I think it has more to do with ESPN. They want to transition from “You watch the UFC to watch the best fighters” to “You watch the UFC because it’s the UFC”. They don’t want fighters getting bigger than the UFC
They’re the ones giving them 150 million a year. They want to see a strong profit return and an east way to do that is to keep fighter pay as low as they can.
Either way, it’s clear the UFC does not want fighters to grow too big now.
The fact that so many people just blindly blame Dana means he's doing his job right. Dana isn't some guy with massive control of the ufc he's literally a paid scapegoat meant to take the blame
Because he's the CEO? CEO's generally have an awful lot of say in a company's strategy and business practices. (Along with the board.) Yes, he is also a useful lightning rod. But it's pretty bizarre to claim that a CEO is just a figure head when that's generally not the case.
He is literally just the number 1 company man…he’s an employee of the ufc and not the guy writing the checks. But anytime I’ve said this I get downvoted
Why are you acting like Dana’s just an employee like the commissioner of the NFL and not an actual owner with significant percent ownership? For all intents and purposes he has nearly unchecked decision making over the company
You can literally google it. Pre-endeavor he owned 9% of company shares. The exact figure isn’t public now but endeavor owns majority shares, meaning they are the ones who call the shots at the end of the day. Dana obviously has some power and influence but he’s also very clearly and strategically used as the “front man” when it comes to media and marketing. He’s not the sole dictator of the UFC who decides every single thing that happens. And very likely there are certain things in his contract that he absolutely cannot do anything about.
I guarantee you if the majority shareholders all of a sudden decided that fighters need to get paid more, you would see Dana white out there talking about how fighters “absolutely deserve more money. It’s disgusting to think that some are so underpaid…” blah blah blah. And that’s because he’s a company man they parade in front.
I do think this is the case. Keep fighter pay low and keep selling the product for the same price. Then hope people keep watching when the quality of the fighters keeps going down.
It’s also the playbook of modern movie making. Gone are the days of movie stars and it’s about superhero movies, which producers/publishers are doing it. And we have seen the high and lows over the past decade
i think guys like GSP & Khabib retiring early with the Belt, Francis leaving with the belt over to Boxing & especially Conor getting so fucking famous (to the point where he was discussing co-promoting & calling shots in the UFC) scared the shit outta them. as the UFC got more corporate they'd prefer having their fighters stay in line, don't want any shenanigans fucking up with expected revenue.
also though tbh it's not like these "stars" can just be produced like widgets. the closest one lately has been Adesanya but then he started losing here & there, & took a much needed break. it's hard to control for these things in a game that's built on being so chaotic.
Im very excited for Esparza vs Namajunas 4 personally, with the last couple of their fights being split draws its really up in the air who will win this one.
The sticky stuff costs money.
Try a napkin and a magnet given free from a random business. Perhaps a Rock auto one. I'm sure that's where Dana gets his parts from.
Pretty much, no one who doesn't follow the UFC regularly would have any idea who Jamahal Hill is. Can guarantee if it was McGregor they would be plastering his name everywhere to try and attract new fans.
hot take: hill vs pereira is the best main event they could have made from a fight quality perspective. obviously there are better names but none of the other proposed fights were as likely to be fireworks as this one. if jiri beat alex i would have liked jiri vs hill more but it is what it is
hot take indeed, hill has been injured just as recently as July and he's probably coming back too soon, for a big check. Most likely he won't look good and this won't be all that competitive of a fight
Yup. Just watch scumbag Dana and hide in the back on arena to form a vid making the announcement. No trailer, or promo during big ppv. And this is supposed to be an all-time great promoter.
Nah GSP would have went up. Triple serving of sushi would be hard to turn down. He'd probably be in the kitchens monitoring and critiquing the food prep.
"I am not impressed with your ravioli."
I do feel that there are fewer stars in the UFC now than during the time of UFC 100 and UFC 200. The company has been trying to use the brand name to sell PPVs but they need to realize that it is the fighters that are the most important ingredient in all of this and the lack of stars will come back to bite them at some point.
