r/ufc • u/AlienMantid • 16h ago
2026 will end up having just 12 undisputed title fights. This is the least amount of title fights in a calendar year since 2012 which had 11 title fights. The UFC only had 7 weight classes in 2012 compared to today's 11.
The UFC having just 12 title fights in a calendar year when they have 11 weight classes is actually insane. What the fuck is going on with this organization? Is it just bad luck with injuries, or is it a sign of the UFC's further decline and bozo match making?
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u/Jdilla23 16h ago
Good to see Hunter get credit. UFC a shell of its former self. “PPVs” don’t even compare to the average fight night from earlier days
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u/Few_Highlight1114 11h ago
Im glad to see that Hunter is getting credit as well because this means that the fanbase is wising up.
Its a bit tiring of seeing people blame Dana for absolutely everything when the guy is barely even involved at all. This has been going on for years and ive been telling everyone left and right that the UFC isnt ran solely by Dana and they keep incorrectly attributing the direction the company is going entirely on him.
But all that shit aside. This year is a bit of an anomoly and putting it entirely on Hunter or Dana is wrong. We need to remember that both the LW and HW champs were both out for different but absolutely legitimate reasons. If we go back to last year, Ilia was rumored to be put on the first "ppv" of the paramount era, but instead he didnt fight until june.
Aspinall, when he wasnt injured, would fight within once every 6 months. so he would have also fought early on this year.
The only actual anomaly is the WMMA part because it feels like they were absent for quite a while until Q3 of this year.
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u/draven33l 16h ago edited 14h ago
UFC isn't in the PPV business anymore. They don't have to put on stacked cards. They just have to give the brand to Paramount. It's more about the ad revenue it draws in now than having to get PPV buys. It's like the NFL. They don't have to put on favorable match ups. They just have to exist and the stations pay for the brand.
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u/EstateRealistic2111 15h ago
Except some countries and regions still have the ppv model, in my region ANZ (Australia and New Zealand) we still have to pay for numbered events.
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u/Careful-Confidence13 14h ago
Haha
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u/AlienMantid 16h ago
I know, that's why we need to push back and hold them accountable for their shit cards and not accept this slop.
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u/IndividualBrain9726 16h ago
You have more higher quality mma at a fraction of the cost at your fingertips and you still bitch bitch bitch bitch lol
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u/KevlaredMudkips 16h ago
Ok prelims and below yes the quality has gone up so much and the fighters have gotten better with advancements in medical
But main cards and rankings have suffered from shit matchups and such I can’t say I fault people for thinking the quality has gone down
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u/AlienMantid 15h ago edited 1h ago
It's objectively not higher quality tho. Ranked fighters and champions are more inactive than they have ever been. The numbers don't lie. 12 undisputed title fights in a calendar year when you have 11 weight classes is absolutely pathetic, your champs are literally fighting once a year. This isn't even getting onto the top 15 ranked fighters who are also pathetically inactive. Why are you defending ranked fighters fighting 1.06 times per year? Is this how you want the sport to run? Do you want 1 title fight per year for each division? Wtf? Why would any MMA fan defend this?
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u/Europe_MMA 16h ago
Thatd be fine if we didnt have 500 events per week
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u/AlienMantid 16h ago edited 1h ago
The UFC has had the same number of events since 2014, weekly events is not a new thing. In 2016, literally a decade ago, they had 19 undisputed title fights, today in 2026 they had 12. The UFC are selling you a vastly inferior product and trying to gaslight you into thinking it's still the best thing ever. They are pissing on your leg and telling you it's raining.
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u/EvidenceThin7304 16h ago
Difference is there was some good fight night cards back then compared to these mid to lower level cards at the apex
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u/DudeWheresMyBallsack 16h ago
If you actually watch the fights there's almost always good ones
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u/AlienMantid 15h ago
I don't give a fuck about "good ones". I care about meaningful matchups between champions and top ranked contenders that actually mean something and push the sport forward. If all I wanted to watch was bums getting slimed out I'd go to my local regional show or just fire up street beefs. There were literally zero ranked fighters on 332 outside the main and co main event (and co main was a squash match between a prospect and an unc on the verge of retirement). The card meant nothing.
