In the world of professional sports, promotion is one of the biggest aspects of success. Just look at how major leagues and networks work together to promote some of the biggest matchups within their respective sports. Combat sports have long been built on the same principles. As the UFC has grown, however, its model has slowly changed from that of promoting entire fight cards to the promotion of just one or two fights on a fight card. This approach needs to be changed if the organization is going to excite its fanbase once again.
There has long been a sentiment that combat sports shows are only as strong as their main events. If a show has a great main event, then all the action leading up to that moment will be forgiven. On the flip side, if that main event falters, then everything else will be forgotten and the total event will be dubbed a “bore.”
UFC 114 is an example of a card that featured a lot of solid action to set the table for the main event, which would cap off the show spectacularly. However, at the end of the night, that was not the case.
UFC 114’s main event pit Rashad Evans against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in a fight that featured a lot of pre-fight hype. But in the end, the two men did not deliver in the cage, as they fought what was widely considered a less than dramatic three-round affair. Their fight sullied an event that otherwise featured stunning knockouts and other strong performances. And despite its one million PPV buys, to this date, UFC 114 is not thought of in a much of a positive light.
This is just one example of many where the UFC’s main event didn’t live up to the hype that was built around it. When that occurs, the fans who paid their hard earned money often feel slighted by the quality of show they purchased. What can the UFC do to potentially work around this problem? Make more of an effort to promote the fights immediately before the main event to get fans to care about those.
For example, UFC Fight Night 59: McGregor vs. Siver is a well-anticipated card. The main event features the talkative Conor McGregor, a man who has talked his way right into the featherweight title picture. If he wins, he’s expected to earn a shot at Jose Aldo. This Fight Night card on Fox Sports 1 is being built around McGregor’s rise and his ability to sell an entire event. But what about the rest of the event? Is there anything of interest to fans that would attract even more of them to the show? The answer is a resounding “yes.”
The co-main event originally featured Benson Henderson fighting Eddie Alvarez. Though they are both coming off of losses, they remain top-10-ranked fighters within the weight class. Even beyond that, their styles and resumes made this the type of fight that could have carried an event on its own. However, that bout received very little promotion in the co-main event position. The fight that replaces it, Benson Henderson vs. Donald Cerrone, is a trilogy rematch of their two WEC lightweight title fights, the first of which, at WEC 43, was lauded as a Fight of the Year candidate.
Despite Henderson winning the first two bouts, Donald Cerrone is perhaps the hottest fighter in the lightweight division at this time, and is coming off a dominant victory over Myles Jury less than a week ago at UFC 182. This fight has loads of backstory and features a surging contender on the verge of breaking out, yet it is being treated like an afterthought, which is a major mistake that the UFC continues to make.
This trend is quite common in the world of professional boxing, but even that sport is beginning to change. Promoters such as Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather are seeing the value of adding strong undercards to their main events and giving those men the opportunity to be spotlighted leading into the big fight.
For the UFC, though, UFC Fight Night 59 isn’t the only upcoming fight card with an under-promoted co-main event. It will be interesting to see whether the organization changes its promotion of UFC 183. The big fight between Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz has surely gotten the bulk of the promotion, but the co-main event between Tyron Woodley and Kelvin Gastelum should also be promoted very heavily. Gastelum is a surging prospect — and a former Ultimate Fighter winner — and Woodley could very well challenge for the welterweight title at some point in 2015. The organization needs to give these men as much camera time as possible in an effort to create the stars that it covets.
Even beyond that co-main event, UFC 183 features two other fights that should be better promoted. Ian McCall vs. John Lineker is a potential title eliminator at flyweight, and Miesha Tate vs. Sara McMann is a very important fight within the women’s bantamweight weight class. All four of those fighters have strong fanbases. Galvanizing every segment of that combined fanbase would help make the event an even larger success than it is currently on pace to be. However, in a stunning move, neither of these matchups is slated to be featured on the pay-per-view card, and will instead be part of the Fox Sports 1 preliminary card. These fights will be widely viewed to be sure, but they will not receive any of the promotional backing that is commensurate with their importance to their respective divisions, and for the bulk of the people watching the PPV event, these bouts will be completely ignored.
The whole point of promotion is to get fans and potential customers excited about an upcoming event. The UFC does a very strong job of getting the word out about major fights. However, the company slips up when it comes to marketing more than just the main events. A number of upcoming events feature stars at the top of the card along with potential stars below them. These matchups are essential to the creation of future PPV draws and valuable undercard assets — but only if the UFC highlights bouts in addition to the ones that feature the promotion’s established stars. If the UFC does more to push the total worth of its PPV events, it can start making moves to turn around 2014’s abysmal pay-per-view numbers.
Disagree? For a different perspective, read: Brighter Spotlights Make Brighter Stars: The UFC’s Promotion of McGregor and Others in the Main Event is On Point by http://mmaratings.com/search/label/byRoyBillington
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UFC Fight Night 59: McGregor vs. Siver is due to take place on January 18, 2015 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
Click the stars to rate how good you think UFC Fight Night 59 will be.
UFC 183: Silva vs. Diaz is due to take place on January 31, 2015 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Click the stars to rate how good you think UFC 183 will be.
