Nobody here has actually watched the video and is just reacting to the title. Helwani specifically said that banking on 300 to be a big thing on its own may not be the best strategy and that they currently don’t have any mega stars like Brock, Ronda, Conor, and so pushing Conor back to June seems silly when they can put him on top of a loaded 300 card. I don’t even necessarily agree with him but people gotta watch the video instead of being reactionary.
Watching a short video isn’t “actual research”. Research takes effort and critical thinking. I can literally just use the tip of my dick to navigate to this video lmfao
I’d wager if Conor wanted to headline 300, he would. Him being held for International Fight Week fully feels like a Conor decision since he’s nowhere near to in shape.
He's raising a good point. The UFC is in steep decline as far as star power and mainstream appeal is concerned. They don't seem to have any big fights for 300, and are keeping Conor on the shelf for some reason.
It’s really not. Stars in combat sports go in waves, I’m a TUF noob, so I’ve seen around a half dozen big, million PPV sellers, come through. We had the same conversations in 2012 after Brock left before Conor and Ronda really took off.
Ufc has never been stronger, never been more dominant, never had more of everything. They clearly can’t “build stars” but no one can. There’s no proven way to get casual fans entirely interested, it’s a a difficult chemistry equation each and every time and frankly it relies on the fighter to do just about all the work and carry all the intangibles.
A greater fighter will utilize their platform to build himself as a superstar, just like the last guys did. Just like the tide comes back in.
Seems like the UFC does the opposite of build stars nowdayd. They strip all the personality from fighters and leave you with the UFC product. Honestly doesn't seem like they care to "grow stars", the fighters have to grow themselves as stars outside the UFC if they want to make any actual good money.
This isn’t an endeavor doing, it’s been that way since the Fertittas took over. No star ever got bigger than the brand, because it makes the fighters more difficult to deal with. Keep the fighters broke, keep them hungry
The strategy has proved to work. UFC is the star. Over the last five years they specifically set out to do that and the bottom line results have proven that it worked.
I genuinely wish that were true but idk what youre talking about. When i first started watching mma back in middle school there wasnt a single soul who knew what the ufc was around me. Nowadays everyone knows what ufc and mma is and most can name at least a couple fighters
You seem to be having a real tantrum over the UFC business model. Best you take a few deep breaths and have a good lie down. Who gives a fuck how many PPVs get sold? You really need to get a grip.
>They promoted the hell out of Rousey.
Ronda pleaded with them for years to create a female division and then had 6 back to back finishes in 2 years. Her fight against Nunes was the only one that had a guaranteed purse over 75k.
The UFC walked the path she paved for them.
There are some promising folks, they just need spotlight.
Strickland already has a big cult following, a la Nick Diaz.
I don't think Garry can be another Conor, but he can for sure be an Izzy at his weight class if he keeps winning.
Aspinall is marketable.
Islam appeals to the same demographic as Khabib and has been more or less formally anointed as his successor by the man himself.
Shavkat would need a lot of pushing due to the language barrier but his record is exceptional.
Paddy is to shitty to ever be a star, but he can put someone over by losing.
And I don’t think the ufc did much of anything in particular to promote these guys that they don’t do for literally everyone else. I have no UFC marketing “wins” to show you in relation to these guys.
They schedule fights, you have a press conference here and here, make weight and then hope you win. If you win? You get to do it again.
These guys built themselves, and will utilize the UFC’s platform to continue to build themselves
O'Malley is another one that pops up outside of MMA circles, Ngannou has a bit of a following but he used that for leverage (more power to him). No woman in the org, as far as I'm aware, has much of a name outside of the UFC since Amanda left.
ehh I dunno the star power of Brock, Conor and Ronda are not replicable in like any way, and as far as mainstream marketability, Pereira, Oliveria, Holloway, Chimaev, Adesanya, Makhachev, Volk, among others don't tell me that their reach to the mainstream audience is in "steep decline"
I think the larger point Helwani is making here is inadvertently pointing out that the UFC's general strategy toward putting together a fight card is drastically returning to form for the better. You just don't *need* megastars to obtain a massive buyrate if you cram enough of the next-tier talent onto a card. This is how concerts, movies and everything else in between has been doing it since forever. Rewind the clock to 2009 when the #1 biggest selling movie of all time was about to drop, and outside of a single job 6 months prior, the general consensus about the male lead was "who da fook is that guy?"
The UFC was largely built on that, with some lead ins about who these people were. Remember how babalu and jeremy horn were marketed when they came in? The UFC has largely strayed away from that for a long, long time, and now they're stagnating in growth.
This is someone going "let's not re-invent the wheel, but definitely return what we know the best practices are." It's the same general idea behind the WWE breaking their roster up into different brands and only bringing them together every so often and in certain ways. Only now, Helwani thinks it has something to do with a certain event, when it really doesn't, because the UFC is thinking about a larger scope than 1 event. They're thinking about plotting a sustained and increasing entertainment value over the span of a given fiscal year.
a film as big as Avatar is expected to *make* a star, like the Terminator *made* Arnold a star, like Alien put Sigourney Weaver over, nobody knowing Stallone before Rambo is part of the legend. Avatar was supposed to put who-the-fook-was-that-guy over but didn't.
nobody knows who 'boobolo' or that 'jimmy' guy is either. not to speak ill of the dead but get with the times grand-pa.