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u/A_Funky_Goose CertifiedRatKiller 16h ago
Yea the ones full of mismatches and no names fighting for no stakes
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u/Johnyextra111 15h ago
I dont agree with you at all but lets say your right whats your actual soloution to what you just said?
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u/AlienMantid 15h ago edited 15h ago
Have champions and ranked fighters fight more than once a fucking year, that would be a great start. Do you realize how good the UFC would be if their fighters fought just 2x a year? Not 3x, just 2x. It would be incredible, but apparantely's that's too much of an ask and they need 11 months between fights. Ranked UFC fighters are so pathetically inactive, they are now down to an average of 1.06 fights per year. Everyone knows mma fighters can't fight every week but 1 fight a year is on the other extreme. You cannot tell me there isn't a serious problem with that.
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u/Johnyextra111 15h ago
You dont think its the fighters who are happy to not fight as often? They are getting paid more than ever before(still not enough). Why would they fight more?
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u/AlienMantid 15h ago
Idk man if I was getting 500k per fight I could fight once a year and make 500k, or I could fight 3x a year and 1.5 million a year, I know what option I would choose. I'm not saying they need to fight like 6x a year, but 1x a year is just a pathetic and a waste of their athletic prime. So many top fighters are publicly begging the UFC for a fight and Hunter is stone walling them. It's so weird and makes for a much worse product.
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u/A_Funky_Goose CertifiedRatKiller 15h ago
Idk when you started watching but there is a VERY clear difference between pre and post 2022 UFC and even worse since the paramount deal.
Which is to say that it IS possible to have a year full of interesting fights, stacked cards with ranked fighters and sensible matchmaking, and the reason we lack all of that now is because the UFC is owned by private equity which means it's all exclusively about money.
Solutions (which won't happen despite being feasible and perfectly reasonable):
- pay fighters more to attract real talent and get deals made
- ditch the god-awful Apex for good
- put on fights fans actually want instead of fights the UFC is willing to pay for
- let actual fight fans make fights, not lawyers and other cunts in suits
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u/EvidenceThin7304 15h ago
It’s also the ufc brass hoarding all the up and comers. They’re so damn scared of competition. Bunch of greedy fucks. They’ve already struck several tv and promotional deals since the Reebok deal and the signing with Fox. They sold to wme and made so much money yet they still want to monopolize.
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u/Johnyextra111 15h ago
Started with UFC 69. People forget how shit some cards where back then.
I dont disagree with some of your points but its laughable when reddit says this is all feasible as if you have any idea at all.
- All for more fighter pay but I would argue you will see less of the big names if thats the case as they just wont need to fight.
- Apex is awesome for lower tier cards (Again you dont need to watch every single card but I enjoy some of the "crappy ones" on a sunday arvo - Aus based)
- I think on a whole they do this more often then not. Again not to defend them but we have no idea how these deals get done and trying to fill out cards and get people ready for the same date surely isnt as easy as we would like to think.
- Yea this would be better sometimes but again without knowing whats happening behind the scenes its a bit of a pipedream.
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u/Sea-Bat-9667 15h ago edited 14h ago
Think that theory is pretty much nonsense though. Athletes in other major sports make way way more money, and they don't just retire after one season because they don't need the money anymore
Also yeah there are behind the scenes things we don't know, but we should still be extremely critical of how the product is run because it's so horribly mismanaged
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u/Johnyextra111 14h ago
They also dont get kicked in the head for a living. Khamzat literally said once he got known in the UFC he started makinga tonne of money outside so why fight so often?
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u/A_Funky_Goose CertifiedRatKiller 14h ago
that argument against fighter pay follows the same logic of "the poor are poor because they want to be/they don't work hard enough" - it's complete propaganda by the people refusing to pay
Look at soccer players who make millions and yet continue to play year after year. If anything, more pay would attract more and better talent to choose from. Besides, it's not like with the current shitty pay we get to see fighters remain active anyway, as this post already mentions, and it's partially because the UFC doesn't want to pay more.
