The UFC's Matchmaking Issues are Becoming More Obvious
With the most recent main event gaffe at UFC London, it’s becoming obvious that the UFC is having trouble putting headliner fights together recently, but what is really going on?
After weeks upon weeks of waiting for a main event announcement for UFC London, the English fans were left disappointed as a previously announced main card fight in Jimi Manuwa vs Corey Anderson was bumped to the main event. UK fans cried foul as fans from around the globe began to raise their brows in suspicion. This was yet again another case of questionable main event matchmaking, a theme that has started to reoccur throughout the new year.
At the end of 2016, long time matchmaker Joe Silva retired after 20 years with the promotion. To replace him, the UFC promoted Silva’s partner Sean Shelby and hired former Legacy FC president, Mick Maynard to work alongside Shelby in “organizing UFC bouts, developing athletes on the roster, and scouting potential UFC talent.” But as we look at now, 2017 has been kind of a mess.
The first women’s featherweight title is on the line in two weeks in a fight that nobody really asked for, Holly Holm vs. Germaine de Randamie. This was only the first matchup that began raise eyebrows towards the UFC matchmaking. Junior dos Santos was scheduled for a rematch against Stefan Struve, and then when Struve pulled out, Johny Hendricks vs. Hector Lombard was scheduled to headline, and when it was clear again that nobody wanted that, Travis Browne vs. Derrick Lewis was pulled from UFC 208, a card that needs as much depth as it can get, to headline instead.
But before we get into ragging too much on the UFC’s new matchmakers, let’s acknowledge that the depth of a lot of these cards is to be commended, but it is the main events that are suffering.
Now with UFC London, it’s clear that something fell through to force a main card depth fight to the main event. Something that used to be a rare occasion, usually to injuries, is now seeming to happen quite often.
London is obviously a very important card given the fact that the English fans usually sell out almost every time the Octagon comes to town. So why would the UFC try to sweep this one to the side? Was there actually nothing available to headline? Was there literally nothing that could be put together since the event was announced back in November? Not likely.
Odds are this event was shoveled aside for a little bit, and then nothing was able to come together when it was time, forcing a panic, and probably explaining why the announcement came a week after tickets went on sale. Who knows? Maybe this will end up turning out better than any panic fight the UFC could have put together.
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The reoccurring theme with some of these new matches seems to be whatever gets that extra couple PPV buys over the fight that actually makes sense, even if the money fight in question makes little no sense at all. Recently, they have seemed hesitant to make the right fight over the money fight. A report surfaced that the UFC was looking to book Tyron Woodley vs. Nick Diaz for the welterweight title, the Nick Diaz that hasn’t fought in over two years or won a fight since 2011. While yes, it would do more buys than the currently scheduled rematch with Stephen Thompson, it’s definitely not the right fight to make.
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Recently, they have seemed hesitant to make the right fight over the money fight. A report surfaced that the UFC was looking to book Tyron Woodley vs. Nick Diaz for the welterweight title, the Nick Diaz that hasn’t fought in over two years or won a fight since 2011. While yes, it would do more buys than the currently scheduled rematch with Stephen Thompson, it’s definitely not the right fight to make.
Yoel Romero apparently secured a title shot with his knockout win over Chris Weidman back in November, but it wasn’t until Tuesday that he was “confirmed” for the next title shot. Why did simply confirming that took so long? What else were they planning?
The definition of a “money fight” is lost these days. What is a money fight really? Is it a fight you’ve only dreamed of but never thought to be possible? Is it simply just passing over the rightful contender in favor of a guy who will sell more PPVs? Or nowadays is it just the fight that you want to see the most? Because it seems that a “money fight” over a short period time has devolved from Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz, to Michael Bisping vs. Dan Henderson. Not nearly the same, but here’s something those fights have in common, they both cost $60 on PPV.
So is this something we should expect from here on out? Money fights first while the unimportant cards are pushed aside until the last possible minute? Or could this be a learning curve for our new matchmakers and we can expect the things to improve over time? Maybe everything that could be going wrong is going wrong with a lot of the UFC’s biggest stars currently MIA. So while this is a worrying trend, it might not be the right time to start panicking. If this does continue over the next few months however, then by all means, start panicking.
