Any long time fans feel like the UFC has lost its magic?

I know what you mean. It's hard to put your finger on but it's most likely an age/maturity thing. I watched every card (and I mean EVERY card) live for about a decade (maybe longer) without fail. A lot of cards are extremely mid, especially the fight nights and ESPN cards. There also seems to be a lack of superstars, Izzy is really the only one at the moment although Islam is very close too and so is O'Malley. It seemed the other eras had a lot more stars you could get behind. As the UFC has expanded it's also been harder to follow as well so that doesn't help matters.
 
The UFC robbed individuality and stopped promoting the artists in MMA. Now it’s whoever talks the most shit or has the most instagram followers that are elevated in the public eye.
Catering to casual fans and MMA noobs means the old fans are forgotten or disregarded.
The UFC used to be like going to the Circus; now it’s like going to watch the WWE.
 
Trouble is the UFC is being run on the cheap with little investment in bringing in exciting new talent.

The women’s 145 division is testament to that. Casuals will think “there’s no women out there” but you look at the PFL, Bellator over the past 3-4 years and that’s just not true. The UFC just don’t want to invest, scout out and bring in good fighters.

Stale rematches and bad matchmaking.

Undeserved title shots.

Stalling divisions for fights no one cares about, (Jones / Miocic, Grasso/Shevchenko).

Cards with no WMMA fights (means I don’t even bother watching)
 
Inbefore shills start defending this dire company.
 
Yup as per an old thread here I remember card anticipation has long gone . I watch way more boxing than UFC these days. Needs a new couple of superstars to come along.
 
Of course its changing and evolving as a 'sport'. But first and foremost - its a business.

And like any business who has any sort of longevity, it has to change and adapt to stay lucrative and at the forefront.

Anyone who says otherwise is an armchair commentator.
 
I can admit the UFC is at a low point as far as stars go but I'm still a fight fan.

WAR MMA!
 
90% of UFC cards are watered down trash so I don't even bother to stream their cards anymore, will only try to watch a fight if its a must see exciting fighter like Alex Pereira, Chandler, Venom Page etc but there's few of them
 
Too many fighters and watered downed cards.. Cut half of the roster and only have like 1-2 fight cards a month.
 
Talent is at the highest level its ever been. To compare todays MMA fighters with 90's Early 00's MMA fighters is an insult. The problem is these guys have literally 0 personality and every single post fight interview they say the same damn thing more or less. Is it even worth marching Joe/DC/Bisping into the cage after every fight When every winner is just going to say Yeahh ya know i want to thank the skydiety of my choosing and no sorry I don't want to call anybody out but please Hunter Campbell give me a top 10 or top 5 guy next. The guys these days are just stiff as a damn board.
 
Joe Mama said:
Of course its changing and evolving as a 'sport'. But first and foremost - its a business.

And like any business who has any sort of longevity, it has to change and adapt to stay lucrative and at the forefront.

Anyone who says otherwise is an armchair commentator.
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they stopped trying to distance themselves from Pride and acting like they were a legit sport org a decade ago.
 
That they were able to keep reasonable shows happening through the pandemic was a good sign. I think we have some good up and comers that need to go star level. The problem is their tendency to cling to stars too long but the combat sports fan base is also responsible (look at Mike Tyson - fans can't let him go now 30 years out of his prime.)
 
XociDe said:
The UFC has had multiple different eras and being nostalgic about the "old days" is normal, but there was always a certain magic throughout all of those years. Even when it went fully mainstream with Conor and millions of new fans came flooding in, it still kept that feeling. I just don't feel it anymore.

The UFC is obviously not dying, and that's not what I'm saying. I can't put my finger on what it is.

Anyone else feel the same?
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For me, absolutely.

It's been about 10 years that I pretty much just look at the results.
Ever since they put Maldonado against Miocic that UFC for me lost all it's flavor.
 
Joe_Armstrong said:
It´s a combination of not much supertalented guys and not to much
colorful personalities.

I mean, back in the day you had Chuck, Randy, Rampage and Wand in LHW alone.
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I mean the aura and charisma that those guys had were something special. Add the mysticness of Royce Gracie and the genuine masculinity of guys like Don Frye and Tank Abbott. Fighters were less concerned about losing/whoring the belt and more concerned about putting the best effort that they could against whoever was on the other side of the cage.

Now, we got influencer wannabes like Strickland,Omalley and Colby. Hell even, 54 yr old Dana, who might be a billionaire, wants to be a dorky social media influencer. Unfortunately, this is just the tip of iceberg, there's whole plethora of issues that I feel can be untangled leading to this demise.
 
Yes it has, people are in denial but UFC has regressed badly. The roster is bloated with so many mediocre fighters because of DWCS, thats all they sign from these days. No long reigning champions, the belts get passed around like confetti, its so lame.. and after zero title defenses all they want is this so called superfight.. good lord. The problem is though there are no superfights because no one has done anything

UFC Apex the church graveyard is awful too and is totally flat and soulless with zero energy.. it makes the fights look so unimportant. We need real humans, thats the entire point of sports.. its supposed to have lots of energy and atmosphere. The Church Graveyard just takes all of that away and it looks so sad and not important.
 
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