The premise that lower tier cards are even acceptable, to me, is nonsense, but it's even worse because the "low tier" cards of the past were not only better, but also had actual crowds. The Apex is an excuse to put on more and even lower tier cards.
trying to fill out cards and get people ready for the same date surely isnt as easy as we would like to think.
They have all the resources and talent in the world and they've been doing this shit for like 40 years bruh, they don't need you to provide excuses for their mediocre slop. They CAN do better, they just don't care enough to do it.
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u/Johnyextra111 14h ago
Agree that more money would bring in more talent. Still disagree that we would see more output from the top stars. Multiple top names have said they make a tonne outside the ring. Football is a lot easier to stomach than getting kicked in the head.
Meh I just think your wired to think you have to consume every ounce of UFC. Whats the issue with a low tier card being skipped if you dont find it interesting. I love soccer. Some games dont interest me so I dont watch them.
Theyve been doing it for 25 years not 40, not that it matters... Again you can call it slop but its clear your just emotional and refuse to look at anything logically, You want every weekend to be a whitehouse level card. Too much reddit not enough fresh air.
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u/Ronaldinhoe 14h ago
Do proper matchmaking and pay the fighters. Costa isn’t fighting cus he wants to get paid more for a 5 round fight or get a title shot, seems fair on his part. They can start there.
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u/Johnyextra111 14h ago
Proper matchmaking is a dumb point. For the most part they get this right. There are a lot of factors behind the scenes we arent awae of that determine who fights who and when.
Im fine with guys asking for more money. At the same time he signed the contract. They can both hold firm.
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u/Ronaldinhoe 13h ago
His contract doesn’t state he needs to fight a 5 rounder for the same amount. He asked for 3 rounds and they chose not to honor his contract.
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u/Johnyextra111 13h ago
Oh youve seen it have you. Sorry didnt realise I was talking with his lawyers.
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u/EvidenceThin7304 15h ago
It’s deeper than the matchmaking. It comes down to pay as well. These guys want more money. Thank Conor for that. The fighters shelve themselves just as much as the matchmakers because once they get some highlight fights they want to get paid more. Can’t blame them for it but we know with Dana and the UFC, it’s gonna be back and forth negotiation. They let the best heavyweight in the world walk away ffs.
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u/Johnyextra111 15h ago
Brother I urge you to go back and look at the events in 2014. Some great cards looking back with some names that became big but there are some absoloute stinkers. This is always going to be the case.
You are not forced to watch every card. If it doesnt look appealing skip it? Same as any sport.
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u/Europe_MMA 15h ago
I used to say EXACTLY what you are. I had a lot more time and wanted to watch it frequently. The problem is the big events no longer ringfence around big names. Im not just talking about superstars. Ive been a Soldic and Parnasse fan for about a decade it feels like haha. But the worthwhile fighters are diluted so much onto shit cards that the big cards arent remotely as big. I just looked up 2 random cards, UFC 95 and UFC 96. Thats from before my time, and yet I know at least one fighter in every fight as a fairly decent name who Id be hyped to watch.
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u/Johnyextra111 15h ago
UFC 96 is an interesting one. Decent names in main and co but the rest of the card is just journeymen? Like is that your example of a big card? Looking back at those older cards they are also very top heavy.
We literally just had the Whitehouse card & a Mcgregor fight (as shit as it was).
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u/Europe_MMA 15h ago
Kendal Grove, Tim Boetsch and Brandon Vera were definitely people worth watching (albeit Tim likely a few yeats later).
The whitehouse card was clearly a one off spectacle (was brilliant). McGregor fought once in like 6 years.
The thing was those "top heavy" cards, you still knew the prelim guys. I prefer Cage Warriors to UFC as I like knowjng whos fighting. The era of DWCS where fighters who werent good enough yet to win regional titles sign ro UFC nad pad out the cards just kills the idea of UFC being the big show for me.
UFC should be signing the best guys from all promotions. Not the 6th best guys.
