UFC President Dana White faces significant challenges navigating the company through 2023. (Photo by Amy Kaplan/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
It would have been inconceivable at lunchtime on September 8 to think that there was even the slightest concern about the position of the UFC in the sports landscape. He was a giant and he was only growing. It was, and still is, in the midst of a long sell-out streak of sold-out stadium shows. He was regularly setting gate records.
He was attracting new sponsors who pumped millions into the company’s coffers. His main source of talent acquisition, “Dana White’s Contender Series,” had been such a success that ESPN plans to move it to a prime position on broadcast television for the 2023 season.
Well, lunchtime on September 8th seems like a long time ago.
The UFC 279 press conference took place mid-afternoon on September 8 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and it turned out to be a disaster. Fights began backstage between several of the fighters on the show and UFC president Dana White was forced to cancel it.
He was blunt when he said the UFC screwed up by not anticipating problems and subsequently not having enough security. The next day, Khamzat Chimaev, who was one of the instigators of the fight, lost weight heavily, forcing a reshuffling of the card.
Chimaev ended up fighting Kevin Holland in the co-main event instead of Nate Diaz in the main event. Diaz mainly faced Tony Ferguson.
That event, however, appeared to be the start of a series of problems over the next four months that, in fact, raised concerns about the UFC’s standing in the sports world.
Diaz, one of his biggest draws, completed his contract after defeating Ferguson and became a free agent.
The next four months have been, frankly, terrible for the UFC and its parent company, Endeavor. A gambling investigation is underway. Two Canadian provinces briefly stopped allowing bets on UFC fights. The Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) has suspended James Krause, a prominent trainer/gym owner, due to his role in the case. The UFC has banned its fighters from training at its gym.
Darrick Minner, who was trained by Krause, lost in the first round of a November 5 fight in Las Vegas to Shayilan Nuerdanbieke in just over a minute. Minner had a knee injury before the fight that neither he nor Krause disclosed. However, someone knew because the betting lines changed drastically and there were a significant number of bets on Nuerdanbieke to win in the first round.
The UFC released Minner and the NAC suspended him. The NAC also suspended another Krause-trained fighter, Jeff Molina. The reason for that has not yet been made public, but it will be on Tuesday when the commission meets to consider whether to extend Molina’s suspension.
The biggest bad news for the UFC and Endeavor came when a video surfaced on TMZ of White slapping his wife, Anne, on New Year’s Eve at a nightclub in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. White apologized for slapping his wife in a video posted by TMZ on Jan. 2 and told a news conference last week that he was wrong to hit his wife and asked people not to defend him.
However, it is significant that White has not faced any punishment from the UFC or Endeavour. He said after UFC Vegas 67 on Saturday at Apex in Las Vegas that while there have been no repercussions on his professional life, “all that matters is my personal life.”
But if that wasn’t enough bad news for the UFC to kick off the new year, on Saturday the UFC released heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou after failing to come to terms with him on a new contract. The UFC waived all of his rights, making Ngannou an unrestricted free agent immediately, free to sign wherever he chooses.
The UFC released heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou on Saturday after failing to come to an agreement on a new contract. (Photo by Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)
The timing couldn’t be worse. The UFC’s deal with ESPN was originally scheduled to expire at the end of this year, but there was a two-year extension, so it extends to 2025. And while the UFC has benefited ESPN greatly, ESPN has also benefited the UFC greatly. .
Even before all the recent controversies, you didn’t hear White talk about exceptional pay-per-view sales when he was discussing all the great things the UFC was accomplishing in terms of ticket sales and sponsorship and gate revenue.
UFC pay-per-views are doing much better than boxing pay-per-views, but pay-per-view sales are down everywhere, a sign of the economy. With their biggest seller, Conor McGregor, not fighting since July 10, 2021 and winless since January 18, 2020, that only makes it harder for the UFC to put up the big PPV numbers.
It will likely be like shark-infested waters when the UFC enters talks soon for its new broadcast deal with ESPN and any other suitors that may come along but are concerned about the many controversies.
White’s domestic violence incident and the gambling controversy are the biggest problems for the company. Fighters come and go and neither Diaz nor Ngannou are in the midst of their prime. They are in the last nine of their careers and while Ngannou likely still has more time as a viable top-level competitor than Diaz, the UFC likely won’t feel their losses.
And there remains a viable possibility that after looking at his many offers, Diaz could still return to the UFC.
But White’s gambling problems and domestic violence incident are more difficult issues to overcome. Who knows which companies will no longer want to be involved with the UFC as a result of White slapping his wife? They could be potential sponsors or it could be a potential (or current) streaming partner, but that can still play out.
