UFC avoids karma to our great fortune
The promotion can still pull rabbits out of hats and save big pay-per-views
If you ever needed any reassurance the UFC is still the big dog in the yard, the plethora of last-minute changes that occurred last week is about as good as it gets.
While I have no doubt the UFC would much rather have Conor McGregor at the top of UFC 303 – as would any casual sports fan – for once, the hardcore MMA fans are the real winners to come out of McGregor’s injury.
From a personal standpoint, I need to get this out of the way: I don’t wish McGregor any ill will.
I don’t take any pleasure out of his being injured. I don’t delight when another controversy that paints him in a bad light emerges. I just want him to go away.
It’s been almost eight years since I’ve viewed him as a serious MMA fighter. Since defeating Eddie Alvarez in November 2016 for the lightweight title, he’s become a sideshow.
Conor plays at being a celebrity, popping in whenever it suits his fancy, and securing wins at a 25% rate since that time. I understand he’s fought some tough competition, but you must beat other elite fighters to be an elite fighter and he hasn’t done that in nearly a decade.
He’s not someone I have any interest in following anymore.
What relevance should the McGregor-Chandler fight have? Chandler has lost to Charles Oliveira, Justin Gaethje, and Dustin Poirier, effectively removing himself from immediate title contention.
A win over McGregor will help some, but not much. As much as I hate to admit it, a win for McGregor would probably set him up for a lightweight title shot, but not without controversy.
Anyone who pays attention to the sport knows politics plays a part in who gets a title shot, but it would likely be the most egregious example of politics should that happen. A big part of the reason: the fight is taking place at 170, not 155.
It’s hard for me not to get frustrated knowing McGregor can fight for the first time in three years and be rewarded with a title shot in a division he hasn’t secured a win in since 2016. In fact, that’s the only victory McGregor has at lightweight in his UFC career.
Given he has lost three consecutive at lightweight, wouldn’t it make more sense to have him win a fight in the division? Unfortunately for the fans who care about such things, the UFC’s desire for PPV buys and all fighters’ desire for their own Red Panty Night, who is most deserving comes in, at best, a distant second to the almighty dollar.
That doesn’t mean I don’t understand why the UFC would want McGregor to continue to headline PPV’s. After all, the UFC is a business and the purpose of any business is to make money.
McGregor’s name is still exceptionally valuable to those who may only purchase roughly half of the PPV’s over the year and even more valuable to those who may only partake in one or two cards a year.
The UFC has no reason to cater to the likes of me; they already have me. Thus, even if I – and many others who watch every card – don't care for the return of McGregor, the UFC has every reason to want the former two-division champion at the top of as many cards as possible.
Thus, make no mistake the UFC is disappointed McGregor is no longer at the top of the card, even if a large swath of those who watch every card are, at the very least, indifferent towards that fact.
No matter who they put on the card from their active roster, the buys aren’t going to match what it would have been had McGregor stayed on the card. However, that doesn’t mean the quality of the card has dropped. In this case, I’d say it has improved.
On June 13th, it was announced that McGregor was officially off the card and the replacement fight for the main event was a rematch for the light heavyweight title between Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka.
Pereira is turning into a star in his own right, but it would be foolish to say he can attract the same amount of eyeballs as McGregor. However, when I heard Pereira and Prochazka became the replacement, the card improved immensely in my eyes.
Since McGregor beat Alvarez, his and Michael Chandler’s combined record is 3-6 with zero victories in title fights in two attempts.
For Pereira and Prochazka, they are a combined 11-2 since joining the UFC, the two losses coming in title fights and one of them due to the two of them previously having faced off.
I’ve been an MMA fan a long time and I understand a record doesn’t tell the entire story.
That doesn’t mean records should be dismissed, especially at the UFC level. Even further, while Pereira and Prochazka had a climb of sorts up their divisional ladders, they had only faced the best in their divisions once they got there.
It doesn’t hurt there was a large degree of controversy around the first contest between Pereira and Prochazka at UFC 295. There’s no doubt Pereira had Prochazka on the ropes, but Prochazka still appeared to be offering an attack when the referee stepped in to call the contest.
Fans are more willing to revisit a fight if there was an unsatisfactory ending to the first fight or if it was a barnburner. Thus, while we’ve seen this fight before, we’re more than happy to see it play out again.
Throw in the added benefit of Brian Ortega and Diego Lopes being added to the card and UFC 303 has gone from a ho-hum card – easily the one I anticipated the least thus far this year – to a perfectly average card, perhaps even slightly above average.
I still lean towards average given Jamahal Hill vs. Khalil Rountree has been cancelled substituted with Anthony Smith vs. Carlos Ulberg, but that’s still a fine replacement given the circumstances of how that played out.
What is most telling about the situation is the ease in which the UFC appeared to get the card situated. There was roughly four weeks to go before UFC 303 when the rumblings came about that McGregor might be forced to pull out.
At the time, the co-main event was Hill vs. Ulberg (what eventually mutated into Smith vs. Ulberg). That’s a bit underwhelming for a Fight Night main event, much less a PPV main event.
The UFC had no choice other than reach outside the already existing card for a headliner. The option to substitute someone else for McGregor against Chandler wasn’t going to work.
Chandler is a natural lightweight who would be severely overmatched against another welterweight. Asking him to cut down to 155 when he’s been preparing for a welterweight contest would be unfair to him. And there’s little for his prospective opponent to gain by meeting him at 170, even on short notice.
Chandler was the B-side to this contest. Besides, we don’t even know if Chandler would have accepted. He appears to still be hoping – against hope, in my opinion – for his Red Panty Night against McGregor. It doesn’t appear he even entertained another opponent based on his statement, wherein he discusses a “delay” and his “steadfastness” and “immovability.”
Regardless, the UFC wasn’t prepared, there was no back up plan despite McGregor’s history of volatility. Fortunately for UFC, they’re such a juggernaut in the MMA world that it didn’t matter.
Of course, it helps that Pereira and Prochazka were willing to move up their contest by almost two months (Megan Olivi had mentioned on the Taira vs. Perez card the fight was originally scheduled for UFC 305), meaning they deserve the bulk of the credit.
Despite that, the UFC had the talent under contract and was able to persuade them to fight on short notice. I don’t know what was offered as compensation for stepping up the way they did, but I have no doubt Pereira and Prochazka were well rewarded. No other MMA organization has the resources the UFC does to pull such a coup.
It’s understandable to be frustrated the UFC can get away with being so irresponsible. They have outright canceled PPV events before (UFC’s 151, 176, and 233) due to similarly poor planning.
They were fortunate McGregor’s injury happened when it did as they had enough time to find a suitable replacement. However, that’s not always going to be the case.
Hopefully, the UFC can learn from this, but I wouldn’t bet on it given how they’ve canceled three cards in their past and still didn’t seem to learn the necessary lessons. While having to cancel the entirety of the card would be karma, I’m happy to see that UFC 303 will not only stay together, it has been improved.
I don’t think card cancellations are in the UFC future. The times it happened in the past in my opinion are very different. They have a more stacked roster than before and Hunter Campbell now. The UFC can pretty much get their fighters to fight when it matches their timeline.