UFC’s having a great year but you would never know it
Iwasn’t quite sure what I was going to write about today when I got up this morning, but then the news of the mass layoffs at ESPN, echoing announcements that have been hitting close to home for the last several months.
I started thinking about who was and wasn’t let go by The World Wide Leader in Sports on Wednesday when my thoughts turned to the opening round of the UFC’s 2017 campaign.
In scanning Twitter, I came across a blog post from best-selling author Jeff Pearlman about professional provocateur Stephen A. Smith and his heavy salary not being shed by ESPN. It hit home like a clean one-two delivered with precision.
“At some point in modern history, we (as a people) decided we prefer personalities and pizzazz over substance and detail,” wrote Pearlman.
“Our zest for a well-reported story has been overtaken by our zest for the mindless carnival barkings of hacks like Stephen A. and Skip Bayless.”
I feel the same is true when it comes to following and enjoying the UFC.
At some point, buy rates and big personas became more important than seeing the best mixed martial artists in the world do their thing inside the Octagon. When an event is without a marquee star — and there are very few marquee stars — it’s overlooked and undersold. It’s treated as second-rate before a single competitor has entered the cage.
Impressive performances and breakthrough moments get short shrift because Conor McGregor said something bombastic again and the ratings or traffic reports suggest more people are interested in the latest non-update about his potential bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr. than a story on the emergence of Cynthia Calvillo.
It sucks because, while the first four months of this year actually produced a number of outstanding fights, new names to track and elements to be excited about, they quickly get pushed aside for more lamentations about how lame this stretch has been.
The way I look at it, you can choose to pay attention to the Stephen A. Smith’s of the world or you can work a little harder to find better sports commentary, because it does exist, even if many producing said content continue losing their jobs at an alarming rate. The same goes for the UFC. You can look at the lack of megastars and blockbuster events from the last four months and moan about how bad it’s been, or you can look at what has transpired and appreciate the performances that were turned in by lesser-known talents who are still crossing the threshold into the Octagon most weekends.
There are more promising potential stars climbing the ranks in the UFC right now than at any time I can remember. They include Calvillo, Yair Rodriguez, Francis Ngannou, Kevin Lee, Marc Diakiese, Tom Duquesnoy and Brandon Moreno.
Within the last four months, each of them has delivered dynamic performances that deserved to be talked about more.
Same goes for the return of “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung, Darren Elkins’ ridiculous comeback win over Mirsad Bektic, the Dustin Poirier-Jim Miller scrap, Edson Barboza’s knockout of Beniel Dariush, Robert Whittaker and Rose Namajunas showing out on FOX, and Valentina Shevchenko rolling through Julianna Pena to set up a five-round rematch with Amanda Nunes for the women’s bantamweight title.
The biggest names in the sport haven’t stepped into the cage, and there hasn’t been a lot of sizzle to any of the events staged so far this year, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been outstanding performances and numerous positives to take away from the opening four months of the 2017 campaign.
You just have to be willing to tune out the loud noises and look a little deeper in order to find it. But trust me — it’s worth it.