The MMABay Sunday Supplement: UFC 120: For And Against

Whenever the UFC graces the shores of the British Isles, there always seems to be a bone of contention. While fans occasionally bemoan locations and ticket prices, by far the biggest grievance amongst the UK faithful is the perceived quality of cards on our shores. UFC 120 has thrown yet more fuel onto the fire…

I must admit, I was a little disappointed when I heard the news that the upcoming UFC 120 at the O2 Arena in London would be headlined by Yoshihiro Akiyama and Michael Bisping. With the likes of Anderson Silva, Vitor Belfort, Rashad Evans, Rampage Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Brock Lesnar, Cain Velasquez and more all potentially free around October time, it’s not too difficult to see why fans are up in arms. Hell, we’d even take Liddell-Ortiz 3.

It’s not as simple as the UK fans being shafted, though. Anyone who thinks that the UFC would be intentionally dissatisfying their second most lucrative foreign market (outside of Canada) needs to ask themselves one question: Why? There’s a lot to be said about the situation as it stands, so in the interest of fairness I’m putting my own personal biases aside in an attempt to present an impartial look at the pro’s and con’s of UFC 120.

FOR: It looks, on paper at least, to be a fantastic night of fights. For all his perceived faults, Michael Bisping has rarely, if ever, been in a dull fight. Neither has Yoshihiro Akiyama: the other half of the main event. The two men match up extremely well and should make for three rounds of all-out action, come October.

On a similar note, there isn’t a more exciting fight in the welterweight division right now than Dan Hardy vs Carlos Condit. Both are all-action, no-quit, balls-to-the-wall fighters who leave everything in the cage; this one has value for money written all over it. John Hathaway vs Dong-Hyun Kim is all kinds of awesome, Travis Browne vs Cheick Kongo will be a ballet of violence. The debuts of Tom Blackledge against James Te-Huna, Kurt Warburton against Spencer Fisher and big Rob Broughton against Vincent Quieroz are all excellent match-ups, albeit featuring fighters you may not have seen before. Hey, everyone has to have their first UFC fight somewhere, right?

For roughly £100 you can sit halfway down the bottom deck of the O2. As we saw with UFC 95, an even weaker card on paper, you don’t need big names for great fights. Simply put, if you enjoy exciting fights, UFC 120 looks like it won’t let you down. Add in the very first UK Fan Expo, and October looks like it could be a great month for British fight fans.

AGAINST: Let’s be honest, the main event is not comparable to the average numbered UFC, is it? The UFC insists on keeping the UK shows as part of the numerical cannon, yet the ‘star power’ often falls some way short of their domestic efforts. It’s all about perception; call the British cards “Ultimate Fight Night UK” (UFC’s UK President Marshall Zelaznik has previously hinted at ‘Fight Nights’ on our shores) and adjust the ticket prices accordingly and fan expectations won’t be as high.

British fans’ faith in the UFC is dealt another blow with each ‘non-Main Event’ we get. We’re promised big fights; we’re promised title shots; so of course there is going to be a backlash if the UFC doesn’t come through. Check out this video of a conversation between MMABay’s Michael Pepper and Dana White from January 2009:

Michael Pepper: “Do you think we’ll get a title fight over here in 2009…”

Dana White (interrupting): “Absolutely, we will.”

MP: “…because the UK scene has missed the title fights…”

DW: “Absolutely”

MP: “…we’ve not had one since January 2008…”

DW: “You’re right.”

MP: “…BJ Penn vs Joe Stevenson. We’ve had a number of cards since…”

DW: “Yep, that is true…uh…and the answer is yes. Yes, we will get a big title fight over here.”

The answer is yes. We will get a big title fight. Nothing in the world will hurt consumer confidence more than broken promises.

WHY?: So why are fans in the UK getting supposedly second-rate cards? As usual, it can all be traced back to the mighty dollar. Firstly, the UFC’s marquee fighters reportedly don’t like fighting in the UK due to a lack of PPV-related income, which many of them have written into their contracts. The UFC would have to make up that lost income, and it’s just not financially viable. People point to the Abu Dhabi event as evidence of UFC champions fighting overseas on a tape-delayed PPV, but it’s an unfair comparison. The first couple of UK cards had comparable line-ups, and Zuffa’s Middle Eastern investors had financial input in the card.

The other big factor in all of this is ticket sales; the UFC still does very well at the UK box office (not to mention cleaning up at the merchandise stands), despite having a less than fantastic 12 months in their home nation. Check out these figures for a comparison:

- UFC 106: 6,631 tickets sold, 3,898 given away.

- UFC 108: 8,004 tickets sold, 4,373 given away.

The argument could be made that both cards lost out on last-minute ticket sales after their headline bouts fell through, but compare that to UK ticket sales and there is an alarming difference. UFC 95, with its ‘weak’ line-up, sold nearly 14,000 seats. UFC 85 did over 15,000. UFC 105 sold just short of 17,000 tickets. The fact is, the UK is an absolute goldmine for the UFC at the box office and as long as it remains that way, do not expect anything to change in terms of the quality of the cards.

There are a couple of schools of thought from most UK fans as to the best course of action to take. The first is to vote with their wallets. This comes up before every UK card, and each time they still sell an incredible number of tickets. This tells us one of two things, either the people claiming that they won’t be buying a ticket are doing it anyway, or that it’s only a very small vocal minority of online fans that are unhappy with the cards we’re getting.

Another interesting solution, as put forward by MMABay reader ‘Kiss_saves_santa’, is following boxing’s lead by starting UK events in the early hours of Sunday morning, so as to synch up with the regular PPV times in the US. Manchester put on a shuttle bus link from the MEN to the train station for the Ricky Hatton vs Kostya Tszyu fight and Birmingham, Newcastle and Liverpool all have big city centre venues, so the logistics are certainly there. Here’s the issue though: Is the UFC big enough in the UK for fans to pay a premium to attend a show that doesn’t finish until 6am. Any takers on that one?

One thing is for sure, posting angry rants on message boards isn’t going to get you anywhere. Dana White gives UFC fans ample chance to get their voices heard, so spend that time contacting him on Twitter @DanaWhite, organising an online petition or writing the UFC an email. If enough sensible, reasonable people voice an opinion, then maybe, just maybe, our voices will start to be heard. Calling him a douche bag won’t help. A mature opinion might.

At the end of the day, UFC 120 will likely sell out, especially with the addition of the Fan Expo. There is little incentive for the UFC to change what is, for them, a winning formula. The fights look set to be great, and personally, I’m looking forward to what should be an entertaining few days.

None of that changes the fact that this is not a card that the UFC could take to Vegas and expect to sell tickets and PPVs. Something needs to change, whether it’s the quality of the fight cards, or the UFC managing fans’ expectations regarding the quality of events we can expect on our shores. Promises need to be kept, or not made in the first place. Otherwise, fans in the UK will start to feel like second class citizens…

…and that isn’t good enough.

By Brad Wharton

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