I previously asked the question of whether Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) was a fad or not and although some may argue that MMA's popularity is not dwindling, it would be foolish to not be concerned by its apparent plateau. It appears that the UFC (and MMA by extension) has hit the overexposure point at least on television. The Countdown to UFC 118 which focused on the boxer (James Toney) versus MMA fighter (Randy Couture) debate was watched by an all-time low number of viewers. One low rated buildup show does not mean that the UFC is now in a slump but what about the low rating for the recent Jon Jones vs. Vladimir Matyushenko fight on Versus or the tumbling ratings of each WEC show? Sure the UFC still does big business whenever Brock Lesnar fights but there are signs that the sport's popularity is starting to slide.
I think that it is safe to say that UFC 100 is a good marker of when the growth of MMA started to taper off. It has taken a few years but the effect of being bombarded by MMA shows on every sports channel seemingly every hour of the day has finally started to become evident. I was there right from the beginning as I watched the first three UFCs live on pay per view. I remember watching the 30 minute snorefest billed as a "superfight" between Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock fifteen years ago at UFC 5. Last year I could have told you when the next big MMA fight was and who was on the undercard. These days, I find myself surfing the internet on a Sunday only to find out that there was a UFC pay per view the night before. MMA had reached that point where there was so much going on that it was impossible for me to keep up.
I truly believe that healthy competition can only lead to a better product but if MMA's popularity is really declining then smaller promotions are at risk of becoming extinct. Anybody who has watched wrestling will tell you that the late 90s boom begun when the WCW became relevant competition to the WWF (now WWE). That competition caused the WWF to reinvent itself, create new stars and find different ways to entertain their audience or risk losing them to WCW. The biggest problem that the UFC is now facing is that they have not been able to create new stars that connect with their fans. Big stars from previous years like Chuck Liddell, Matt Hughes and BJ Penn have become older and more beatable while other fan favorites like Forrest Griffin have been unable to sustain their early success. Heck Anderson Silva is arguably the best pound for pound MMA fighter in the world and he has spent the last two years alienating his own fan base to the point where UFC President Dana White has threatened to fire him. UFC television has become stale and needs to be reinvented. The problem is that there are so many UFC television shows and they all seem to be indistinguishable from each other that every event Lesnar or George St. Pierre is not fighting on becomes forgettable.
There is some hope as things have and can change very quickly. The UFC heavyweight division used to be a joke five years ago but it now has some of the company's brightest stars like Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez. Furthermore, fans of MMA will point to somebody like Jon Jones or Ryan Bader as the exciting future of the sport. It sounds weird but I almost believe that the UFC needs to scale back their presence on television in order for their fan base to grow. One idea is for the company to finally sign a network deal and get even more mainstream exposure. Seeing a guy like Bader or Jones destroy their opponent on NBC or CBS would surely go a long way in creating new stars. The UFC is in no financial trouble but as boxing has repeatedly shown us, big fights will always deliver a strong buyrate, it is the smaller shows that are more indicative of MMA's declining popularity.