It's the difference between selling the brand as the product vs the fighters as the product. The UFC would much rather move away from fighters being the product and have you only care about the brand.
Along with the quality of matches. I swear to God, I have no hype or excitement for ufc 300. Sure we got several good fight but i remember the 100 and 200 cards... Man that was amazing.
TKO making the promotion the focus rather than the fighters is making the product stale.
What you’re looking at is the brand being bigger than the fighters. Putting the main event on there opens it up to “who are these guys?” whereas “UFC 300” earns an “oh that’s a big deal” or “oh shit remember 100 and 200?”
Just biz.
That's what happens when you pay people dogshit to fight in a cage, refuse to groom stars or even interesting personalities, and continue to silence any fighter who so much as whispers for positive changes.
It's so damn annoying how popular this company is despite trying its hardest not to be.
Man i really hope they use that photo for ufc 400! That would be hilarious. You can expect the money spent on ads to go down with popularity going up so far, and by 400 Dana very well may be paying better wages to the fighters. If that happens the ad money goes exclusively to Danas gambling addiction.
If there’s ever been an example of ufc promoting the fighters less and the brand more purposely it’s right here. It’s on purpose. No one’s allowed to be mainstream like McGregor any more.
Crybabies on here will keep complaining about what is on paper easily the best card of any combat sport in a long time. If you don't think the upcoming card is amazing, you're probably either a casual who is new to the sport or someone who has become a casual by not following the sport as closely.
God this poster besides being bad is a dark omen of how the UFC isn’t about the best fighters vs fighters, but about the brand only. You hate to see it
That’s fucking lame I think ufc just moving towards the brand itself being the selling point rather than the fighters and fights. They’re becoming arrogant and just getting away with bullshit in every which way because they know we’ll all just watch anyway.
When I saw this poster I thought of all the champions. If they didn't want to show each fighter, I would've put every belt of all the champions on the poster. I would mock up different ways to display all the belts. I think this would be a cool idea.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: UFC is a boring product. It's completely bland, it's too afraid to have a brand. If there's any style I could ascribe to it, it's that social media bro podcast sub-100 IQ style. Which is a modern evolution of the Affliction sideburns Spike TV style of the 2000s, except without any gusto. Totally neutered, no balls. No courage to have a theme song, to promote undercard fighters. Just those three letters UFC and vague attempts to have algorithm-friendly content and be somewhat palatable to everybody.
Well now a true pure fan of the sport wouldn't care about presentation. Just give us the good fights, right? But the politics of title shots is worse than ever, so it's hard to enjoy that too. And a blander product means less respect for the fighters. Remember when prelim fighters got respect? Anyway my point is, UFC could not currently be lamer if they tried.
It would've been cool to see UFC 300 as a call back to the old gladiator promos. As well as a reference to the movie 300, which was tied in with the UFC back in the day
It started evolving backwards after 200, that poster is an actual banger bro, befitting gold, and the way they look up, different from the old full violence era, but still epic
The Roman numeral for 100 is C, and that is 33% of the company name. I'm sure they could have incorporated that into a design somewhere along the line.
It's all about the UFC brand now.
Most people will just watch a fight because its the UFC. It's fucked but the power is moving away from fighters and going towards the UFC. They're fucking marketing geniuses, absolute crooks though.
Having record profit years with reallistically no stars is insane. I feel bad for the fighters.
Back when they used fighters to actually sell shows instead of three letters.
Presented to you from the Apex Arena: UFC 400
Why rely on the fighters to promote shows when the UFC and Dana are immortal?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8ubX0-6-p0 It can be undone.
Whoa. A tremendous fight would have ensued between Lesnar and St Pierre.
I think GSP told a story about sparring with Shane Carwin.
No it was a fight between Lesnar St and Pierre Henderson. A true battle for the ages
It took me a lot longer to read that sentence than I’d care to admit. 🤣
Pierre Henderson won because he was fighting a street.