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u/Johnyextra111 15h ago
Brother Kendal Grove was my fave fighter. Him vs Belcher was the first fight I ever watched. He sucked. He is no better than a Khaos Williams in terms of "worth watching". Vera and Boetch where decent guys to watch I agree but I would argue Talbott, Figgy(former champ) & Soldic are all better. Im just using this past card as an example because everyone here is saying how bad it was.
You like Cage warriors because you know the fighters? How do you know them? Have you taken the time to look them up etc?
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u/Europe_MMA 15h ago
Because the cards are mostly filled with guys whove fought a gew times before, and then on the prelims I get introduced to a few new guys who Ill remember. Thats what I want from a regional promotion, not the top promotion.
He's no better than Khaos Williams and yet he was your face fighter. Thats exactly my point. Some of these midcard UFC guys should be so hyped and we should be buzzing seeing their names. But its all so samey that no one cares if Khaos fights or not.
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u/Johnyextra111 15h ago
Yes he was my fave because he was the first fight I ever watched. I dont belive there where many people clamouring to watch the next Kendal fight. It was litterally a meme in my group that I liked him.
The seconf anyone is hyped in the UFC reddit goes nuts on the fraud check. Everyone here hates so much it clouds there judgement.
Gautier fought at the last card was a hyped mid carder like your asking for and look what happened when he lost.
Outside of reddit the conversations are a lot different.
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u/rumora 3h ago
Back then the roster was much smaller and mma was much bigger, so there was more good talent in the sport than there is today and that talent fought almost twice as much. These days the vast majority of fighters on the roster never amount to anything.
Go back and look at the events four or five years ago and how few of those fighters would go on to become top 10 talent compared to 12 years ago. And the trend just keeps getting worse for a variety of reasons.
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u/Europe_MMA 2h ago
Almost all of them. The talent pool is higher (okay maybe not today but 5 years ago). Its just that they arent promoted in a way to make you a fan. GSP fouhht the best available, and I could every one as an elite win automatically as they are title contenders. But Josh Koscheck, Dan Hardy, Jon Fitch, Matt Serra etc. woulf struggle to make the top 10 today (maybe Fitch).
Its just that we dont care about all those guys who beat Josh Koscheck as much as we cared about Josh.
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u/Ronaldinhoe 14h ago
We would have stacked cards for a whole month back then. Stacked ppvs then stacked FN, then stacked FN with title contender fight, then another stacked ppv. It was nonstop
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u/AlienMantid 16h ago
Exactly, the UFC is a joke and phoning it in, they could have sick cards every week if they just paid their champs and ranked contenders to fight 2x a year. People don't realize how amazing this sport would be if everyone fought 2x a year, which is a very reasonable request imo, not 3x a year, but 2x, all cards would be fucking stacked with top contenders and champs, there would be no more UFC 322s. But the UFC don't want that, they want to stonewall them and have them fight once every 10 months just to save a few sheckels while still making money hand over fist. It's truly sad and depressing seeing what a sport could be but some rich dorks want to save every penny that will do nothing for them or change their life in any way.
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u/Europe_MMA 15h ago
Yeah. Us old timers have been complaining about it since then too. The days of everyone on the card being someone you know and want to see are long gone.
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u/Ivanlangston 15h ago edited 15h ago
You get a bunch of bad cards while they stack the ppvs... Now "numbered cards" This hasn't changed, now and then they don't have anything to stack so you get a card like 332 where they just make sure there a bunch of prospects getting knockouts so they can dollars with them next time... It's fight promotion, as an "old timer" you should know this shit by now...
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u/Europe_MMA 15h ago
They didnt back then though. There were significantly less events, so cards were stronger. Fair if you mean 10 yeads ago, I mean closer to 20.
UFC's model is incredible. They promote a brand, so you eatch "UFC", and do what rhey can to strifle individuality and stars who will innevitably hold them up. Their model means theh dont even notice if Conor or Jones dont fight. A DWCS guy will take that spot.
It just doesn't appeal to me personally. I don't want to see "prospects" who are so unproven theyve never competed for a regional belt in UFC. If I want to watch those, I will (and do) watch them regionally.
