UFC 178 has become the latest entry on a long list of events staged by the Ultimate Fighting Championship which have gotten fans excited, only to let them down. Last week’s news of the Jon Jones injury that would force him out of his main event bout with Daniel Cormier resulted in a deep groan that resonated across MMA fandom. Making the situation even more upsetting is the UFC’s decision to respond to the fight’s cancellation by moving the co-main event of the already-overlooked UFC 177 card to UFC 178, as the new main event. Now fight fans are left with not one, but two events that are set to underwhelm, regardless of the promotion that the UFC puts in place.
UFC 177 was going to be one of the forgotten cards of 2014. The Sacramento, California event was expected to feature two champions defending their titles. And although T.J. Dillashaw and Demetrious Johnson are two of the lesser known UFC champions, two title fights on one card was sure to garner some interest in the event within the fight world. Unfortunately, the UFC decided to break all that up by moving “Mighty Mouse” to UFC 178. Now Johnson, the same individual that headlined UFC 174 – a card that will go down in infamy as the least purchased PPV event in the current era, with an estimated pay-per-view buyrate of less than 100K — will have to carry the pressure of headlining his second PPV with a title defense against Chris Cariaso that was even more maligned than his main event fight against Ali Bagautinov was. Obviously, DJ would not want the distinction of headlining the TWO least-purchased PPV events in the history of the UFC.
That is not to say that UFC 178 is a terrible card. It features the return of former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz against Takeya Mizugaki, the settling of the blood feud between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor, and a high-stakes lightweight matchup between the surging Bobby Green and Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. That is not a weak card in any sense. Neither is UFC 177, which features the UFC debut of Olympian Henry Cejudo against former bantamweight title challenger Scott Jorgensen, the next stage of the growing feud between Bethe Correia and Ronda Rousey‘s “Four Horsewomen” crew, as Correia faces Shayna Baszler, and a potential show stealer in Danny Castillo vs. Tony Ferguson. Both events have plenty of reasons to watch beyond their main events. But unfortunately for the UFC, hardcore and casual fight fans, as well as even the media, seem to be hung up on what isn’t coming their way, rather than what is just over the horizon.
The sad part about this situation is that this is all the UFC’s fault. The company has struggled to create new stars throughout the year, but the neglect of UFC 177 was a travesty, one which portended a failure that we could all see coming. UFC 178 doesn’t take place until late September, but more than two months out, this event was getting more press than anything that was set for August, including a card that featured two title matches. Even after the cancellation of UFC 176 afforded the UFC with both the opportunity to bolster other cards and the time to promote them, the organization put very little promotional effort into UFC 177. Even now, after UFC 178 has been “weakened,” the organization seems far too willing to write off its next PPV offering.
It will be interesting to see the results come October. The PPV buyrates from both of these events are not expected to blow the doors off, and when you consider the commercial failures of UFC 173 and UFC 174, the relatively disappointing numbers of UFC 171 and UFC 172, and the cancellation of UFC 176, the success of UFC 175 will end up being perceived as just a blip on the radar, not a reversal of a negative trend. With Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier, UFC 178 was expected to be the card of the year, so much so that the promotion was willing to sacrifice UFC 177 to ensure it. This was a very risky proposition, given how frequently injuries occur in today’s MMA landscape. There are so few sure things, and the UFC tempted Fate. Now, the promotion is forced to deal with a predicament of its own creation, with two champions it has heretofore chosen to neglect being depended upon to draw interest from fans, when they can’t even draw interest from their promoter.
T.J. Dillashaw and Demetrious Johnson will be unfairly maligned if UFC 177 and UFC 178 set records for futility, but they can hardly be blamed for not shining after being overshadowed for so long, with the brightest spotlights always reserved for others. It’s hard not to fail when you’re never really given the chance to succeed.
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UFC 177: Dillashaw vs. Soto (formerly UFC 177: Dillashaw vs. Barao II) is due to take place on August 30, 2014 at the Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, California.
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UFC 178: Johnson vs. Cariaso (formerly UFC 178: Jones vs. Cormier, UFC 178: Jones vs. Gustafsson II) is due to take place on September 27, 2014 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Click the stars to rate how good you think UFC 178 will be.