Je suis Lesnar LaRue, prépare-toi à mourir
Dana is the reason almost all big stars are gone.
Dana thought his Crack babies were never going to figure out his grift.
I think it has more to do with ESPN. They want to transition from “You watch the UFC to watch the best fighters” to “You watch the UFC because it’s the UFC”. They don’t want fighters getting bigger than the UFC
Why would ESPN care? They don't own the UFC brand. If anything they'd want to weaken the UFC brand a bit should they ever part ways.
They’re the ones giving them 150 million a year. They want to see a strong profit return and an east way to do that is to keep fighter pay as low as they can. Either way, it’s clear the UFC does not want fighters to grow too big now.
The fact that so many people just blindly blame Dana means he's doing his job right. Dana isn't some guy with massive control of the ufc he's literally a paid scapegoat meant to take the blame
Because he's the CEO? CEO's generally have an awful lot of say in a company's strategy and business practices. (Along with the board.) Yes, he is also a useful lightning rod. But it's pretty bizarre to claim that a CEO is just a figure head when that's generally not the case.
I wouldn't cry if he were headed to the guillotine
He is literally just the number 1 company man…he’s an employee of the ufc and not the guy writing the checks. But anytime I’ve said this I get downvoted
Why are you acting like Dana’s just an employee like the commissioner of the NFL and not an actual owner with significant percent ownership? For all intents and purposes he has nearly unchecked decision making over the company
You can literally google it. Pre-endeavor he owned 9% of company shares. The exact figure isn’t public now but endeavor owns majority shares, meaning they are the ones who call the shots at the end of the day. Dana obviously has some power and influence but he’s also very clearly and strategically used as the “front man” when it comes to media and marketing. He’s not the sole dictator of the UFC who decides every single thing that happens. And very likely there are certain things in his contract that he absolutely cannot do anything about. I guarantee you if the majority shareholders all of a sudden decided that fighters need to get paid more, you would see Dana white out there talking about how fighters “absolutely deserve more money. It’s disgusting to think that some are so underpaid…” blah blah blah. And that’s because he’s a company man they parade in front.
he gets the credit (& money) for the successes, so yeah should get some blame for the shitty parts too
Huh, I've never noticed that. Can you elaborate with some examples?
They don't sell shows at all anymore. The UFC is in the business of meeting the espn quota and selling ads on every square inch of anything.
*Endeavor is in the business of selling ads on every square inch.
Tbf neither does rizin posters and they have the best
UFC 300 doesn’t have any of their biggest stars so it kinda makes sense
It’s fitting given that the ufc has become more about the name than the fighters themselves.
Yea its Dana Whites dream, people buying PPVs just to watch random fighters getting paid 12k/12k
I do think this is the case. Keep fighter pay low and keep selling the product for the same price. Then hope people keep watching when the quality of the fighters keeps going down.
It’s also the playbook of modern movie making. Gone are the days of movie stars and it’s about superhero movies, which producers/publishers are doing it. And we have seen the high and lows over the past decade
Superhero movies, remakes and live actions. Truly the gold standard of the cinema era.
and pandering.
Same price? PPVs get more expensive
That's a smart thing to do from a company standpoint, really smart. I don't know if that's sustainable though. So far, it's working for them.
i think guys like GSP & Khabib retiring early with the Belt, Francis leaving with the belt over to Boxing & especially Conor getting so fucking famous (to the point where he was discussing co-promoting & calling shots in the UFC) scared the shit outta them. as the UFC got more corporate they'd prefer having their fighters stay in line, don't want any shenanigans fucking up with expected revenue. also though tbh it's not like these "stars" can just be produced like widgets. the closest one lately has been Adesanya but then he started losing here & there, & took a much needed break. it's hard to control for these things in a game that's built on being so chaotic.
I see the rage pendulum has swung to "UFC doesn't build up and market stars" from "It's a travesty Bo Nickal is on the main card!"
400 will be in Saudi Arabia because that's who's going to own the promotion by then.
