ESPN or PPV: Who Will UFC Disappoint More in 2019?

Did it get dusty in here? Or do I just think it did because I kept hearing Karen Bryant say that on the post show for the last UFC on FOX event Saturday night?

The event itself was fine (I liked that Edson Barboza was so excited for the new Mortal Kombat that he performed a fatality on Dan Hooker) but it seemed like everything got a bit overshadowed by the fact that the event was the last of the UFC on FOX era, as next year begins the UFC on ESPN era.

It’s obviously too early to tell how well the transition will go and if we’ll look back fondly on the FOX years in the wake of what’s to come. However, it sure doesn’t seem like things have gotten off on the right foot.

One of the big stories that came out over the last few weeks was UFC’s decision to have Greg Hardy, the former NFL player who got run out of football after a domestic violence conviction (which got overturned on appeal after the victim failed to testify, which doesn’t sound suspicious at all…), make his UFC debut on the first UFC on ESPN+ card on January 19.

This news by itself was considered controversial because DUH but it wasn’t helped by the fact that the card already featured Rachael Ostovich, a fighter who was the victim of alleged domestic violence a couple weeks ago (i.e. before the UFC announced Hardy would be competing on the same card as her).

Dana White waived the news off as a non-story because he said Ostovich was fine with competing on the same card as Hardy, which we all know must be completely true, since Dana said it. And Dana never lies about anything ever.

It might be true Rachael said she was fine but anyone with a brain can assume that just because she says she’s fine doesn’t mean she actually is. I could go on but this whole thing is a can of worms better left opened by someone who doesn’t do things like stop in the middle of columns to talk about random stuff for no reason.

Speaking of which, did you hear that the early reviews for Bumblebee are all really positive? That’s crazy. I just assumed it was part of the formula to make every Transformers film complete garbage because China will still pay to see them. I’m glad to be surprised for a change.

We know why UFC made the deal with ESPN: money. ESPN was willing to offer UFC a lot of money (the deal is valued at around $300,000 each year for the next five years, also known as “a crapload of cash”) so it seemed like a slam dunk for both parties.

UFC gets that faint glimmer of hope they’ll one day be able to pay off the $4 billion Endeavor paid to buy it, and ESPN gets another live sport they can use to shovel water out of their sinking ship of a network. Everybody wins!

That being said, it’s interesting ESPN has chosen not to comment on the whole Hardy fiasco, one that everyone would have thought UFC would see coming and choose to avoid instead of plowing headfirst into. I mean, Dana is so big on Hardy and on giving second chances when he’s banished fighters from the company for doing much less. Why have him compete on ESPN+ when he can compete on the first ESPN main card in February?

Does UFC and ESPN think Hardy will convince MMA fans to subscribe to the ESPN+ streaming service? Do they think he’s the guy to get non-fans to give the sport a try? Does anybody believe that a bunch of mediocre fight cards throughout the year are going to get fans who haven’t already bought into the idea of paying more to see everything is going to be enough? Because we all know Henry Cejudo and TJ Dillashaw won’t be…

LEAVE THE FLYWEIGHTS ALONE, UFC!!!! THEY NEVER HURT NOBODY!!!!

I’m still trying to figure out if it’s a compliment to the UFC Flyweight and Bantamweight Champions to have their fight moved off Payperview to lead the charge ushering in the UFC on ESPN era or an insult because UFC would rather cancel a Payperview for the sake of saving an online only main card than find that show another headliner and give the guys the chance to earn Payperview points.

I say that under the assumption the buyrate for UFC 233 was probably not ever going to be great. I mean, UFC has never promoted the flyweights. Why start now?

That’s right. UFC is, once again, in the Payperview canceling business. Into the dustbin of history with UFC 151, UFC 177, the original UFC 196, the original UFC 208, and that card in The Philippines where BJ Penn decided to get injured than face Ricardo Lamas goes UFC 233, UFC’s counterprogramming to Bellator’s Heavyweight Grand Prix final between Fedor Emelinanenko and Ryan Bader.

Well done, Bellator. You’ve won the night without having to do anything. Enjoy it while it lasts.

I’d imagine this cancellation may sting a bit more for the UFC than past cancellations if only because of the payout restructuring they were successfully able to execute with providers, all thanks to UFC being the only major Payperview game left in town and providers struggling to the point that they’d agree to a 70/30 profit split in the UFC’s favor instead of the standard 50/50 split.

A 70/30 split is a big win for the UFC. I’m sure we’d all feel good about this news if some of that money, along with the ESPN money, were going to the fighters instead of to the UFC executives’ bank accounts.

At least UFC knows how much the Payperview providers need them. Too bad UFC feels they still need Payperview. I mean, while I may think DAZN, or “Da Zone” as I absolutely refuse to call it, is going to fall flat on its face with all the money it’s been throwing around to try and sign every boxer on the planet (and Bellator), it still beats paying $65 to watch a bunch of judges score a fight incorrectly.

One would think this new Payperview payout structure would keep UFC from having to cancel a numbered event again in the future but, with the way they operate these days (aka MONEY FIGHTS), who knows.

The funniest thing about the fallout of the cancellation was Dana putting blame on Tyron Woodley for not being willing to fight on the card because of an injury he suffered when he last fought all the way back in….September. Dana’s trying to goad Woodley by citing a lack of activity when he fought 3 months ago. Since then, 4 championships have been fought for or defended on three numbered events, with two more championships being fought over in the next two weeks, one fight being champion vs. champion.

That means, between when Woodley last fought and when UFC wanted him to fight next, 4 months, the company will have used the champions of 7 different weight classes. Plus, the event UFC wanted Woodley to fight on was already supposed to feature two more champions fighting each other before UFC made the decision to move them to another card.

That’s nine championships tied up over a period of 4 months. And UFC wants to blame Woodley for the cancellation? Really?

We all wish UFC would stop spreading itself so thin and make stronger events (or put more promotional dollars into events to make them stronger) but we all know that won’t happen, not when ESPN is paying them over a billion dollars to feature top talents for a couple events followed by nobodies for the next hundred, assuming the same business model is used here as was used for FOX.

And if they can still get a Paypervew mega event whenever Conor McGregor feels like being generous, all the better. That totally makes up for allowing established names like Eddie Alvarez and Demetrious Johnson to walk. At least we have Ben Askren, that stud.

This arrangement the UFC has with ESPN and with the Payperview providers isn’t one that necessarily benefits the fans but it never really was meant to benefit us, was it? The UFC is a business and as long as they keep making money, they’re going to keep doing their thing. It’s not like every single one of us is going to stop watching fights over this, right? It’s not like we aren’t going to complain about Greg Hardy while we’re watching him fight, right? UFC knows us too well.

If the UFC gets to have its cake and eat it too, that means the rest of us are going to be stuck eating dirt. Oh well. At least it tastes better than what most of the fighters end up eating. Bon appetit!

Evan Zivin has been writing for 411 MMA since May of 2013. Evan loves the sport, and likes to takes a lighthearted look at the world of MMA in his writing…usually.