dimanche 23 février 2014

Falling Out of Love

It's not secret that I haven't been very active here. There are a lot of reasons. Some have to do with the state of this forum. Some have to do with the sport's biggest company. I want to discuss the state of the sport, which is hopefully what still happens here in Serious MMA Discussion.



Recently, even seeing Dana White makes me angry. I understand he is a promoter and he is supposed to sell fights. However, he does not hide his bias well at all. Some would say, "That's great that there is a spokesperson in sports that is honest and upfront with the fans." 1) Those people do exist. They're called agents. However, even the representatives of fighters are less biased and more professional than Dana (Duke Roufus, Greg Jackson, etc.). 2) That's not the position to have a bias in. I don't mind selling me a late replacement Patrick Cummins for a slimmed down Daniel Cormier. I understand that. I mind the nonsensical bullshit that he does for Ronda Rousey. I mind the hypocrite that he is on a multitude of topics, but pretends it's not a big deal that he changed his mind, or that he never felt that way at all. In that regard, and many others, he is like a US politician. Corrupt and disgusting.



I can't stand that Dana and the UFC are pushing to decrease fighter sponsors for their own gain. I can't stand that White thinks nothing of gambling binges that cost him millions while fighters in his organization earn about as much, or less than, a school teacher, and with far worse benefits. I don't think a fighter that just starts out should earn trillions of dollars, but they should be paid in a comparable manner to other professional athletes, especially considering the UFC is cutting out sponsor money. Say a fighter enters the UFC and gets three fights in his first year. Let's say he does well and win's all three fights. He'll make $8,000 to show and $8,000 to win. Then, $10,000 to show and $10,000 to win. Then, $12,000 to show and $12,000 to win. So, before he has to pay coaches, sparring partners, his gym, medical expenses, and various other costs, he'll have accrued $60,000. Let's say that fighter lost his second fight, then he makes $46,000. But, please cut out sponsor money and go drop a million bucks at the Texas Hold'em table and publicize it.



It's not just Dana though. Take what was good (Facebook fights) and ask people to shell out more money per month to watch those fights. Let's also put on entire events on this new monthly payment network while continuing to put the product on PPV while you have a TV deal, instead of working towards putting all of the events on TV. I love the NFL, but I wouldn't pay a PPV price for any of the games, let alone a Super Bowl. Of course anyone would stream the fights.If you want to be a true UFC fan and watch every event, including the PPVs and having Fight Pass, for the 15 scheduled PPVs in 2014 in HD, you will pay $900 plus $120 for Fight Pass. Would you willingly shell out $1,020 in a year to the UFC? And, oh yeah, that's only if you're an American. If you live in Europe, it's either free or you pay for the network it's on. I understand the time difference, but the price is unreal.



Am I wrong to be losing interest in the UFC? Sure, Bellator is clearly a second-tier product, but I'm rooting for it. I don't know that it would be run any better, but I doubt that Rebney would say, "Hey, the Olympics is on and we have two Olympic fighters. Why don't we try to piggy back on them by throwing them against each other?" I don't know that Rebney would publicly bash a fighter for destroying his opponent and then choose to lay low for a few months (Alistair Overeem).



What say you?

Statistics: Posted by Shanks The Dope — Feb 23. 2014, 13:49 — Replies 0 — Views 3







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