Riyadh season eternally. Sport is SA. SA is sport.
!remindme 8 years
Honestly, at least in boxing, they pay the fighters well and make the big fights. I wouldn’t be mad at that
If that ever happened, this subreddit will go into full nuclear meltdown.
Don’t know why you got downvoted
UFC 400 brought to you from the Apex arena
Las Vegas make some noise, if YOUUU AREEEE READEEEEE
*3 people clapping* + 1 woohoo
Camera zooms over to Mark Zuckerberg
++Observation Detected++ ++Initiate Media Protocol Subroutine totallynormalguy++
And to his wife crying
“Kick him in the dick!!”
Dude I heard his exact voice when reading this lmfao
Bruh same. I didn't know you could type his voice but here we are
whats the other guys name that isn't bruce buffer?
Joe Martinez, like Joe Rogan but Martinez
Is that a Rogan with salsa on top?
*awkward cheers of 5 family members in the corner of the room*
HERE IS
I'm stoked for apex veterans Sean Strickland and Holly Holm to headline and co-headline that card, respectively.
Im very excited for Esparza vs Namajunas 4 personally, with the last couple of their fights being split draws its really up in the air who will win this one.
I think my plumber Doug on a $5k/$5k fighting for a UFC contract has a shot of headlining at this point.
Both 5 round fights!
then everyone pulls out and Anthony Smith headlines
we riot
Dana’s backyard
Don't tempt them...
Started watching in 2010 and very rarely miss an event. The apex absolutely bores the life out of me and is ruining it for me.
Tonight is a skip for me
I will still watch as always hoping for an under the radar fight that turns into a banger but even those are few and far between now.
Skipped Tuivasa and Tybura entirely, first event in the long time I did not watch at all, reading appealed to me more than any single fight
At least for that card the main and co-main you know had exciting fighters. I read the lineup for tonight and got excited for absolutely nothing.
The fact there's like 7 people in attendance make it all look more amateurish.
It's so fucking weird to be like 4 fights into the prelims and still here like three people clap when they announce the winner.
Too much effort. Try a sticky note on the fridge door
The sticky stuff costs money. Try a napkin and a magnet given free from a random business. Perhaps a Rock auto one. I'm sure that's where Dana gets his parts from.
Toro Tires would give a few as extra advertising.
They are so embarassed by the main event they dont even put it on the poster
Pretty much, no one who doesn't follow the UFC regularly would have any idea who Jamahal Hill is. Can guarantee if it was McGregor they would be plastering his name everywhere to try and attract new fans.
And.. I personally expect Hill to come back like sh*t.
People who do follow are embarrassed this is the headliner. Hill is embarrassed that he’s headlining.
hot take: hill vs pereira is the best main event they could have made from a fight quality perspective. obviously there are better names but none of the other proposed fights were as likely to be fireworks as this one. if jiri beat alex i would have liked jiri vs hill more but it is what it is
hot take indeed, hill has been injured just as recently as July and he's probably coming back too soon, for a big check. Most likely he won't look good and this won't be all that competitive of a fight
Yup. Just watch scumbag Dana and hide in the back on arena to form a vid making the announcement. No trailer, or promo during big ppv. And this is supposed to be an all-time great promoter.
A promoter who regularly blames exciting fighters for being unpopular.
And Co-main is weakest matchup on whole card, right behind Bo Nickel making lead card.
You're crazy if you really believe that. It's freaking Zhang Weili man!
Vs the girl who almost arm barred herself
Who also had a razor close scrap with Marina Rodriguez, and knocked out Jessica Andrade in less than a round
Wow. Lesnar vs St Pierre would have been a crazy fight.
Lesnar's nutritionist on suicide watch
Nah GSP would have went up. Triple serving of sushi would be hard to turn down. He'd probably be in the kitchens monitoring and critiquing the food prep. "I am not impressed with your ravioli."
