Does the UFC lack star power?

The UFC may be having its worst year ever in terms of high-profile fights. Let's take a look at the main event fights from the pay-per-view events so far this year.

UFC 208: Holm vs De Randamie
UFC 209: Woodley vs Thompson 2
UFC 210: Cormier vs Johnson 2
UFC 211: Miocic vs dos Santos 2
UFC 212: Aldo vs Holloway
UFC 213: Romero vs Whittaker
UFC 214: Cormier vs Jones 2
UFC 215: Nunes vs Shevchenko 2

Outside of UFC 211, 212 and 214 it could easily be argued that none of the events were in high demand by fans. And of those 3 events, all 3 were helped out by great supporting cards. Heavyweight title fights are always popular, Holloway is a rising star in the company, and the return of Jon Jones all helped draw fans in.

UFC 214 was probably the only event that would have been sold on the strength of the main event alone as the rivalry between Cormier and Jones was just that intense.

Let's compare that to the same stretch of events (January - September) from 2016, again looking only at the PPV main events.

UFC 195: Lawler vs Condit
UFC 196: McGregor vs Diaz
UFC 197: Jones vs Saint Preux
UFC 198: Werdum vs Miocic
UFC 199: Rockhold vs Bisping 2
UFC 200: Tate vs Nunes
UFC 201: Lawler vs Woodley
UFC 202: Diaz vs McGregor 2
UFC 203: Miocic vs Overeem

The main event for UFC 195 was in the running for fight of the year, UFC 196 had Conor McGregor who is arguably the biggest name in combat sports period, UFC 197 was the return of Jon Jones, UFC 198 was a Heavyweight title fight, UFC 201 again featured fan favorite Robbie Lawler, UFC 202 saw McGregor attempting to avenge his 1st UFC loss and UFC 203 was another Heavyweight title fight.

UFC 199 was a fairly popular main event that was bolstered by a solid supporting card and UFC 200 was helped by the return of Brock Lesnar as well as a strong supporting card.

So that's 3 events that featured strong draws by having stars in the main event spot compared to 6 in that same period in 2016.

The lack of Conor McGregor in the UFC this year, as well as the continued downward spiral, of Jon Jones, has severely hurt the sports numbers. As well as the disappearance of Ronda Rousey and Brock Lesnar's return to the WWE, there aren't many "stars" left in the UFC.

That's not to say that no stars exist. Justin Gaethje, Max Holloway, Cody Garbrandt, Yair Rodriguez and Francis Ngannou are certainly on the rise in both skill and popularity. However, the UFC really needs to get better at promoting their new and upcoming stars instead of only seeming to focus on the few absolute top level fighters.

Comments

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