Over the past few days, there has been serious speculation that the UFC is close to reaching a deal to broadcast special UFC events on HBO. The Wrestling Observer was the first to break the story and since then both MMAWeekly.com and FightOpinion.com have given their take on the story.
According to the report in the Observer, the talks between Zuffa, LLC and HBO are very serious and a deal is “likely” to be made very soon. Reportedly, the HBO shows would be in addition to the existing Pay-per-view and Spike TV shows, and would not replace either of those existing deals. Rumors also exist that the HBO deal would possibly “place limits” on UFC President Dana White regarding his negative comments about boxing which is an HBO staple. Long time HBO Boxing Commentator, Jim Lampley must be furious that HBO is even in talks with the UFC; too bad for him.
The Observer also reports that, deal or no-deal with HBO, upcoming in 2007 the UFC is planning on running approximately eleven PPV shows, 6-8 Spike TV shows, plus an unknown number of HBO shows if a deal is struck. In 2006, the UFC will most likely have run nine PPV shows and six to seven Spike TV shows. There is still the TUF 4 finale, as well as one to two more Ultimate Fight Nights to be broadcast by the end of this year.
My question, and I think the real question, is this: “Is this a good move for the UFC?”
On the one hand, adding yet another outlet to promote their event can be considered a good thing. More viewers can only mean more dollars, and HBO is probably one of the better channels to get into due to its history with showing boxing events.
However, I really feel that the UFC is overstepping their own limits and really diluting their product at this point. Even before I heard about the possibility of the HBO deal and the enormous 2007 schedule the UFC has planned, I thought the 2006 schedule was a little crazy. There are simply too many events and not enough good talent to sustain all these events. The product and quality of matchups on each card is become lower and lower. This has been discussed many times before on many other sites, but the UFC is heading the way of boxing with only have 1 good fight (the main event) and having a very week undercard. How long will we as long-time MMA fans continue to pay $40 every month to see one good, intriguing fight?
With The Ultimate Fighter reality show, the UFC thinks they have an endless supply of “cheap labor” fighters that they can use to fill all of these cards. The problem is, these fighters are B-level fighters for the most part, and who really wants to see these guys fighting every month?
The UFC did a good thing by brining back the lightweight division, and in doing so they opened up a very large talent pool of 155 lb. fighters. Some of the best and most exciting fighters are at lightweight and the UFC now has some great resources to make excellent matchups in that division. However, the same can not be said for the heavyweight, light heavyweight, and middleweight divisons. We are already seeing the same group of fighters continually rematching each other over and over again due to the lack of incoming talent.
The UFC protects their “stars” and doesn’t spend much money to bring in outside fighters who could truly challenge and potentially defeat their “marketing darlings.” Adding more shows with an HBO deal is only going to continue the cycle. Is the UFC really in position to overtake and knock off boxing as a sport, or are they really gearing themselves up to knock off “pro” wrestling and Vince McMahon.
Leave some feedback; I’d love to hear everyones thoughts on the possible HBO deal and if you want to see more UFC events every year or fewer.
Loading ...
[...] Way back at the start of July, I wrote an article about the UFC and a possible deal with the HBO, and how I thought the move wasn’t completely a smart move for the UFC. This article was written around the time the UFC-HBO deal rumors first started surfacing. [...]