Opinion: Public Enemy

Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed below are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sherdog.com, its affiliates and sponsors or its parent company, Evolve Media.

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I’m going to let my readers in on something that might sound blasphemous today. Those who have been longtime followers of the sport will know where I’m coming from, but it will be a sentiment they haven’t experienced in a long time. The Ultimate Fighting Championship used to care about the sentiment of the fans of the sport.

I know, I know. That sounds ludicrous. We’re in an era where the promotion appears to do whatever suits it. The coronavirus pandemic has been over for several years now, but we’re still getting regular UFC Fight Night cards taking place at the UFC Apex. If we’re going to count the UFC as one of the premier sports attractions in North America—alongside the likes of the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB and MLS—it runs the fewest events by a wide margin. For example, the NFL has 272 regular-season games, the fewest among those sports organizations. The UFC runs about 40 shows, not all of them in North America. Yet the UFC is going to promote events where the general public isn’t allowed to purchase tickets?

The events in the Apex made sense during the pandemic. I’ll even give the UFC massive props for being ballsy enough to run events at a time when many were yelling and screaming about the company putting lives in danger. The UFC’s willingness to defy a very loud opposition was key in sports organizations as a whole getting back to business. Thus, I’m not crapping on why it started holding events there. However, the time for using the Apex has passed. For the sake of the fans, the UFC should get back on the road and prove why a UFC event is one of the greatest experiences in sports.

Instead, convenience is being placed ahead of the fans. Just like it was when the UFC pitted Jon Jones against Stipe Miocic. The first time the fight was booked, I believe fans might have been fine with it. However, Jones tore his pectoral muscle, Miocic opted to stay on the sidelines and Tom Aspinall rose up to steal the attention and hearts of the fans. They no longer cared to see Jones and Miocic fight. They wanted Jones to defend his title against the man who was the interim champion: Aspinall. After all, isn’t that how it’s supposed to work?

Again, the UFC didn’t care what the fans wanted. The promotion didn’t want to deal with the headache Jones would provide if he didn’t get the Miocic fight. At 42, Miocic had been on the sidelines for so long that he didn’t have a single fight with an active UFC competitor by the time they clashed. Right or wrong, Miocic didn’t capture enough of the fans’ imagination to maintain their attention. They didn’t care about the fight, and it happened to be a dud. Given Miocic’s age and time on the sidelines, that wasn’t a surprise.

I can’t claim to know how much money Jones made for the Miocic fight, what he would have demanded to fight Aspinall at the time or what he’s presently demanding to fight Aspinall, so I won’t say I definitively know the UFC was being petty. However, I do know the UFC regularly touts how much money it has made year after year, and the company is doing pretty good for itself. I can guarantee the fans would have very much appreciated if the UFC could have made Jones-Aspinall happen in November. We may still get to see it, but why delay it when there could be potential rematches? We all know an immediate rematch would come around should Jones lose. Why let Jones get older at a point when he’s well past his physical prime? Heavyweights may age slower than other weight classes, but Miocic proved age and rust do take a toll, and Jones hasn’t been fighting much.

Maybe Jones and Miocic is old news. That was last year. Fine. I’ll accept that. The rematch between Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley isn’t old news. The first contest wasn’t particularly close, with Dvalishvili feeling comfortable enough to clown O’Malley by kissing him on the back. Despite that, the UFC has opted to give O’Malley an immediate rematch, allowing him to sit on the sidelines while Dvalishvili put in a defense against Umar Nurmagomedov. It’s not like O’Malley was a dominant champion. His lone successful defense was a gift from the UFC, which pitted him against an undeserving Marlon Vera as an opportunity for O’Malley to avenge his lone career loss.

I’m sure the argument for O’Malley is that he’s popular and there isn’t a clear No. 1 contender at 135 pounds. O’Malley may be more popular than the other bantamweights “in the mix,” but I would contend it’s negligible enough that it shouldn’t be taken into account. My friends and associates know about my enjoyment of MMA, so we’ll talk about the next big UFC event every now and then. I’ve never heard any of them ask about O’Malley. They’ve asked about Alex Pereira. They’ve asked about Jones. I even had one ask about Holly Holm within the last year. Never O’Malley. I don’t think he’s the needle mover the UFC thinks he is.

Is that anecdotal evidence? Sure, I’ll admit that. I’ll also admit O’Malley has his fans. I also chose my words carefully in the opening paragraph. I said the UFC doesn’t care about fans of the sport. Not O’Malley fans. Not Conor McGregor fans. Fans of the sport. Those who would go to a UFC Fight Night headlined by Lerone Murphy. I’d probably classify UFC management as bigger fans of O’Malley than they are fans of the sport. As for fan outcry, it has been large enough that O’Malley responded on The Ariel Helwani Show to inquiries about the unpopularity of the booking. “Don’t watch,” he said. I get the feeling O’Malley might be unaware of Hollywood’s decline in popularity.

However, I started this article by declaring that the UFC once upon a time cared about what the fans of the sport thought. Let me take you back to 2009. The UFC was fresh off the success of UFC 100 and riding high. It proudly announced the headliner of UFC 103 as Dan Henderson-Rich Franklin for a second time, only to be soundly rebuked. Fans didn’t want to see that fight again. It wasn’t a bad fight and was very close, but fans wanted something new, something fresh. They had just seen Henderson and Franklin square off in January and they were getting it again in September? Believe it or not, the UFC actually listened to the public outcry and scrapped the contest. Perhaps that had something to do with shaky contract negotiations with Henderson—he would next fight in Strikeforce—but the UFC did follow through. Maybe it will follow through again someday.