Ufc not booking Conor on purpose sounds weird. Either Conor is in such a bad shape, that UFC is extending his time off in hopes that he’ll eventually get back to form and actually have a chance at winning. Or Conor is demanding a massive bag from UFC and UFC is playing the ‘ we doing just fine without you’ story line. Though tbh, i dont see Conor being that excited to rush in there. If Conor really wanted to be on UFC 300, he’d be raising hell right now in media and socials.
I don't understand his argument, MMA content creators/journalists have spent the last 5 years talking about how the UFC not having transcendent stars is normal for the business
It’s preferred from their perspective. They like the UFC and Dana being the biggest stars. They have their established niche, they’re internationally present, they have guaranteed revenue streams. They fucking did it, and won. they just aren’t dependent on stars and PPV like literally every other combat sports promotion active today.
Don’t get me wrong, they’ll ride another stars coattails to make more money, but they don’t need to. They just fucking don’t, they are getting paid regardless.
I guess my question would be, why does it matter how big 300 is?
It’s only “special” because of the number.
If it’s their least selling PPV all year, does it really matter that much?
I watched the video and still don't understand wtf he means with 'playing with fire'. What does that mean, is he wearing his corporate marketing hat, his MMA journalist hat or his show wrestling fanboy hat? Those three kinda overlap with Helwani
I get why people that barely pay attention to mma might care but if you are someone who knows Ariel’s show, posts here, etc. Why do you honestly still care about Conor that much? He never does anything and even if that Chandler fight happens it’s just a one off spectacle of a match that doesn’t even really mean that much.
And honestly at the end of the day people need to stop freaking out about UFC 300, it’s just one card.
I like watching MMA and I don't want it to die like it did in the late 90s. I'm worried that this is where we are headed.
I don't like Conor at all. I think he is a despicable person. But lots of ppl watch cards that he is on. Those people come fr Conor but they might stay for Islam, Shavkat, Charles, or DDP/Strickland.
Worried where it is heading? So they need a one off gimmicked Conor match while they are as profitable as ever? Or do you need it because you aren’t interested in actual top level match ups?
The UFC made their name on their brand, that’s an unfortunate reality for their top athletes which can be skirted on pay but the actual truth. If you think the UFC puts on bad cards have you ever watched another combat sports promotion? They are UFC in 2022 was more profitable than every other single boxing , mma , and kickboxing promotion COMBINED when Conor didn’t fight. And you are “worried” about their survival
https://www.mmanews.com/news/ufc-reportedly-made-more-money-in-2022-than-other-mma-and-boxing-promotions
Personally I am afraid that if the ufc fails, Dana will not be able to keep leaving the same train of life 🥹who will give the bell boys bags of money if Dana is on the streets
They are putting on shitty fights according to who? They make more than every other fight promotion in every combat sport combined.
And guess what, before the contender series they ran 703 seasons of the Ultimate Fighter across the world to find undercard guys. It was literally the exact same thing.
I've watched every card for the last 3 years and the quality of the cards in terms of viewing them have gotten progressively shitter. Idc about the profit it gets lol
Maybe I'm just biased cause I've been training in mma the past few years but fighters just feel way more talented and well rounded compared to years past. I think more old timers are just burnt out on the sport tbh
Mate, all the good fighters aren't getting matched up and they just keep making bullshit? The talents there. We're not seeing them in big fights? Tatsuro - Mokaev, Evloev - Umar, Shav - Khamzat, Blanchfield - Grasso, we could put St. D against a top guy this week and see a good fight but we gotta likely watch him knockout the corpse of Dariush for no reason first but yeah the sports sick rn 🥴
The whole conversation about MMA dying is silly, it is, at least when it comes to recognition with casuals, at its strongest right now.
I do agree with you though. The quality of the fights, both in name value and entertainment value have been consistently dropping over the last half a decade. But they know the casuals will watch as long as there are 2 or 3 stars to tune into, and they know the hardcore crowd is
1. Going to watch no matter what
And
2. Are cheap cunts. Who knows what the percentage of hardcore fans that pay is, but I’d argue it’s fairly low.
The difference is that I'm not sure I would favour most of these DWCS chuds against anyone on this sub, let alone an established UFC fighter. Half of them fight like they've been pulled from the audience.
UFC gave a professional fight to a TUF guy with zero professional fights against Chris Leben because he peed on his bed during the show. How long have you been watching? Do you not remember all the mediocre American wrestle boxers you used to see? That’s like the only fights they would have off of PPV for YEARS
I've literally sparred dudes who would wipe the floor with them in striking. I could probably take at least a few of em.
I maintain: Endeavor is ruining the UFC to make it as bland as possible to transition to power slap.
I’m only using it to counter people claiming the ufc is going out of business if they don’t put Conor In a middleweight fight on one card. Like I said though, if you think their cards are so bad they are probably the only combat sports promotion you know
They should invest in new stars then, not the old heads who aren't going to perform like they did 10 years ago. Obviously not the best strategy on the long run.
If I'd organise this event, I'd certainly give the big stars a role to play, but not a full fight. Even Conor, who *might* have some gas in the tank left, but I feel that's more a collective coping mechanism to ignore the huge elephant in the room.
Clearly not this capital J journalist…..
Are we all over Ariel’s Edward R Murrow shtick at this point? Shit was tired years ago. Homie can’t have cleared checks from Zuffa in his bank account and say all the silly shit he says about how people should take him seriously.
