Los Angeles, Nov 28: There are people who still ask for a Kleenex when what they really want is a tissue. And there are people who tell coworkers they’re heading to the Xerox machine when what they mean is they’re going to the copier.
In the same vein, fight fans often refer to the sport of mixed martial arts as UFC.
It’s a sign that the UFC — one of hundreds of promoters of MMA shows active today — has hit the mainstream. When fans — not media, not fighters, not promoters, not publicists, not managers — think of major league MMA, they think of the UFC.
It doesn’t help that when the Professional Fighters League completed the acquisition of Bellator last week, it put out a news release that was highly misleading.
A sub-headline on the release said, “PFL + Bellator Combined Fighter Roster Equal to UFC — Both Rosters 30% Top 25 World-Ranked,” which PFL spokesman Loren Mack said the promotion used the Fight Matrix rankings when coming up with that number.
But, that just doesn’t jive with what MMA media which covers the sport religiously reports. Yahoo Sports took the Top 10 from the divisional rankings of ESPN, Sherdog and MMA Junkie in the eight men’s weight classes and noted what organization the fighters compete with.
Of the 80 spots in ESPN’s rankings, 68 were UFC fighters, one was a PFL fighter, nine were Bellator Fighters and two were from ONE Championship. In Sherdog’s rankings, 72 were UFC fighters, none were from either PFL or ONE and eight were from Bellator. And in MMA Junkie’s, 67 were UFC fighters, two each were from PFL and ONE and nine were from Bellator.
One of the PFL fighters ranked by MMA Junkie was heavyweight Francis Ngannou, who has not fought for the PFL yet and hasn’t fought an MMA bout since January 2022. The only other PFL fighter ranked in the Top 10 by any of those three outlets was Derek Brunson, the middleweight who made his PFL debut Friday.Pound-for-pound wise, it’s the same. ESPN’s Top 10 has 10 UFC fighters. Sherdog and MMA Junkie each have nine UFC fighters in its Top 10 pound-for-pound. Those fighters are essentially the sport’s top stars.This, though, isn’t meant to bash any UFC competitor, including Bellator, PFL or ONE. Rather, it’s to point out they’re focusing on the wrong thing if they want to somehow reach equal footing with the UFC as MMA promoters. No MMA promoter is remotely close to the UFC now, not in revenue, not in sponsorships, not in quality of fighters, not in promotion, not in marketing, not in ticket sales, not in television ratings nor in terms of television production.
It’s good for a sport, and particularly for the athletes, to have an alternative, because it will create more opportunities. However, there is one major league in baseball, one in football and one in basketball and those athletes are doing extraordinarily well.But in MMA, it’s good for fighters to have a choice, particularly if they somehow run afoul of UFC CEO Dana White. Brunson, for example, is a lot more significant to the PFL than he is to the UFC. ESPN and MMA Junkie have eight UFC fighters among their Top 10 middleweights, while Sherdog has nine. Until recently, Brunson was part of that UFC list.
But the UFC has so much depth that Brunson’s loss will hardly be felt. He will be an impact talent for the PFL, though. As a result, the PFL paid him more than the UFC would have given his relative value to the organizations. (Agencies)