These are the biggest threats to the company’s success since its meteoric rise to mainstream sports status after the creation of “The Ultimate Fighter” in 2005.
The UFC has been through troubled waters before and come out ahead, but rarely has it faced problems as complicated as it is now. It may take the company’s best work to come out on the other side of this, close to where it was before. As White himself has admitted, his reputation is in tatters, and that’s not going to change anytime soon. But for the UFC and Endeavor itself, it’s going to take some brilliant work to get him back to where he was at lunchtime on September 8.
Nate Diaz, one of the biggest draws in the UFC, remains a free agent. (Photo by Amy Kaplan/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Who is the new light heavyweight UFC champion?
Jiri Prochazka surprises Glover Teixeira and becomes the new light heavyweight champion. Jiri Prochazka stuns Glover Teixeira and the entire crowd with an incredible submission from Glover Teixeira at UFC 275. 2022 recap: This was the year many have been waiting for Procházka.
Who is the UFC 2022 Heavyweight Champion? UFC Heavyweight Champion – 2022 The current UFC Heavyweight Champion is Francis Ngannou. See the article : The 10 best video games in all black and white.
Why is UFC light heavyweight title vacant?
The second-ranked Glover Teixeira refused to fight Blachowicz, vacating the title and upgrading this fight to a championship fight. The fight was even for the first two rounds, but Blachowicz began to gain the upper hand in the third with his kicks weakening Ankalaev.
Did Dana White put the belt on Ngannou?
Who put on Francis Ngannou’s belt? Francis Ngannou received his belt from UFC vice president of talent relations Mick Maynard instead of promotion president Dana White following his win over Ciryl Gane on Saturday. Read also : Relive the musical moment with Jack White’s Entering Heaven Alive. Ngannou defeated interim champion Gane by unanimous decision (48-47 x2, 49-46) to make his first successful title defense.
Why was Dana White mad at Francis Ngannou?
If you missed it, at the end of UFC 270, White seemed to be angry about the outcome of Francis Ngannou’s win because White didn’t present Ngannou with the belt or show up for the post-fight press conference. To see also : Emmys Network Scorecard: HBO leads 2022 nominations, comfortably beating runner-up Netflix.
How did Francis Ngannou win the belt?
Ngannou vs. Gane Ngannou faced interim UFC Heavyweight Champion Ciryl Gane in his first title defense on January 22, 2022, at UFC 270. He tore ligaments in his knee three and a half weeks before the fight. Ngannou won the fight via unanimous decision, the first decision win of his career.
Why is the UFC heavyweight title vacant?
For clarity, first things first. UFC President Dana White confirmed on Jan. 14 that heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou is no longer under contract with the UFC and has had his belt removed, meaning the title of “baddest man on the planet” is now vacant. . Francis Ngannou is no longer under contract with the UFC.
Why was Francis Ngannou stripped of the UFC title? UFC releases heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou from contract, strips him of title. Francis Ngannou is no longer the UFC heavyweight champion and is now free to sign with any other combat sports promotion. Ngannou’s parting with the UFC comes after more than a year of contract disputes between the two parties.
Why did Francis Ngannou get released?
Francis Ngannou will be released from his contract and is no longer the UFC heavyweight champion after he turned down a contract that would have made him the highest-paid heavyweight fighter in UFC history, UFC president Dana White said. , at a press conference on Saturday.
Was Forrest Griffin a champion?
UFC 86 Recap: Forrest Griffin Wins Light Heavyweight Title, Ummm I Guess! On a night that was mostly uninspiring, thank goodness the main event didn’t let us down. In a nip and tuck battle that lasted five full rounds, Forrest Griffin took the light heavyweight title with ridiculous scores of 48-46, 48-46 and 49-46.
Did Forrest Griffin defend his belt? Forrest Griffin’s career in the UFC after ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ Griffin won the fight and became the champion, but unfortunately for him, he lost in his first title defense against Rashad Evans. Griffin continued to fight in the UFC and continued to have great fights.
Why is Forrest Griffin in the Hall of Fame?
On Saturday, UFC President Dana White officially inducted both Griffin and Bonnar into the UFC Hall of Fame for their fight that helped keep the company alive. “As far as this company is concerned, sure, but as far as this sport is concerned, this was the biggest fight in the history of this company,” White said Saturday.
Who won Rampage vs Griffin?
Griffin won the Rampage belt via unanimous decision. The judges who scored this fight 48-46 did well, but 49-46 is too much for this fight.