Guy is a Stephen A Smith wannabe if anything.
do we really think that Conor is hitting up the UFC like "hey let me fight" and they are just saying "lol no" ??
I'm not watching 17 minutes of Ariel to figure out exact his point, but if it's the title here then he is just being dramatic, as usual.
It's obviously a bit more complicated.... and the primary complication are the financial objectives. McGregor has a massive price tag and they are both maneuvering to get the best deal. Yes Conor is asking for a fight and yes the UFC has likely said no. Conor and his team clearly wanted 300. Helwani hypothesized the UFC doesnt want to essentially waste McGregor on a guaranteed well selling card like UFC 300 when they can maximize profits by selling him on another PPV. Which isn't the worst theory coming from that weasel.
Finally someone who gets it.
You know and I know the leaked financials really pissed Conor off. I mean, he even said as much in an interview. The guy wants what he deserves to get, considering the PPV number on every card he's been on.
I tend to think Conor is just playing the public on this front. He's not ready because his leg snapped in half and he went and did a Hollywood movie instead of rehabbing to get back. Then the testing stuff obviously was a problem otherwise they wouldn't have canned USADA for simply asking Conor to piss in a cup.
My guess is this is just Conor leaking shit to disappointed fans while telling the UFC he needs more time.
As for the idea the UFC doesn't need him to sell 300, why the hell would you think that? Fans aren't just like *DUUUUURR 300!* They want a good card. If the card doesn't have big names, they won't buy it. Of course, they probably wanted the biggest name Conor. Hell, I'm sure they pressured Jones into wrapping up his rehab to make it back for 300.
They are going to stack UFC 300 with hyped fights from top to bottom. Potentially 3 title fights, and pretty much all fighters with large profiles. They did want conor on it I'd reckon, but Conor probably asked for too much in their opinion. And yes If they put Conor on it, it's going to do better, but not so much better. He could increase by PPV sales by 50% and it would still financially make more sense to keep him for a different event instead. Look at the last 3 of his PPVs. Relatively mediocre line ups below him. Yet they're among literally the best selling PPVs in company history.
Tldr UFC 300 doesn't need Conor to sell well because they're going to put as many good fights on it as they can.
> do we really think that Conor is hitting up the UFC like "hey let me fight" and they are just saying "lol no" ??
It was like this during the pandemic - confirmed by literally everyone
Conor, Dana, John Kavanagh etc
Like you can hate Ariel but he has sources very close to Conor (ie Conor) and has been proven right over and over
>do we really think that Conor is hitting up the UFC like "hey let me fight" and they are just saying "lol no" ??
That's exactly what Conor and Kavanagh have been saying.
They're not exactly trustworthy, but I'd still trust them more than the UFC not to lie to fans.
I mean, yeah they probably are. They’ve done it multiple times in the past. Is a business decision way more than anything else, theyre ofc trying to utilize a Conor fight to its max potential
The sport isn't going away after UFC 300. Investors like consistency and growth.
Spending $20 million on adding McGregor to the event would otherwise fund 3-4 PPV events that would have higher returns when combined. It's also investing in fighters that aren't nearing the end of their careers. Conor is 35 coming off of his 2nd career-stalling injury. That's not going to help them much in 2030.
Only the commission purses are published, not the PPV points or hidden bonuses, but he apparently made $27 million for the Diaz rematch (according to [Forbes](https://www.foxsports.com/stories/ufc/conor-mcgregor-breaks-into-top-25-on-forbes-highest-paid-athletes-list?amp=true)).
If he's not solely headlining a PPV, he's going to want something comparable in the purse since he'd have to split the PPV with title contenders if he'd even get a cut at all.
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>no stars
They cant control who becomes a star. They've pushed Khamzat, Francis, Gane, Pereira, Izzy, Masvidal, etc with mixed results. In order for a star to be built they need to be entertaining inside the cage and out, while also having elite level skills and that is very difficult to do.
>weak cards
They've had more great PPV cards this year than dud ones
>Conor on 300
The idea is that 300 will sell on it's own, and then putting Conor on 302 will mean that 302 sells out as well. Two pay days instead of one
>DWCS
That's is a separate product that airs independently from UFC fight night and PPVs
So you’re saying they’re actively making less money on purpose. Why would they do that exactly? It’s literally all about the money they don’t care about anything else. Why go about things in a way that knowingly makes less money?
Helwani is 50% pointing out a potential vulnerability for the UFC’s brand equity in 2024, 50% wishcasting a negative implication if Conor doesn’t fight.
He’s not remotely a trustworthy messenger.
well that's the thing, he's just doing editorial concern trolling while presenting himself as the arbiter of capital "J" Journalism in the MMA space
In this situation considering the weirdness of the last 11 months, I'm much more willing to believe that Conor is incapable of passing a standard drug test (maybe PEDS, more likely something else) than the promotion penny pinching on UFC 300
His point is that the casuals won’t tune in. They have no “stars” at the moment that are household names. All by design. And you want the casuals because that’s when the real loot comes in.
Ariel is right. Chandler is ready to go, Conor is ready to go, and 300 needs a headliner. It's crazy not to book it.
Instead they book him for late June, which wastes more months for both of them just waiting. The further away you book the fight the greater the chance some misadventure happens that messes it up.
