I've brought this idea up in more than a few posts now since the start of 2022, but with it continuing for almost 2 full months now, I think it needs it's own full post. I have no idea what the UFC is doing with their scheduling, but someone needs to do something about it. The UFC had so much going for them really since they came back from the pandemic. They were the first major sport to resume action and they capitalized on it big time. They were putting on shows when they were literally the only sports on tv and they pulled in a massive new audience because of it. They carried a lot of that momentum into 2021 too. They put on some truly massive events and a lot of other great ones. The way the ended 2021 starting with the October 30 card, which was UFC 267, started an almost 2 month run of great cards. They had so much built up momentum coming into 2022 and I feel like they've wasted a lot of it. The cards that they have put together are just not up to the quality that the UFC claims to be at. Outside of the main events, the cards are largely indistinguishable from Bellator or PFL for me. I want to talk about this in a little more detail, so let's get into it.
I don't understand how the UFC can come into this year with such a thin margin for error. They have constructed these events this year in a way where if the main event falls out, the card is hopeless. I'm going to list the highest non-title fight on each card and you'll see what I mean. Jake Collier vs Chase Sherman, Michel Pereira vs Andre Fialho, Nick Maximov vs Punahele Soriano, Tai Tuivasa vs Derrick Lewis, Kyle Daukaus vs Jamie Pickett, and this weekend has Misha Cirkunov vs Wellington Turman. Quite frankly, that just isn't good enough. For an organization that is by and large the best MMA promotion in the world, there has to be a little more intrigue in a co-main even than those. The Michel Pereira fight wasn't a co-main since there was 2 title fights on that card, so maybe give that a pass. Daukaus vs Pickett was on a card where the original main event got pulled, but again, where is the planning for that.
During the early days of the pandemic, cards were changing by the hour. I think everyone was understanding what we were dealing with. Fighters or corners would test positive and fights would change or fall off the card altogether. We would see replacement fighters being subbed in and out all the time. Sometimes we would find ourselves with only an 8 or 9 fight card. That was just the nature of the beast at the time. When some of those cards seemed underwhelming, we realized that they were trying their best and there was only so much anyone could do about it. The UFC was putting on events when no one else was and we appreciated it even when a card or two wasn't really that great. The problem is, they're doing a lot of the same things, but we aren't in that spot anymore. Fights aren't falling off the card left and right anymore. By and large, the cards are taking place as they are being booked. To have cards constructed to be this thin more often than not is just not the way in my opinion. Obviously the UFC is making money, but I don't think they're really running away with the quality of product the way they could be. I anticipate that the Bellator card on Friday will be just as good, if not better than the UFC card Satruday.
It is one thing to point out that the cards as a whole aren't very good, but we like to go deeper than that here. Why aren't the cards very good? Well, I think this is a chicken or the egg type of question. Are the cards not good because there's no promotion or are they not promoting the card because they have nothing to promote? Of course, the real answer lies in some combination of both, but I think that there is more fault on the UFC for not promoting fights as well as they could. I blasted the match makers before and booking Misha Cirkanov vs Wellington Turman as a co-main event is worthy of every bit of it. However, to give them the benefit of the doubt for a second, they are still limited by who actually wants to fight. They can't just book whatever fights they want whenever they want. The athletes do hold some power and if they don't make themselves available, there's really nothing anyone can do. The UFC can only construct cards based on who is available for each date. Just because some cards are not as good as others doesn't mean that they should get lesser treatment though. That's where the problem really lies for me. I can't even call the promotion that the UFC is doing for these cards bad. I can't call it bad because there is basically no promotion to even evaluate. The UFC's version of promotion these days is to show the bout order for the following week during the broadcast and then they show the main event for the next 4 cards. They might show a brief 30 second highlight for each of the main event fighters and that's it. During fight week, there's a handful of social media posts and that's the extent of their promoting. They don't even promote the PPVs more than a week out. I really do not understand what their strategy is.
To have the success that they want, they need to do at least one of two things. Either they need to schedule better events that don't need as much promotion because the actual fights generate interest on their own or they need to actually do their job as a promotion and manufacture some interest in these fights. Ideally, both of those things would be true, but I'm not naive enough to think that they can create 45 or however many cards that are bullet proof. That means that they actually have to put in some work for some of these cards and they just don't do it anymore. There's a reason that these organizations are called promotions and it seems like the UFC has either forgotten that or they just don't care. They are clearly banking on the machine and that us as fans are going to watch every week regardless of what the card looks like. While that may be true, is that really what their goal is? Sure the hardcore fans will sit and watch these mediocre cards that have gotten no promotion whatsoever, but who else is watching? They get the hardcore fans, but so does Bellator. What reason does a casual fan have to watch this weekend? Basically none because if they don't know who Islam Makhachev is, then they know nobody. Makhachev vs Bobby Green is the only fight on the card that even gets mentioned on their social media. I'm not saying they're stars, but they could at least try to promote Terrance McKinney, Arman Tsarukyan, and Ignacio Bahamondes. Last week they had Jim Miller on the card who was trying to tie for most wins in promotional history and they didn't mention him until he was walking to the cage. Sure, I know there's not much to go on for some of these guys, but not having much to work with isn't a reason to not try either. If they really think that little of these fighters that they are just un-promotable to the point where any effort isn't worth it, then why are they putting on these events in the first place?
I can already hear some people saying "well, if you don't like it then go watch something else", which is fine. I just think that is missing the point. I don't think it should be the viewer's responsibility to generate their own interest in the sport, movie, show, whatever it is. I'm not implying that Bellator is going to overtake the UFC now or any time remotely soon, but it is things like this that allow that possibility to even exist. The UFC's effort is low and gives other promotions the chance to close the gap. Pairing mediocre cards with lifeless promoting leads to events that all feel the same. A lot of these fight nights, outside of the main event, just have no life or energy. They should feel unique and exciting and they just aren't right now. I think I'll just leave it at that.
What do you guys think? Are this years cards too think for you? Who's at fault? Are the match makers not putting together sufficient events? Or is it a lack of promotion that causes the events to feel small? Leave your thoughts in the comments. Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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