Ultimate Fighting Championship reigns as the premiere single promotion in mixed martial arts. It’a fastly growing into the biggest provider of combat sport in the world, with fighters like Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor becoming household names. It’s very alarming to think that these fighters in a legitimate sport have an easier time in developing a character and a personality than those in the fictional world of sports entertainment. It’s alarming because these fighters don’t have to worry about developing mic skills, maintaining a certain image and getting over their character. All they have to do is fight.
Obviously that’a a bit of a justification and there’s obviously a lot more they have to worry about then just that. Some fighters do out of their own way to create rivalries for themselves and talk a good game but the end game is either knocking your opponent out or tapping them out. Wins and losses make all the difference in all forms of competition, including professional wrestling.
The point is it’s not like they have the type of schedule WWE superstars have. Many people will give WWE the edge over UFC for that reason and the fact that they are doing this week in and week out, as well doing all of the promotion and extra work. However despite all of this extra work the stars of WWE have to put in, UFC still crushes them in terms of pay-per-views and many other aspects of business.
OK, UFC does have television shows and a number of big events during the month. However, the fighters themselves are not fighting in every single event of the year. Whenever they are fighting or “performing”, they are doing it at 100% and to the best abillity. A lot of wrestlers are doing it while tired, mentally drained and even with a serious injury.
They don’t have the time to rest up and come back swinging. They are constantly on the road. Yet these aren’t even the top wrestlers that the fans want to see. Whenever Brock Lesnar appears on WWE television, he’s usually in incredible shape and he’s been the best he’s probably ever been in 2015. More importantly, whenever Brock Lesnar appears on WWE programing… he draws.
None of the wrestlers that are on the road every week and getting battered and bruised on a daily basis are draws, with the exception of a small (and I mean small) selection of stars. If you’re going to have these wrestlers, that are willing and able to wrestle for you throughout the year, you need to promote them better.
There’s a reason why guys like Brock Lesnar are special attractions. However, let me just ask you a few questions. Who’s created the the most stars/household names in the last decade? WWE or UFC? UFC. Who’s currently got the more main eventers in their promotion? WWE or UFC? UFC. The UFC have enough top draws and talent to be able to schedule them and space them out for each month, as well as enough talent in their back-pocket to call on for a fight in two weeks time in case somebody draws.
In May, I went to a UFC event in Vegas for my birthday. It was an incredible event. The scheduled main event was Jon Jones defending the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship against Anthony Johnson. For those of you who remember, Jones was forced to be stripped off the title and pulled from the event. He was replaced with Daniel Cormier… who won the title? After an unfortunate situation, the UFC didn’t panic and have to cancel or re-do the card. They took the belt off Jones and gave somebody else the opportunity to be a champion. What happened when WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins went down with an injury? The WWE creative team went into meltdown trying to re-write all of their programming.
If this was ten years ago, WWE would have had someone waiting in the wings or new talent that’s just waiting to break out as a main eventer. Because everything in WWE is so micro-managed and they don’t have the stars to rely on, everything falls apart. That’s bad.
It’s a dire situtation for WWE and a great day for the UFC, with the differences between both promotions not actually being too remote. Both companies have historically brilliant owners. Both companies have top quality talent in their ranks. Both have the capitol to promote and present their programming to an incredible standard. The big difference is the mind sight of those running them. Dana White’s mentallity has led to Ronda Rousey being probably the most well-known sportswoman in the world. Vince McMahon’s mentallity has led to his top babyface Roman Reigns being constantly booed out of the building at WWE events.
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