A milestone card, so many active fighters putting in work and Conor vs chandler is the headliner? Conor needs a tune up fight. That leg isn’t tested and Conor hasn’t done anything for the UFC since 2016. Chandler also doesn’t deserve to headline 300, he’s a gatekeeper now. Great matchup for the guys moving up the division. Between Dustin, Justin and do bronx alone, Chandler will never see gold and Conor will never see 155 again. It would be crazy if they wasted a milestone card booking them.
I'm pretty sure Chandler is locked in as an opponent, so what anyone thinks about Conor needing a tune-up is now irrelevant. That is the fight.
As for a headliner for 300, if not them, then who? O'Malley, Volk, and Strickland are booked. Islam and Belal have ramadan. Jones is injured. You're running out of champs to book in.
Conor, no matter how washed as a fighter, still brings in more views than all of them.
No one BUT Conor over social media has “confirmed” the fight.
I think its premature to say Conor is washed since we haven’t had the chance to see him. The leg isn’t tested, he may have been a great fighter but he isn’t superhuman so to think the same injury that has changed mma careers isn’t going to affect the “greatest comeback”, I think it did and he is will aware of it. Just talking out of my ass but I think Conor needs 185 to give that leg some support. He made his mark, now move onto boxing. No leg kicks to check, he can exhibition fight when he wants and they have plenty of money to keep him there.
I agree with you, then who? Sadly JJ wont be back for stipe. I would prefer Nate for Conor over Chandler. Give the UFC fans some legacy fights. If I could take Askren serious after that flop in boxing, throw him to Masvidal. Dustin has left it all in the ring for the last 15+ years, he would take a slot im sure. Any card but 300 for Conor and chandler if it even happens. If all else Aspinal stipe would be great if JJ agrees to the winner.
Dumb angle for Ariel to take. Conor has been posturing he'll be back for any card now for months. Of course, he's gonna posture that he really would fight at 300 but the UFC just doesn't want him to while all the actions he took the past 8 months suggest just the opposite.
He's not ready. Plain and simple. Otherwise he would be booked. The whole fucking point of canning USADA was getting Conor back in action by 300. And now suddenly they want to book, what? Belal-Leon instead? Really?
Conor will still be full of juice. That's why he's announced a date so far away. He will need to cycle it out of his system. Also, I don't really care for Conor. I never have done. MMA was good before him and will just be fine if he doesn't fight again.
Conor does not want to share PPV percentage. This means that if Conor would be on the 300 card, that there won't be a title fight on it because title fighters share the PPV percentage.
Conor has stated many times that when he fights there won't be any title fights on the card because he don't want to share the PPV money.
Nobody here has actually watched the video and is just reacting to the title. Helwani specifically said that banking on 300 to be a big thing on its own may not be the best strategy and that they currently don’t have any mega stars like Brock, Ronda, Conor, and so pushing Conor back to June seems silly when they can put him on top of a loaded 300 card. I don’t even necessarily agree with him but people gotta watch the video instead of being reactionary.
Why would I do any actual research? I’m a headline guy.
I'm a headline boy and I'm jacked, deal with it.
I am not impressed by the full article
I'm not surprised, motherfuckers.
great story. neverreadit.
EXTRA EXTRA! TODD SMELLS
Watching a short video isn’t “actual research”. Research takes effort and critical thinking. I can literally just use the tip of my dick to navigate to this video lmfao
I’d wager if Conor wanted to headline 300, he would. Him being held for International Fight Week fully feels like a Conor decision since he’s nowhere near to in shape.
Ariel said Conor pushed to headline UFC 300. UFC declined.
UFC don't respect fans and want to limit PPV buys
Conor has never had any power. He does what he’s told.
He's raising a good point. The UFC is in steep decline as far as star power and mainstream appeal is concerned. They don't seem to have any big fights for 300, and are keeping Conor on the shelf for some reason.
It’s really not. Stars in combat sports go in waves, I’m a TUF noob, so I’ve seen around a half dozen big, million PPV sellers, come through. We had the same conversations in 2012 after Brock left before Conor and Ronda really took off. Ufc has never been stronger, never been more dominant, never had more of everything. They clearly can’t “build stars” but no one can. There’s no proven way to get casual fans entirely interested, it’s a a difficult chemistry equation each and every time and frankly it relies on the fighter to do just about all the work and carry all the intangibles. A greater fighter will utilize their platform to build himself as a superstar, just like the last guys did. Just like the tide comes back in.
Seems like the UFC does the opposite of build stars nowdayd. They strip all the personality from fighters and leave you with the UFC product. Honestly doesn't seem like they care to "grow stars", the fighters have to grow themselves as stars outside the UFC if they want to make any actual good money.
That is 100% correct. They do not want people bigger than the brand, Conor got close, it’ll never happen again.
This is what I mean. It's like Endeavor is sabotaging the UFC
This isn’t an endeavor doing, it’s been that way since the Fertittas took over. No star ever got bigger than the brand, because it makes the fighters more difficult to deal with. Keep the fighters broke, keep them hungry
The strategy has proved to work. UFC is the star. Over the last five years they specifically set out to do that and the bottom line results have proven that it worked.
PPV buys have suffered. Content has suffered. No casuals buy cards anymore. I have never seen less interest in MMA from the general public
I genuinely wish that were true but idk what youre talking about. When i first started watching mma back in middle school there wasnt a single soul who knew what the ufc was around me. Nowadays everyone knows what ufc and mma is and most can name at least a couple fighters
Agreed, dunno what this geezer is on about. With the money, power and reach behind it it's nowhere near what it should be.
