Why this coming weekend’s UFC fight card is a hard sell
Why this coming weekend’s UFC fight card is a hard sell
Are you hungover from July’s plethora of mixed martial arts action? The UFC alone held six events during the month, providing what may have felt like an overdose for some.
This Saturday the organization continues to push the pace as the UFC lands in Salt Lake City, Utah for the very first time and the fight card is headlined by Yair Rodriguez and Alex Caceres?
WHO?
While the casual fans may not have heard of either fighter, both are legit featherweight contenders and the card is definitely not a wash.
Rodriguez (8-1) is currently ranked number 13 in the UFC organization but Caceres (12-8) is still not quite on the cusp of cracking into the top 15 himself. A win over Rodriguez may push him to number 15 however.
Caceres, also known as Bruce Leeroy does have a fan following stemming from his time on The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck. He is currently riding a two-fight win streak after losing three in a row.
Rodriguez is riding a four-fight win streak and it will be the first time that either fighter has headlined a UFC fight card.
The co-main event of Dennis Bermudez vs. Rony Jason, or even the UFC Fight Pass main event of Cub Swanson vs Tatsuya Kawajiri could easily headline the fight card as there are no other real standout stars or attention grabbing names in the lineup.
There is one female fight on the Salt Lake City card but again, the names involved are not highly recognized by the casual mixed martial arts fan. Danielle Taylor is making her UFC debut coming from King of the Cage, and she is going up against UFC veteran, Maryna Moroz who is currently ranked number nine if the UFC women’s strawweight division.
Will we watch?
Sure of course. It’s a free UFC fight card, but do not expect huge ratings.
So what’s the problem?
The UFC has not spent a whole lot of time or money promoting this free fight card and here are several possible reasons why.
As mentioned earlier, the UFC held six event in the month of July to include two pay-per-views with UFC 200 and UFC 201. Later this month the organization will hold UFC 202 in Las Vegas, another pay-per-view event featuring Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz in a much anticipated rematch.
A lot of the UFC talent was put to work last month and or is already scheduled for a later UFC fight card which did not leave a whole lot of resources for this Salt Lake City card.
Typically when the UFC comes to a new area they like to put fighters from the region on the card. It helps boost ticket sales and increase gate revenue. Of the 24 fighters scheduled to compete only one fighter is from Utah, and that is Ultimate Fighter winner, Court McGee.
It is hard to promote a fight card when the casual fan is unfamiliar with the fighters competing on the card. Fortunately this is a free card and you should not have to spend any money outside of your UFC Fight Pass subscription for early prelims and your regular cable or satellite bill for the televised portions.
Who knows…. This UFC fight card might actually blow everyone away as far as fighter performances go. The only way to find out is to tune in Saturday night.
Full UFC Salt Lake City Fight Card here