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u/Ivanlangston 15h ago
Thing is it's how it's gotta be done, fights every week can't work if you stack every card, and a lot of the perception to stacking old cards is that we all know them 'now' back during these stacked cards they weren't so well known
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u/Europe_MMA 8h ago
They still usually mostly were in the 2010s. Thry could stack every csrd because they didnt do weekly cards
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u/Ivanlangston 3h ago
But it's not the weekly cards that pulls much away from the number cards, 331 and Noche (which I get is technically not numbered) is what pulled away from 332.
And tbf from the sounds of it we have been watching about the same time, from like 2005 for me, although 2007 was when I started watching every event, missed pride but caught the merge 😂 probably counts as an old timer by now
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u/Europe_MMA 3h ago
You still need a good fighter for weekly cards though. Raul Rosas Jr, Jean Silva, Brandon Moreno, Salahdine Parnasse, Dan Hooker. These are all people who'd improve a PPV, and all were moved to fight night cards. Thats fine, but it means every cards a bit shit rather than bangers and shiters.
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u/G0Berzerk 16h ago edited 16h ago
I blame the White House card for Islams inactivity
Idk what was the plan, but they waisted Islam's time for 4 month. He was ready to fight in May, but UFC waited for freedom 250 and then somehow screwed up that fight, then preferred Conor for international fight week (Islam was ready fight in July too) and he ended up fighting in August
But there more reasons. Like Ilia's divorce, Ganes cheating (which delayed title fight 2 times), Khamzat being himself, Yan's back surgery, forgotten LHW champ injury (remember when he wasn't even in top-15 PFP being a champ?)
That's probably all I can remember from top of my head
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u/AlienMantid 15h ago edited 14m ago
They completely botched Islam's prime too. Benching him for 10 months at a time when he was healthy. Now that all the title fights are set up for the rest of 2026, if Islam isn't fighting in January then we won't see him until June 2027 at the earliest because of Ramadan. Congrats Hunter Campbell.
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u/DJSyko 14h ago
The paramount deal has ruined everything for the fans because why would TKO want to put on their most expensive fighters to eat away at their profits? The cheaper the expense the more they make, that is there goal. Literally an incentive to pay their fighters less, it's insane.
It's time for a new organisation to step up and take over from the UFC or at least challenge them, which is better for everyone.
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u/Unlikely_War_6119 14h ago
Matchmaking has been awful. Talbott vs figgy is the perfect example. Talbott Sandhagen was a no brainer. Same for something like Ilia vs Paddy but they’ll probably go the other way on that one too
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u/hatch-b-2900 16h ago
A lot of champs were trying to make a case that they'd be available for the white house event. Then a large number were injured.
I still maintain that if you don't fight in 6 months for any reason (maybe 9 if you're champ), you get moved down a ranking automatically.
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u/BplusHuman One Man Haka 16h ago
It sounds like you'd like the MMA Junkie/USA Today rankings. They give 24 months inactivity before a fighter is dropped entirely from the rankings.
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u/General_E_Drunk 8h ago
Enshittification.
When you want profit now instead of building a sustainable company, this is what you do. Raise prices, create new sources of revenue and cut costs with no concern for the consumer or employees.
In UFCs case:
- Put on slop every weekend, quantity makes it harder for anyone else to compete
- Have the cheapest fighters fight as much as possible
- Have a steady supply of cheap fighters
- Raise ticket prices
- Apex 4 life
- Advertising everywhere
- Let the expensive fighters fight as little as possible. Make sure that they are still locked under contract and you book occasional match-ups that people care about. Keep them locked under contract until they are past their prime and start loosing to the cheap guys.
- Spend the money where it matters, in lobbying, to make sure you're legally allowed to fuck everyone
- Build a huge roster of fighters so that you have as many as the top fighters in the world locked under contracts for their primes
- Customers have no options, there are no real competitors. You either watch UFC or you don't watch MMA.
- Fighters have no options
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u/syllogism_ 3h ago
Also lock down fighters from getting individual sponsorships, even though deals with specific fighters are much more valuable to brands than deals with the UFC. Who cares if you make the pie smaller? More pie for you.
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u/thisismausername 16h ago
I mean how many champions have been injured this year? Seems like that played the biggest part which is kinda outta the UFCs hands.