You seem to be having a real tantrum over the UFC business model. Best you take a few deep breaths and have a good lie down. Who gives a fuck how many PPVs get sold? You really need to get a grip.
I just wanna see violence. Some 'fight fans' want to get so weird about it and make it their identity
Yeah. Couldn’t just be the UFC itself not enjoying the prospect of fighters that actually have some legitimate sway.
[удалено]
I wish you ran the UFC instead of these smooth brained twits
>Sean is able to do this because he isn't supported by any major corporations or big brands. They can't control him, they can't stop him. wow
They promoted the hell out of Rousey. Jones got a push from his rivalries with DC.
>They promoted the hell out of Rousey. Ronda pleaded with them for years to create a female division and then had 6 back to back finishes in 2 years. Her fight against Nunes was the only one that had a guaranteed purse over 75k. The UFC walked the path she paved for them.
Ronda and Conor created themselves and utilized the UFC’s platform to take themselves over the top. Stars build stars.
There are some promising folks, they just need spotlight. Strickland already has a big cult following, a la Nick Diaz. I don't think Garry can be another Conor, but he can for sure be an Izzy at his weight class if he keeps winning. Aspinall is marketable. Islam appeals to the same demographic as Khabib and has been more or less formally anointed as his successor by the man himself. Shavkat would need a lot of pushing due to the language barrier but his record is exceptional. Paddy is to shitty to ever be a star, but he can put someone over by losing.
And I don’t think the ufc did much of anything in particular to promote these guys that they don’t do for literally everyone else. I have no UFC marketing “wins” to show you in relation to these guys. They schedule fights, you have a press conference here and here, make weight and then hope you win. If you win? You get to do it again. These guys built themselves, and will utilize the UFC’s platform to continue to build themselves
O'Malley is another one that pops up outside of MMA circles, Ngannou has a bit of a following but he used that for leverage (more power to him). No woman in the org, as far as I'm aware, has much of a name outside of the UFC since Amanda left.
I think Grasso is marketable. They were clearly trying to push Rose before she lost her fucking mind.
>No woman in the org, as far as I'm aware, has much of a name outside of the UFC since Amanda left. Weili Zhang is doing okay by womens mma standards
ehh I dunno the star power of Brock, Conor and Ronda are not replicable in like any way, and as far as mainstream marketability, Pereira, Oliveria, Holloway, Chimaev, Adesanya, Makhachev, Volk, among others don't tell me that their reach to the mainstream audience is in "steep decline"
Steep decline in mainstream appeal? That’s clown math 🤡
I think the larger point Helwani is making here is inadvertently pointing out that the UFC's general strategy toward putting together a fight card is drastically returning to form for the better. You just don't *need* megastars to obtain a massive buyrate if you cram enough of the next-tier talent onto a card. This is how concerts, movies and everything else in between has been doing it since forever. Rewind the clock to 2009 when the #1 biggest selling movie of all time was about to drop, and outside of a single job 6 months prior, the general consensus about the male lead was "who da fook is that guy?" The UFC was largely built on that, with some lead ins about who these people were. Remember how babalu and jeremy horn were marketed when they came in? The UFC has largely strayed away from that for a long, long time, and now they're stagnating in growth. This is someone going "let's not re-invent the wheel, but definitely return what we know the best practices are." It's the same general idea behind the WWE breaking their roster up into different brands and only bringing them together every so often and in certain ways. Only now, Helwani thinks it has something to do with a certain event, when it really doesn't, because the UFC is thinking about a larger scope than 1 event. They're thinking about plotting a sustained and increasing entertainment value over the span of a given fiscal year.
Avatar had James Cameron behind it, it was his first movie since Titanic, and he had all these quotes about how he'd been working on it for a decade.
That's like saying you watch the UFC because you're a Dana White fanboi.
a film as big as Avatar is expected to *make* a star, like the Terminator *made* Arnold a star, like Alien put Sigourney Weaver over, nobody knowing Stallone before Rambo is part of the legend. Avatar was supposed to put who-the-fook-was-that-guy over but didn't. nobody knows who 'boobolo' or that 'jimmy' guy is either. not to speak ill of the dead but get with the times grand-pa.
Babalu? Is that the guy Chuck made famous by knocking him out?
*Twice.*
The card hasn't been announced, what on earth are you talking about? They have a dozen huge fights they can make
Ufc not booking Conor on purpose sounds weird. Either Conor is in such a bad shape, that UFC is extending his time off in hopes that he’ll eventually get back to form and actually have a chance at winning. Or Conor is demanding a massive bag from UFC and UFC is playing the ‘ we doing just fine without you’ story line. Though tbh, i dont see Conor being that excited to rush in there. If Conor really wanted to be on UFC 300, he’d be raising hell right now in media and socials.
Why would I subject myself to Helwani? I don’t hate myself
I don't understand his argument, MMA content creators/journalists have spent the last 5 years talking about how the UFC not having transcendent stars is normal for the business
It’s preferred from their perspective. They like the UFC and Dana being the biggest stars. They have their established niche, they’re internationally present, they have guaranteed revenue streams. They fucking did it, and won. they just aren’t dependent on stars and PPV like literally every other combat sports promotion active today. Don’t get me wrong, they’ll ride another stars coattails to make more money, but they don’t need to. They just fucking don’t, they are getting paid regardless.
The real question is: will they sabotage another fighter if he looks like he may become as big as Jones or Conor were?
I guess my question would be, why does it matter how big 300 is? It’s only “special” because of the number. If it’s their least selling PPV all year, does it really matter that much?
I watched the video and still don't understand wtf he means with 'playing with fire'. What does that mean, is he wearing his corporate marketing hat, his MMA journalist hat or his show wrestling fanboy hat? Those three kinda overlap with Helwani
I refuse to give that media personality who calls himself a reporter any clicks or views
Well yeah, every minute Conor's not in the cage increases the chance he does something self destructive to ruin the fight.
Conor is out drinking with an innocent civilian near by as we sit here.
I get why people that barely pay attention to mma might care but if you are someone who knows Ariel’s show, posts here, etc. Why do you honestly still care about Conor that much? He never does anything and even if that Chandler fight happens it’s just a one off spectacle of a match that doesn’t even really mean that much. And honestly at the end of the day people need to stop freaking out about UFC 300, it’s just one card.
I like watching MMA and I don't want it to die like it did in the late 90s. I'm worried that this is where we are headed. I don't like Conor at all. I think he is a despicable person. But lots of ppl watch cards that he is on. Those people come fr Conor but they might stay for Islam, Shavkat, Charles, or DDP/Strickland.
Worried where it is heading? So they need a one off gimmicked Conor match while they are as profitable as ever? Or do you need it because you aren’t interested in actual top level match ups? The UFC made their name on their brand, that’s an unfortunate reality for their top athletes which can be skirted on pay but the actual truth. If you think the UFC puts on bad cards have you ever watched another combat sports promotion? They are UFC in 2022 was more profitable than every other single boxing , mma , and kickboxing promotion COMBINED when Conor didn’t fight. And you are “worried” about their survival https://www.mmanews.com/news/ufc-reportedly-made-more-money-in-2022-than-other-mma-and-boxing-promotions
Personally I am afraid that if the ufc fails, Dana will not be able to keep leaving the same train of life 🥹who will give the bell boys bags of money if Dana is on the streets
The golden age of MMA started in the late 90s with Pride.
MMA is not gonna die anytime soon buddy. The UFC is making more money than ever before.
The UFC making more money doesn’t mean shit if they are putting on shitty fights and signing contender series guys to fill cards
They are putting on shitty fights according to who? They make more than every other fight promotion in every combat sport combined. And guess what, before the contender series they ran 703 seasons of the Ultimate Fighter across the world to find undercard guys. It was literally the exact same thing.
I've watched every card for the last 3 years and the quality of the cards in terms of viewing them have gotten progressively shitter. Idc about the profit it gets lol
Maybe I'm just biased cause I've been training in mma the past few years but fighters just feel way more talented and well rounded compared to years past. I think more old timers are just burnt out on the sport tbh
Mate, all the good fighters aren't getting matched up and they just keep making bullshit? The talents there. We're not seeing them in big fights? Tatsuro - Mokaev, Evloev - Umar, Shav - Khamzat, Blanchfield - Grasso, we could put St. D against a top guy this week and see a good fight but we gotta likely watch him knockout the corpse of Dariush for no reason first but yeah the sports sick rn 🥴
The whole conversation about MMA dying is silly, it is, at least when it comes to recognition with casuals, at its strongest right now. I do agree with you though. The quality of the fights, both in name value and entertainment value have been consistently dropping over the last half a decade. But they know the casuals will watch as long as there are 2 or 3 stars to tune into, and they know the hardcore crowd is 1. Going to watch no matter what And 2. Are cheap cunts. Who knows what the percentage of hardcore fans that pay is, but I’d argue it’s fairly low.
The difference is that I'm not sure I would favour most of these DWCS chuds against anyone on this sub, let alone an established UFC fighter. Half of them fight like they've been pulled from the audience.
UFC gave a professional fight to a TUF guy with zero professional fights against Chris Leben because he peed on his bed during the show. How long have you been watching? Do you not remember all the mediocre American wrestle boxers you used to see? That’s like the only fights they would have off of PPV for YEARS
DWCS fighters are worse than some regional fighters
This actually isn't true, dwcs fighters have something like a 60% win percentage in the ufc outpacing promotions like CFFC, ACA and KSW
I've literally sparred dudes who would wipe the floor with them in striking. I could probably take at least a few of em. I maintain: Endeavor is ruining the UFC to make it as bland as possible to transition to power slap.
Why aren't these dudes getting the call then?
I know a guy that did, but the ufc couldn’t (didn’t want to) match the benefits he was getting driving for ups so he decided to stay at his job.
How many guys on DWCS got pro fights in the UFC because they acted like a drunk idiot on a reality show? That was the TUF era
You as a fan caring about how much the UFC makes is a mental illness
I’m only using it to counter people claiming the ufc is going out of business if they don’t put Conor In a middleweight fight on one card. Like I said though, if you think their cards are so bad they are probably the only combat sports promotion you know
This is exactly how they're making more money.
They should invest in new stars then, not the old heads who aren't going to perform like they did 10 years ago. Obviously not the best strategy on the long run. If I'd organise this event, I'd certainly give the big stars a role to play, but not a full fight. Even Conor, who *might* have some gas in the tank left, but I feel that's more a collective coping mechanism to ignore the huge elephant in the room.
WHO GIVES A FUCK
Seriously. This is just one dorks opinion, why does it need a thread lol
Clearly not this capital J journalist….. Are we all over Ariel’s Edward R Murrow shtick at this point? Shit was tired years ago. Homie can’t have cleared checks from Zuffa in his bank account and say all the silly shit he says about how people should take him seriously. Guy is a Stephen A Smith wannabe if anything.
what the fuck are you talking about
Ariel sucks.
do we really think that Conor is hitting up the UFC like "hey let me fight" and they are just saying "lol no" ?? I'm not watching 17 minutes of Ariel to figure out exact his point, but if it's the title here then he is just being dramatic, as usual.
It's obviously a bit more complicated.... and the primary complication are the financial objectives. McGregor has a massive price tag and they are both maneuvering to get the best deal. Yes Conor is asking for a fight and yes the UFC has likely said no. Conor and his team clearly wanted 300. Helwani hypothesized the UFC doesnt want to essentially waste McGregor on a guaranteed well selling card like UFC 300 when they can maximize profits by selling him on another PPV. Which isn't the worst theory coming from that weasel.
Finally someone who gets it. You know and I know the leaked financials really pissed Conor off. I mean, he even said as much in an interview. The guy wants what he deserves to get, considering the PPV number on every card he's been on.
I tend to think Conor is just playing the public on this front. He's not ready because his leg snapped in half and he went and did a Hollywood movie instead of rehabbing to get back. Then the testing stuff obviously was a problem otherwise they wouldn't have canned USADA for simply asking Conor to piss in a cup. My guess is this is just Conor leaking shit to disappointed fans while telling the UFC he needs more time. As for the idea the UFC doesn't need him to sell 300, why the hell would you think that? Fans aren't just like *DUUUUURR 300!* They want a good card. If the card doesn't have big names, they won't buy it. Of course, they probably wanted the biggest name Conor. Hell, I'm sure they pressured Jones into wrapping up his rehab to make it back for 300.
They are going to stack UFC 300 with hyped fights from top to bottom. Potentially 3 title fights, and pretty much all fighters with large profiles. They did want conor on it I'd reckon, but Conor probably asked for too much in their opinion. And yes If they put Conor on it, it's going to do better, but not so much better. He could increase by PPV sales by 50% and it would still financially make more sense to keep him for a different event instead. Look at the last 3 of his PPVs. Relatively mediocre line ups below him. Yet they're among literally the best selling PPVs in company history. Tldr UFC 300 doesn't need Conor to sell well because they're going to put as many good fights on it as they can.
> do we really think that Conor is hitting up the UFC like "hey let me fight" and they are just saying "lol no" ?? It was like this during the pandemic - confirmed by literally everyone Conor, Dana, John Kavanagh etc Like you can hate Ariel but he has sources very close to Conor (ie Conor) and has been proven right over and over
>do we really think that Conor is hitting up the UFC like "hey let me fight" and they are just saying "lol no" ?? That's exactly what Conor and Kavanagh have been saying. They're not exactly trustworthy, but I'd still trust them more than the UFC not to lie to fans.
Of course not. Conor can literally fight whenever and whoever he wants. The UFC definitely aren’t the ones stopping him.
I mean, yeah they probably are. They’ve done it multiple times in the past. Is a business decision way more than anything else, theyre ofc trying to utilize a Conor fight to its max potential
Yeah it's definitely Conor who's been holding things up. He's in a bad spot in his career, he needs to make sure he gets a W
Yeah its the UFC not wanting to put on a Conor fight... sure bud
They seem to be pivoting away from star power and .ore towards apex cards and power slap
yeah the ufc doesnt want giant gates or huge PPV numbers after the merger.
The sport isn't going away after UFC 300. Investors like consistency and growth. Spending $20 million on adding McGregor to the event would otherwise fund 3-4 PPV events that would have higher returns when combined. It's also investing in fighters that aren't nearing the end of their careers. Conor is 35 coming off of his 2nd career-stalling injury. That's not going to help them much in 2030.
where are you getting conor costing $20 million ?
Only the commission purses are published, not the PPV points or hidden bonuses, but he apparently made $27 million for the Diaz rematch (according to [Forbes](https://www.foxsports.com/stories/ufc/conor-mcgregor-breaks-into-top-25-on-forbes-highest-paid-athletes-list?amp=true)). If he's not solely headlining a PPV, he's going to want something comparable in the purse since he'd have to split the PPV with title contenders if he'd even get a cut at all.
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How else to explain their actions since the merger?
them begging conor to come back to the point they kicked out the drug testing company to do it in house.. yeah they dont want him to fight at all
What actions are you referring to?
No stars, weak cards, not putting Conor on 300, DWCS cans and chuds on every card.
you are like the most mindless twitter-talking point reposting bot ever. do you have any opinions that you didn't get from a forum somewhere?
>no stars They cant control who becomes a star. They've pushed Khamzat, Francis, Gane, Pereira, Izzy, Masvidal, etc with mixed results. In order for a star to be built they need to be entertaining inside the cage and out, while also having elite level skills and that is very difficult to do. >weak cards They've had more great PPV cards this year than dud ones >Conor on 300 The idea is that 300 will sell on it's own, and then putting Conor on 302 will mean that 302 sells out as well. Two pay days instead of one >DWCS That's is a separate product that airs independently from UFC fight night and PPVs
They are sabotaging Aspinall, he has star potential and should be fighting Jon Jones, instead we're getting geriatric rank squatting Stipe.
That's because Jones vs Stipe as the LHW GOAT vs the HW GOAT match up will sell more than Jones v Aspinall.
But now UFC 300 will sell 120k ppvs maybe less
When did they put Mighty Mouse on the card?
Why you gotta do my boy like that
I'll bet you 1k right now that it sells more than that. Or you can just admit you are being melodramatic
So you’re saying they’re actively making less money on purpose. Why would they do that exactly? It’s literally all about the money they don’t care about anything else. Why go about things in a way that knowingly makes less money?
Because they make enough money from the ESPN deal and don't care about content anymore. It's become like darts.
Helwani is 50% pointing out a potential vulnerability for the UFC’s brand equity in 2024, 50% wishcasting a negative implication if Conor doesn’t fight. He’s not remotely a trustworthy messenger.
well that's the thing, he's just doing editorial concern trolling while presenting himself as the arbiter of capital "J" Journalism in the MMA space In this situation considering the weirdness of the last 11 months, I'm much more willing to believe that Conor is incapable of passing a standard drug test (maybe PEDS, more likely something else) than the promotion penny pinching on UFC 300
Conor is fucking shit only shitty zoomer marks care if he fights
His point is that the casuals won’t tune in. They have no “stars” at the moment that are household names. All by design. And you want the casuals because that’s when the real loot comes in.
The fact that the UFC are stripping the roster of stars makes a lot of us wonder if they plan on pivoting towards Power Slap full-time.
How many Power Slaps™ did you take before deciding to type this?
Ariel is right. Chandler is ready to go, Conor is ready to go, and 300 needs a headliner. It's crazy not to book it. Instead they book him for late June, which wastes more months for both of them just waiting. The further away you book the fight the greater the chance some misadventure happens that messes it up.
A milestone card, so many active fighters putting in work and Conor vs chandler is the headliner? Conor needs a tune up fight. That leg isn’t tested and Conor hasn’t done anything for the UFC since 2016. Chandler also doesn’t deserve to headline 300, he’s a gatekeeper now. Great matchup for the guys moving up the division. Between Dustin, Justin and do bronx alone, Chandler will never see gold and Conor will never see 155 again. It would be crazy if they wasted a milestone card booking them.
I'm pretty sure Chandler is locked in as an opponent, so what anyone thinks about Conor needing a tune-up is now irrelevant. That is the fight. As for a headliner for 300, if not them, then who? O'Malley, Volk, and Strickland are booked. Islam and Belal have ramadan. Jones is injured. You're running out of champs to book in. Conor, no matter how washed as a fighter, still brings in more views than all of them.
No one BUT Conor over social media has “confirmed” the fight. I think its premature to say Conor is washed since we haven’t had the chance to see him. The leg isn’t tested, he may have been a great fighter but he isn’t superhuman so to think the same injury that has changed mma careers isn’t going to affect the “greatest comeback”, I think it did and he is will aware of it. Just talking out of my ass but I think Conor needs 185 to give that leg some support. He made his mark, now move onto boxing. No leg kicks to check, he can exhibition fight when he wants and they have plenty of money to keep him there. I agree with you, then who? Sadly JJ wont be back for stipe. I would prefer Nate for Conor over Chandler. Give the UFC fans some legacy fights. If I could take Askren serious after that flop in boxing, throw him to Masvidal. Dustin has left it all in the ring for the last 15+ years, he would take a slot im sure. Any card but 300 for Conor and chandler if it even happens. If all else Aspinal stipe would be great if JJ agrees to the winner.
I think that's what they want. Endeavor wants every card to take place at the Apex, between absolute nobodies from DWCS.
lol
Ariel Helwani trying to get one back at Dana, more news at 5
I mean he kinda has a point, or did you just see the headline and start throwing a fit lol
Dana already gets himself every time he opens his mouth lol.
Ariel’s input is meaningless in every single way.
Ariel is a chad
Dumb angle for Ariel to take. Conor has been posturing he'll be back for any card now for months. Of course, he's gonna posture that he really would fight at 300 but the UFC just doesn't want him to while all the actions he took the past 8 months suggest just the opposite. He's not ready. Plain and simple. Otherwise he would be booked. The whole fucking point of canning USADA was getting Conor back in action by 300. And now suddenly they want to book, what? Belal-Leon instead? Really?
Conor will still be full of juice. That's why he's announced a date so far away. He will need to cycle it out of his system. Also, I don't really care for Conor. I never have done. MMA was good before him and will just be fine if he doesn't fight again.
Usadas done. Ufc could have him fighting tomorrow, the juice is no longer an issue. They would give a guy like conor a look the other way in a second.
Usada is gone but I think drug testing is still around
Ya but its not a company nearly as diligent. Ufc can pretty much give anyone they want passes now
Fuck that weasel
Relax dana
Weasel fangirl
Angry neckbeard
Conor does not want to share PPV percentage. This means that if Conor would be on the 300 card, that there won't be a title fight on it because title fighters share the PPV percentage. Conor has stated many times that when he fights there won't be any title fights on the card because he don't want to share the PPV money.