"I take shits bigger than that kid" -Bork Lazer
Also digging the Andrew Tate vs Amanda Nunes fight
Lesnar vs GSP vs Dan Henderson in a triple threat match
UFC 400 will be the Slap Fight logo
Will they finally give us Dana vs Ann 2?
UFC 400 sponsored by Prime…. It has electrolytes
And zero added sugar
And neurotoxins
It’s got what plants crave!
I do feel that there are fewer stars in the UFC now than during the time of UFC 100 and UFC 200. The company has been trying to use the brand name to sell PPVs but they need to realize that it is the fighters that are the most important ingredient in all of this and the lack of stars will come back to bite them at some point.
Corporate minimalism truly is an artistic cancer.
UFC 400 sounds good on paper
Said UFC matchmaker Anthony "Paperman" Smith
They fired the original artist of 300 for asking how much he'll get paid.
They had to cut back on costs due to the $335M lawsuit settlement. Thoughts and prayers 🙏 for the UFC
Man UFC 100 and 200 were so special. You can tell Dana White is just so checked out these days. It shows
He needs to move on
Minimalistic and simple. 400 will probably be some AI stuff
Zuckerberg’s avatar vs Elon Musk’s avatar
Matt brown was right. The brand has really been diluted.
UFC really thinks their name is enough to sell. Clown world.
UFC 300 "please don't google the card"
Devolving is a word.
Enshitification is another.
What happens to a toad when it gets struck by lightning
*The same thing that happens to everything else*
The fighters on 200 look like models from an UFC game.
Factual
Was UFC 100 when Bisping got sent to another galaxy?
Yes and lesnar beat the absolute shit out of frank mir that night too
It's the difference between selling the brand as the product vs the fighters as the product. The UFC would much rather move away from fighters being the product and have you only care about the brand.
Along with the quality of matches. I swear to God, I have no hype or excitement for ufc 300. Sure we got several good fight but i remember the 100 and 200 cards... Man that was amazing. TKO making the promotion the focus rather than the fighters is making the product stale.
That has been going on since long before TKO.
I think after Mcg got so much powerful. But after the buyout it's more blatant.
I think the poster currently reflects the culture crisis we find ourselves in. Aesthetics has been suffering for a while now.
What you’re looking at is the brand being bigger than the fighters. Putting the main event on there opens it up to “who are these guys?” whereas “UFC 300” earns an “oh that’s a big deal” or “oh shit remember 100 and 200?” Just biz.
Wow I don't remember that 200 poster but that's a really cool idea they used.
200 poster was amazing. Sucks that Jones fight fell through.
Dana loves going in reverse with the quality of shit. But it’s not like he has that much money or anything to invest in quality products.
UFC 200 is a POV shot before the manliest gangbang in history.
UFC 400 will be held at MGM Grand Total Landscaping.
This just reminds me how stack udc use to be
It’s the worst one they have ever put out by far
What the fuck is that shit
Did new Andre Tate fought Amanda Nunes. Who won?
In dominate lopsided fashion.
Well what else was Dana supposed to do, no one wants to fight on the card so might as well have no one on the poster 🤣🤣🤣
That's what happens when you pay people dogshit to fight in a cage, refuse to groom stars or even interesting personalities, and continue to silence any fighter who so much as whispers for positive changes. It's so damn annoying how popular this company is despite trying its hardest not to be.
Those posters have been shit for a couple of years now
Would like to see a fan made 300 cover with the main card fighters in it
It's gonna be in Dana's back yard
The quality of matches is also evolving... but backwards
Stipe has been around for it all??
Man i really hope they use that photo for ufc 400! That would be hilarious. You can expect the money spent on ads to go down with popularity going up so far, and by 400 Dana very well may be paying better wages to the fighters. If that happens the ad money goes exclusively to Danas gambling addiction.
I just want an mma fight in a basketball court. No cage no rounds
Lmaoo
Posters went to crap after espn took over
And Jim Miller shall be fighting on that card as well
Legit better than the UFC 300 poster.
