL ICE

Dean09 wrote:

Introduce Grand Prix tournaments like in Strikeforce.
-I think they work really well and I'd like t see the UFC introduce something similar every once in a while.

Mellor wrote: »

I'd like that.
I suppose the hard part is fitting it in with the title. Do champs enter, or does the winner get a title shot. Each option has its own problems, either the champions bracket having the belt on the line, or the contenders sidelined for the duration.
But there is definitely a solution there.

At least they did a mini tourney. for the flyweights, and i'd would be good if they did it for the womens belt too.

I really like this idea if it gives the winner a title shot. It would help end things like Sonnen blagging his way into a LHW shot

T-K-O

There are too many shows...go back to old days. Fewer stacked cards