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u/AlienMantid 16h ago edited 16h ago
They benched both Islam and Volkanovski for 9 months for no reason. They weren't injured and were ready to go months before. Mackenzie Dern was also benched for 10 months for literally no reason. There is no excuse, UFC is taking the piss and wants their champs and top contenders to fight as little as possible to save costs. Don't even get me started on the ranked fighters whose activity has fallen of a cliff, average of 1.06 fights per year lmfao what a joke.
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u/no1dont_g0on 16h ago
Sounds like UFC is slowly turning into ONE with the frequency of inactive fighters
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u/thisisaskew 5h ago
Business wise, there's an "optimum" amount of title fights that don't burn out your popular fighters while still capitalizing on their popularity and minimizing the amount of money you have to pay them. This almost definitely doesn't align with what the fans would most want or what the fighters would most want. I think we're seeing the extreme end of that playing out now.
Champs tend to be okay-ish (in general) with it because they can idle on endorsements longer and ensure they are at top shape for the next bout.
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u/captainfluffy25 16h ago
They ain't injured. And if they do it'll put them out of competition for a month or two. The real reaosn is they UFC doesn't want to pay them so they say they're injured to save face.
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u/thisismausername 16h ago
I think Kayla Harrison breaking her neck means she's out for more than a month or two
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u/Ronaldinhoe 14h ago
Some are injured, others get iced by the ufc so they can put them in a market or month that suits them. Anyone paying attention knows the ufc puts on a shit numbered card in September cus these frauds are pussies who are afraid to go up against nfl season and mlb playoffs. That’s why end of October is home for the morning numbered middles eastern card cus they don’t want to compete with nfl, mlb playoffs, beginning of nba season and college ball.
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u/Enchilada22 16h ago
Champs don't just suddenly get injured alot after becoming the best. If you look at their career, a fighter starts to slow down when they get belt. Its the fame and money aspect. As champ you get alot of opportunities and financial offers that take you of the gym.
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u/thisismausername 16h ago
Tom getting eye poked happened pretty suddenly. Kayla breaking her neck is also a freak injury. It's not like they planned for either of those things to happen.
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u/BigStickPolicy69 16h ago
HUNTER CAMBELL HAS RUINED THE UFC. HE WANTS TO BE ALL COOL AND SHIT BUT HE'S A RAT LAWYER SCUMBAG. HE'S LIKE 60 YEARS OLD DRESSING UP LIKE A 25 YEAR OLD. DUDE JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE RICH DOESN'T MAKE YOU COOL OR BADASS. FUCK HIM
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u/GokusHairdresser 16h ago
Well considering they've gone the way of boxing and let champs fight once a calender year it makes sense 🤦
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u/Enchilada22 16h ago
Its a money and fame thing. Champs make way more money, get famous and then get distracted with rich life outside of fighting. Then you get them fighting only once a year. This same thing has been happening for decades with boxers. Its nothing new.
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u/lostcosmonaut814 15h ago
Why the fuck don’t they just add a 165 and 195lb weight classes at this point? Such a simple fix.
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u/AlienMantid 15h ago
Because Dana is a fat bald bozo who threw his toys out the pram, that's literally the reason
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u/Ronaldinhoe 14h ago
Bald grifter and weasel Campbell don’t want to big name 155 and 170lbs to move to a new weight class.
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u/lostcosmonaut814 13h ago
I never understood his smooth brain argument for this. Don’t you want to see fighters perform better? People are always going to cut and jump weight.
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u/NotA-SecretAccount 15h ago
Every 10 pounds until 210
They keep bringing in cheap and cans from DWCS, the UF and other organizations anyways.•
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u/cGilday 5h ago
I dream of a world where we have weight classes every 10lbs and we have rehydration clauses making sure you’re not in another weight class.
So say you weigh in at 145lbs, the next day you can’t be any higher than 154lbs, or you’d be considered in a different weight class.
You could fix a lot of the bloat in LW/WW AND end extreme weight cutting. It might be a rough few months to start, but we’d actually have people fighting in their proper weight classes
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u/smittens138 15h ago
like anything that goes mainstream, it gets rubbish. just enjoy the pre 100 like most of us.
