New Year, New UFC
Credit to the UFC, Paramount, Viacom, Dana White, and most importantly the Dark Lord Cthulhu
The UFC has found a new home in 2026 on Paramount. How Paramount continues to afford all of these titles in a short amount of time and still turn a profit is nothing short of baffling. South Park was a billion dollar plus acquisition and now the UFC was another 7.7 billion. In any case, I won't look a gift horse in the mouth. I didn't think the PPV era would be over anytime soon and thankfully it is now dead. The cost to watch all of the UFC's numbered events and fight nights should be a lot more affordable. Let's see how this plays out. With this new move and New Year's Day, I decided to do a brief article about what else I want to see from the UFC in the big 6.
BETTER PRODUCTION QUALITY
The UFC still has the occasional good series about a fighter. The UFC Connected about Ilia Topuria, the episode about Ateba Gautier, they have had a good piece about Bryce Mitchell, there are a lot of good examples of some pretty decent media they put out. In my opinion however, it isn't the quality it could be of a billion dollar organization. Especially when regular content creators on YouTube such as Elite Fight Club put out more interesting and engaging stories/highlights. The UFC used to have this high quality. Sadly, the best example I can think of isn't even available from the UFC except in Spanish subtitles anymore which is a shame and the problem I'm talking about. Tame Your Demons was a piece you can look up about the Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier fight buildup and it's the pinnacle of UFC promotion. The Ron Perlman narration for PPV was immaculate. Even the stupid Face the Pain riff in the back was synonymous with the UFC and a fight card. I understand fighters with personality and charisma are hard to find now in the organization rapidly losing stars to up and coming Contender Series fighters grinding out a cheap contract but try to boost that next star. Try to give them a platform with what you already have and heavily promote that Gautier story, use that reach and influence. Not everyone is the next Conor or Jon Jones but try to get back to that high level of production.
LEAVE THE APEX MORE OFTEN
Pretty self explanatory, thank God COVID restrictions have been over for some time now. Go out and stimulate the economy, give fans that live experience. Give Paramount what they paid for. It's absolutely insane to me they want to put on so many shows in the Apex where it was intentionally designed for minimal crowds instead of going out and having more money come in from ticket sales, concessions, merchandise sales, etc. So many places in America and around the world would love to have a live UFC event come to town. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Las Vegas aren't enough. I was watching an old Embedded of Jon Jones I believe in the lead up to the first Cormier fight and it was crazy how he stated it had been a long time since he last fought in Las Vegas. Can you believe the UFC used to do more than just Apex shows in Vegas? It felt like Vegas was a marquee event location and other great fight nights/other events were instead held around the country and world. Vegas felt special, now it feels cheap and common. The main thing fans liked was being able to hear shots better but come on it's lost it's appeal and luster now. There is no good reason to stay in the Apex.
BETTER MATCHMAKING/MOVING DIVISIONS
I understand this is the most unrealistic and hard to control of things I want to see in the new year from the UFC but I can still dream. With Justin Gaethje getting yet another undeserved title shot with Paddy Pimblett I would like the UFC to work on this as it goes hand in hand with better marketing and production quality. I get Gaethje is a recognized guy for casuals, same with Paddy. Here's where better production and marketing can come into play with that. When you invest in the up and comers with those stories and personalities, it makes it easier when the time comes that the Gaethje, Poirier, Jon Jones, and Conor level stars are gone and others soon to follow like Max Holloway. Paddy hasn't even really had a boost from the UFC PR machine, to me his biggest acquisition of fans has come from his mic skills such as men's mental health awareness speeches. This is pretty telling of the organization that they aren't maximizing what they can get from a big star for them. I get they probably felt like Conor screwed them and they never want a fighter bigger than the brand deliberately but come on. What they can control is getting angry at Arman for pulling out of a fight. Fighters have done way worse and been forgiven, Arman is the rightful challenger for a next shot. For an organization that used to love interim belts and quick strips after Conor held belts hostage, they sure don't seem to clean up rankings or get gears moving as much anymore. You can't get the next star if you don't even get them the fights they need/want. It's definitely a fine line, you can't rush talent or it gets squashed like Darren Till but you also can't waste a fighter's prime and hot streak. A billion dollar organization calling itself the combat sports leader should be able to figure this out pretty emphatically.
