Summer is officially here and the UFC is kicking off everyone’s favorite season (well, most) with UFC 174 in Vancouver, Canada, where the main event will feature Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson and Ali Bagautinov for Johnson’s flyweight title.
Question is: Is UFC 174 Pay-Per-View worthy?
Sizing up the card, the answer wouldn’t be just “no,” it would be “get the **** outta here.” There is no “superstar” power here and most people haven’t heard of Bagautinov who is headlining the card.
Here are three reasons to save your money and one reason to shell out some cheese…
3. No headliners: UFC 174 at best is a UFC on Fox event, but I would say this is more of a UFC Fight Night card. Only the recently signed Andrei Arlovski has headlined a PPV event, wutg last one coming in 2006. Arlovski is one of the nicest guys in MMA, but since 2009 has lost five times with one no contest in twelve fights. Other than the “Pitbull,” no one on the card has been on a PPV main event.
2. Co-main matchup: If the saying holds true — styles make matchups — the co-main event between welterweights Rory MacDonald and Tyron Woodley will not be the most exciting fight in the world. Both MacDonald and Woodley come from a wrestling background, and even though they are decent strikers (and both ranked in the top 10), not sure this will be a grinding back-and-forth fight that would get fans excited. Probably the best fight on the card, but not strong enough to pull a mass audience.
1. Little guys don’t do well: It’s a known fact that the smaller weight divisions don’t do that well. Former UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn was the biggest draw at a lightweight, but others haven’t found success. The past few lightweight titles were put on Fox, and even though PPV numbers haven’t released for UFC 173 — which was for the bantamweight (135) title — many anticipate the numbers to be low. (http://fightparrot.com/predicting-ufc-173-pay-per-view-buyrate/) This will be first ever PPV for the flyweight division (125), with the smaller fighters not garnering a big following. It could be because they are much smaller than the average adult male (I could bench press Johnson and Bagaunitov together 10 times), or because they are newer weight divisions. Whatever the reason may be — they simply don’t draw.
But…
1. You never know: You don’t have to go back far to see why you should buy the event. Last month, UFC 173 most likely did the smallest buys of the year, but the card was action packed, with the main event being one of the most exciting fights ever, where newly crowned champ T.J. Dillashaw, a 6-1 underdog, shocked the world and took out Renan Barao. Most people heard about the fight and missed the live event that had the MGM going crazy. So, even with the lack of star power — you just never know…
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