“Don’t like it, don’t watch.”
Over the last few years, that has been one of UFC president Dana White’s most common refrains—an answer to critics that blast the value of fight cards before they take place. Now that the free trial period for the company’s new digital platform, Fight Pass, is over and the likelihood of White repeating those five words to those questioning the quality of the events showcased on the subscription-based platform is as close to a sure thing as you can get in the fight game.
It’s a sentiment I agree with wholeheartedly as well.
There has been a lot of chatter in recent months about the cost of UFC events comparative to the level of talent populating those shows, and the consensus seems to be that the juice isn’t worth the squeeze. That may not be an opinion shared by everyone that identifies as a fight fan, but satisfied customers rarely make noise, opting instead to allow the unsatisfied masses to stand on their soapboxes and shout about their dissatisfaction until they’re blue in the face.
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And there have been a lot of people saying that the lineups the UFC has been offering thus far in 2014 haven’t been worthy of the price tag they carry. What I want to know is why that means the UFC has to change their asking price or alter their approach?
“Don’t like it, don’t watch.”
You can’t walk into a department store, look at the price on a new bedroom set or flat-screen TV and tell the salesperson that you’re only interested in paying 60 percent of the sticker price because that’s all you think the item is worth. I mean, you can, but they’ll quickly direct you to a model that fits your price range and tell you it’s the best you’re going to get for that kind of expenditure.
As a fight fan, if you’re not happy with the composition of the fight cards being offered on Fight Pass, don’t order it, simple as that. Think the next pay-per-view is lacking enough star power? Skip it.
Of course, that’s not how it works in the world of MMA fandom.
Instead of accepting the take it or leave it reality of consumerism, there is this belief or expectation that the UFC change the way they’re doing business—that the company owes it to fans to stack pay-per-views with all-star lineups and put more than two or three established names on every televised card or Fight Pass offering.
How dare the UFC expect their loyal legions to spend their hard-earned wages watching anything other than battles between ranked opponents and title contenders?
The problem with that logic is that the UFC doesn’t expect fight fans to do anything. They know buying their product is a choice, and they’re not going to alter what they’re offering to satiate an increasingly unsatisfied population, which is why White frequently utters those five words that kicked off this column.
What complicates things—at least from my perspective—is that there seems to be a willful disconnect when it comes to understanding the nature of the fight game.
More and more, fans want to see stars competing, but they have little interest in spending their time in seeing the next generation of stars emerge. They want the finished product, not the work-in-progress.
While fans flock to Ronda Rousey now, few paid attention when she was an inexperienced newcomer fighting on the Strikeforce Challengers series, battling outside of the spotlight. Same goes with perennial welterweight contender Carlos Condit, who only started garnering greater acclaim when he was paired with Nick Diaz, even though he has been one of the most exciting fighters and consistent finishers in this sport for quite some time.
No one seems to want to invest in the future—to watch a fighter work their way up the ladder incrementally until they’re ready to challenge for championship gold. There is just supposed to be a new crop of fully formed contenders that meet the “worth paying to see” criterion at the ready.
The irony is that when the UFC does decide to buck the conventional system, people are still pissed off.
Chael Sonnen is tabbed to fight Jon Jones for the light heavyweight title—“What about Alexander Gustafsson?” But when “The Mauler” gets paired with Jones a couple months later—“You expect me to pay $55 for this?”
There is no winning for the UFC.
I know plenty of readers are staring at their screens right now saying, “So what?” But the reality is that there has to be some common ground—a basic understanding and acceptance of how things work, otherwise we’re going to be stuck in this never-ending cycle of elevated expectations and feelings of entitlement where nothing is ever going to be good enough.
Fighters need to be given time to develop into contenders and stars, and there is no way to accelerate the process; it simply takes time.
Events on Fight Pass aren’t going to feature a slew of marquee matchups between top-ranked competitors—they’re going to have a solid main event, a couple fights with emerging talents, and a preliminary card built around relatively inexperienced fighters from the region where the event is taking place.
And this belief that the quality of pay-per-views cards has deteriorated over time is false as well, as the chart below shows:
It’s not that things have changed a great deal in the last five years—they clearly haven’t, save for the guarantee of a title fight atop each PPV now. What have shifted are our recollections of the past and our expectations when it comes to these events.
When all is said and done, it’s like White says, “Don’t like it, don’t watch.”
There is no surprise third choice where the UFC is going to change their approach because what they’re offering for the $10 monthly subscription fee or $55 on PPV isn’t up to snuff in the eyes of a persistently displeased segment of fight fans.