Plus they already have an in via TKO/WWE

Might as well.

ppv model ending would bring up create some interesting questions. what happens to the champions and fighters who have ppv points in their contracts? is it just replaced with a flat fee? is the same for every fighter or different? would they give pantoja an extra 100k while giving islam 2 mil? how would they come up with that number? what's the incentive to create mega cards if ppv buys are no longer a thing? how does it impact the way fighters promote themselves? does it mean anything to be on the main card of a numbered event anymore? are there still numbered events?

idk, just thinking about things

they are f***ing cooked my god

That last card was a good one to go into a new TV deal with, if that card was trash like the last few they’d have a hard time getting the number they want. A Netflix deal would be insane though, I’d be willing to actually buy an add on for fight nights. Have em every 1-2 weeks and 1 PPV a month so they can stack the talent each card rather than have spread them too thin for fight nights nobody cares about.

leon's brother just finished impa

Move to 1-2 cards a month, every card is numbered maybe with a new system starting from 1 (UFC on Netflix 1 as opposed to UFC 314 for example,) no more apex cards, share of new subscriber revenue per card + maybe share of gate replace PPV points?

All wishful thinking probably but this is such a crazy growth opportunity for the sport, it would be a real shame not to see the product grow with it

i feel like the ppv model is such a structural part of the ufc's business model that i can't imagine they get rid of it. plus in a situation that they do, i think the fighters would just get completely f***ed over. also if they got rid of ppv, they'd be expecting netflix, espn or whoever to make an even bigger offer to make up for that lost revenue and the broadcaster isn't gonna pay more for fewer cards. super complicated situation with a lot of moving parts, so i'm expecting answers lol, i'm just tryna think through things

How much lost revenue is it really though? They don't even announce PPV buys anymore. I think a broadcaster would pay more for better cards even if there are fewer of them. There are so many fight nights now that don't move the needle whatsoever and are literally just filler to meet the quota that ESPN set.

I think the goal should be to get as many (paying) eyes on the sport as possible. Even if there's like a $20 per month add-on that Netflix splits with the UFC and even if it's like $15 for Netflix and $5 for the UFC, that should surpass the PPV buys pretty easily. Would also combat illegal streaming since there are lots of people who pay for reliability and convenience.

Whatever happens, I just hope they abandon the current PPV model in favor of something a little lighter on consumers' wallets, especially if the product isn't going to improve

the only way to guess the revenue lost would be to guess the ppv buys. if we said the total amount of ppv sales throughout the year when evenly distributed across all the events was 100k per event

100k x $70 = 7,000,000

7,000,000 x 13 ppvs = 91,000,000

it's a big chunk but obv that's just guessing. you gotta assume at least some events are doing big numbers like 350k+ to make up for the s***ty ppv cards. personally i think that article that came out about the ppv sales falling a ton was the ufc trying to negotiate through the media but idk

also you gotta think about all the bars and restaurants that are paying even more to show the ppv

you're right that it'd probably help piracy a bit but i just don't see any broadcaster wanting to pay more for less

i have no idea who to pick in ian vs prates. i've been like the one ian fan even through all the bs the last few years but i haven't been as impressed with his recent performances as other people have been. he's looked a lot slower on the feet and while his takedowns have gotten way better he doesn't really seem to be able to do a whole lot once he gets position. he had shavkat and mvp in awful spots and let it slip both times. that being said, his distance management and footwork is still great and he's shown he knows how to execute his gameplan

prates really hasn't been tested at all and his striking defense has looked pretty bad but he has the touch of death and the fighting nerds aura is real and powerful. the only time i've seen him on the ground was in his contenders series fight and he managed to scramble pretty well and get back to his feet, i think he also showed some good tdd iirc

both ian pitter pattering his way to a win while mixing in a few takedowns and prates flatlining ian seem just as likely to me

dustin cherry picking his last fight with a guy he's already 2-0 against just so he can go out with a fake belt

Max is beating him this time imo

dustin going out on a loss

BMF belt being an official thing so corny

Hyped!!

Usman back too

Anthony Smith gonna cover up and turn his back again

it's called lionheart guard

anyone got a ksw link?