In recent months, a lot of the moves the UFC has been making have had people scratching their heads. The UFC is leading the MMA game by a long shot, but scrappy underdog Bellator is slowly starting to catch up. The UFC seems like they’re no longer concerned with having the “best” fighters, they want the most “marketable” fighters. This is evidenced by Dana’s treatment of GSP, Mighty Mouse, and any number of other fighters who have been very poorly treated. You can understand some under card fighter talking trash about Dana White and feeling the wrath, I guess, which still isn’t very professional… but we’re talking about two of the UFC’s most dominant champions ever.
Is the same attitude that helped build the UFC also going to be its downfall?
With a constant stream of fighters leaving the UFC, with the Reebok deal being a big catalyst, but also the opportunity to work with Scott Coker at Bellator instead of Dana White (Roy Nelson, most recently, said this was a factor in his decision to leave the UFC). The scortched earth way that the UFC operates got them to where they were, but now that they’re owned by a huge talent agency, with a bunch of celebrity investors, can they afford to keep treating their fighters so poorly? But with billions of debt to service, can they afford to treat them any better, either?
The UFC puts on a big show, their Fighter Summit in Las Vegas, but a lot of fighters were left shooting looks at eachother like “Why are they spending millions to try to serve us propaganda instead of… paying us more fairly?”
There are a small handful of fighters that make huge money, notably Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey during her reign. It’s been ages since Conor has fought and he doesn’t have any fights announced, we don’t even know if his next fight will be MMA, and Ronda is still a.w.o.l and not training at a gym that can improve her striking. The UFC peaked right before it was sold, and the new owners are stuck holding the bag. How many huge cards have there been this year so far, compared to the last couple of years? You’ve got top fighters like Rory jumping ship, along with some big name fighters, and Dana continues
Page 2 of 2:
