UFC Overload?

I’ve been hearing a lot of criticism over the years in regards to the UFC getting too big for its own good and putting on too many shows per year, which has the effect of diluting the product and giving MMA fans a headache because they "can’t keep up." I’ve really never understood this argument and wanted to know you felt on the subject.


My argument is, unlike WWE, a scripted, weekly storyline-driven show that can (and has) gotten diluted and boring for a number of reasons, the UFC is a real sport with a number of weight classes and fighters (all of whom only fight a few times a year at most), which I believe only gives MMA fans of all varieties and levels of fandom a chance to simply pick and chose what they want to follow and to what degree. I don’t think UFC puts out all these shows on PPV and TV with the expectation that *everyone* who has any level of interest in MMA will watch; they do it to, metaphorically speaking, put out a large buffet of food and let fans come and eat as they please. Many fans follow only certain fighters or weight classes, some watch only "the big shows," some watch whatever they can.

Everyone wins, right? I consider myself a big MMA fan, but even I don’t watch all the shows and certainly don’t feel its saturating the market or whatever. Just like with any other hobby, when a show comes up I look at the card and gauge my interest to determine if I want to see it. If Conor McGregor or Jon Jones started fighting once a week on a WWE schedule then I would understand, but that’s hardly the case.

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They’re doing fine in specific cases where they have a draw like Conor or Rousey, but overall the UFC product is WAY too saturated and overexposed. UFC absolutely expects that everyone will watch everything, and not "pick and choose". In fact that’s the worst thing for business overall, because it teaches people that they don’t have to watch all the shows. And it’s hurting their PPV business, as the highs recently are higher, but the lows are WAY lower. Bottom level for a UFC PPV used to be about 350,000 buys, and now that they’re headlining with guys like Mighty Mouse it’s fallen to about 100-150K. ​