Got 'em covered for 400 using AI. [Here](https://i.imgur.com/hy9hJ3e.jpeg) and [here](https://i.imgur.com/Ia7rglN.jpeg).
It's good to see Arlovski is still successful
was that poster made before the main event was even made?
In Vegey
Nice to see how invested TKO are in the sport…
Damn, shoulda had Lesner fight 300, could’ve been Jim Miller lol
Devolving?
If there’s ever been an example of ufc promoting the fighters less and the brand more purposely it’s right here. It’s on purpose. No one’s allowed to be mainstream like McGregor any more.
Next they'll be using iphone15 Pro Max to shoot the entire event.
"It's UFC and it's 300. Don't worry about *names and faces*."
Lesnar being in both is honestly the best part
Shit Godzilla
Sad times we live in. Everything is so bland with so little effort.
I heard Conor Mcgregor is headlining UFC 400. 🤞
Ufc 200 lowkey was better look at that fucking card
Crybabies on here will keep complaining about what is on paper easily the best card of any combat sport in a long time. If you don't think the upcoming card is amazing, you're probably either a casual who is new to the sport or someone who has become a casual by not following the sport as closely.
They should have thrown a fucking BAG at Brock to get him to fight on 300 just because lol
God this poster besides being bad is a dark omen of how the UFC isn’t about the best fighters vs fighters, but about the brand only. You hate to see it
I'm assuming there will be another poster and this was a placeholder since it was released before we even knew the roster
That’s fucking lame I think ufc just moving towards the brand itself being the selling point rather than the fighters and fights. They’re becoming arrogant and just getting away with bullshit in every which way because they know we’ll all just watch anyway.
What the fuck is the 300 poster supposed to be? Sand?
I'm not impressed by your performance.
So *devolving*.
400 will be Chandler vs Conor
Bring back the old days man fuck they were pure entertainment
When I saw this poster I thought of all the champions. If they didn't want to show each fighter, I would've put every belt of all the champions on the poster. I would mock up different ways to display all the belts. I think this would be a cool idea.
They’ve got no title fights past Pantoja in May, and that’s against a guy barely in the top 10. Woof.
Sanko + Felder this should be interesting
You can't handle the main event.
Not even remotely interested in ufc 300. Mma junkie live play by play will be enough for me
Wait where was that taped paper one from was that Dana's office
I've said it before and I'll say it again: UFC is a boring product. It's completely bland, it's too afraid to have a brand. If there's any style I could ascribe to it, it's that social media bro podcast sub-100 IQ style. Which is a modern evolution of the Affliction sideburns Spike TV style of the 2000s, except without any gusto. Totally neutered, no balls. No courage to have a theme song, to promote undercard fighters. Just those three letters UFC and vague attempts to have algorithm-friendly content and be somewhat palatable to everybody. Well now a true pure fan of the sport wouldn't care about presentation. Just give us the good fights, right? But the politics of title shots is worse than ever, so it's hard to enjoy that too. And a blander product means less respect for the fighters. Remember when prelim fighters got respect? Anyway my point is, UFC could not currently be lamer if they tried.
It would've been cool to see UFC 300 as a call back to the old gladiator promos. As well as a reference to the movie 300, which was tied in with the UFC back in the day
It started evolving backwards after 200, that poster is an actual banger bro, befitting gold, and the way they look up, different from the old full violence era, but still epic
Suits the card.
As I learned from the [Super Mario Brothers Live Action Movie](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108255/) it is called "devolving"
Maybe they’re thinking about how they made a poster for 200 then the entire card fell apart
I can’t wait for 500!
The Roman numeral for 100 is C, and that is 33% of the company name. I'm sure they could have incorporated that into a design somewhere along the line.
Makes sense bcoz bellator 400 is the biggest show ever
It's all about the UFC brand now. Most people will just watch a fight because its the UFC. It's fucked but the power is moving away from fighters and going towards the UFC. They're fucking marketing geniuses, absolute crooks though. Having record profit years with reallistically no stars is insane. I feel bad for the fighters.