Is UFC 206 Already Doomed to Disaster?
UFC 206 is set to take place next Saturday, but is it a fight card already set-up to fail on pay-per-view?
Following the loss of Daniel Cormier vs Anthony Johnson for the light-heavyweight title, many speculated whether UFC 206 was a strong enough card to continue on PPV. Despite the promotion of Max Holloway vs. Anthony Pettis to a five round interim title bout, the card seems to be leaving many fans and pundits scratching their heads.
Firstly, the situation with Conor McGregor feels contradictory after the fanfare of UFC 205 earlier this month. “The Notorious” became the first ever two-division world champion and arguably the biggest star in MMA history in the process. Now, McGregor has been stripped rather unceremoniously for the sake of giving the card the benefit of being headlined by a fight for a belt.
Neither McGregor nor President Dana White have spoken about the relinquishment of the title, despite the fact that it was a probability even before UFC 205. Most frustratingly, it undervalues the featherweight championship even more.
It was expected that if McGregor did relinquish the 145 belt, then interim champion José Aldo would become the undisputed champion and defend the title against the winner of Holloway and Pettis. Instead, Pettis now competes for the interim title after going 1-3 in his last four fights and leaves questions as to where McGregor stands in the division when he returns.
Prior to the official announcement of the fight card, it was believed that former welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre would be making his Octagon return in Toronto. Instead, the MMA world was stunned when “Rush” went on the MMA Hour to state that he felt the UFC was in breach of his contract and that he considered himself a free-agent.
The legal situation has now become a drama of it’s own as St. Pierre is looking for the UFC to compensate him for the money he would be losing due to the Reebok deal that is now in place with the promotion. Other comments that have been made are that the new ownership group, WME-IMG, feels that his asking price is too high for the reason that they would be paying too much to go through the process of “reintroducing” St. Pierre to fans. Under the circumstances, the UFC seems to be paying the price without GSP to bolster the card as it struggles.
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Recently, the card was also set to feature the middleweight debut of former champion Rashad Evans in a match originally scheduled for UFC 205 against Tim Kennedy. Evans could not get a license to fight on the New York card, and Toronto followed suit in not licensing “Suga” as well.
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Even more perplexing, the promotion has tentatively scheduled Kennedy a fight on the card against Kelvin Gastelum, who was suspended by the NYSAC for six months. Fans will remember the suspension came after Gastelum did not even step on the scale to weigh in for his fight against Donald Cerrone.
Perhaps most telling, the Canadian card was sandwiched between the stacked New York card and the upcoming UFC 207 card that features the return of Ronda Rousey and is bolstered by a title fight between Dominick Cruz and Cody Garbrandt. In a year where the UFC has had several big PPV events, the placement of the card left the event seemingly destined to be overlooked.
The UFC is set to complete a historical year both in and out of the cage. How well this card performs on PPV won’t change that. However, in a year where so much money and attention was thrown around, it is difficult not to question how a card primed for success has left many feeling underwhelmed.
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