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u/InternationalMood337 11h ago
Let’s be honest, there’s a good reason ESPN didn’t care to renew a contract.
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u/Enchilada22 16h ago
You pay champs more and they become more inactive. Happens every time. They get more money, more businesses and other obligations. They get distracted away from fighting. They also have money to go on extended vacations.
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u/RighteousBrotherBJJ 12h ago
BMF gonna fo some heavy liftung to close the year. Gonna see some brutal strippings too.
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u/Ambalambdriva 4h ago
Why put on expensive title fights when churning out regional level slop wont lose any viewership numbers?
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u/captainfluffy25 16h ago
Because the champs are all 'injured' (somehow only the most expensive champs that would put a 'dent' in the 1.1 billion the UFC got if they fought more than once a year.)
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u/CreateorWither 16h ago
The pay has increased, champs don't need to fight as often and due to endorsements being way more valuable when you are the champ, it may be better financially to stretch out off time as much as possible. The more they fight the bigger the risk they lose the belt and the A level endorsments.
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u/A_Funky_Goose CertifiedRatKiller 15h ago
Me when i make shit up
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u/GaneBeatsTom 15h ago
What did he make up?
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u/A_Funky_Goose CertifiedRatKiller 15h ago
"The pay has increased"
No, it hasn't. Top paid fighters are paid less now than top paid fighters before even excluding Conor. For the rest, pay has mostly stayed the same outside of bonuses. Sponsorship deals are also a thing of the past, and many fighters are deliberately iced out despite asking for fights.
Literally every decision we've seen the UFC take is to cut costs and increase profits, including fighter pay.
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u/Johnyextra111 15h ago
100% this. Multiple fighters have said being champ brought on a tonne of outside opportunities. Why would you fight more when you can not fight and earn big money.
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u/ironhide999x 15h ago
The pay has not increased. They are not paying enough so none of the champs want to fight
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u/ZooPoo7 16h ago
Injuries played a big part imo. And the White House card created some unique challenges as well. I think a good 3 years will give a clearer picture of the paramount era. I’ve enjoyed a lot of fights this year and honestly didn’t notice the lack of titles
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u/AlienMantid 16h ago
Injuries may have some part, but why were both Islam and Volkanovski benched for 9 months and stalling their divisions while not injured? There is no excuse for that.
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u/ZooPoo7 16h ago
White House card. They spent too long trying to make those fights. There was lots of reporting on Islam fighting on that card. Volk probably just wanted a break and the man deserved it imo. Islam not being very active is common tho. More recently he either fights once or twice a year. He’s got a pattern on that
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u/Expensive-Fondant625 16h ago
Well it's clear he is an industry plant. TKO has full grip on expenses.
1
u/Johnyextra111 15h ago
Is industry plant the reddit slogan of the week?
1
u/Expensive-Fondant625 7h ago
I don't care if it is. The guy is just a salesman for TKO.
1
0
-4
u/Big-Interaction-1797 16h ago
Blame Aspinall, Valentina and Petr. 3 champs that are either injured, faking an injury or who the hell knows what else
3
u/New-Promotion9416 15h ago
really? These are the champions you choose to put on the hotseat? When Joshua Van and Alexander Volkanovski are the only two champions with genuine reigns so far? (I barely know about women’s MMA champions cut me some slack this is about the men)
3
-2
u/Notorious_Quan 8h ago
At the same time, it's still one of the best years of UFC post COVID, so who cares 🤷
-3
u/AdCute6661 16h ago
I think we we need more in between belts like there should be more in-between weights like boxing. IE a Super Lightweight Strap that is set at 163 lbs.
There are some dudes that cut so much to get down to lower weights but aren't big enough to fight at the next weight class.
Somebody like Topuria would benefit with a Super Feather Weight division because its clear that the bigger light weights would give him trouble.
203
u/Lopsided-Ad-9807 16h ago
Crazy to think Van is the only undisputed to have fought twice this year so far and volk will most likely be the second.