The UFC’s lead commentator Jon Anik has stated his belief that the UFC could benefit from reducing the number of events they put on each year.
“I certainly think that if somehow there were a world in which we weren’t serving a million masters and we could shave the schedule down from, say, 40 live events to 30 and add that depth to the fight cards, I think that would be something that would be of value,” Anik told MMA Junkie recently.
“I do think we ask a lot of our fans for seven, eight hours a night, 41 Saturday nights a year, so I think making the live events a little bit more ingestible (could be beneficial). But they didn’t become the combat sports leader by taking advice from me, so I think they’re doing just OK.”
Anik makes a very good point, and it’s one that a lot of MMA fans would likely be on-board with given the seemingly relentless nature of the current schedule, which has led to watered down cards for many of the Fight Night events that are churned out on an almost weekly basis.
Fewer cards would lead to stronger line-ups and more time to build anticipation and hype between each show, but with the UFC in the midst of negotiations regarding a new broadcasting deal for 2026, the signs are that this isn’t the path they are likely to follow.
Instead there’s been rumors of multiple broadcast partners being considered this time around rather than just ESPN, each of which would be hungry for their own slice of the ever-expanding UFC pie.
And the only glimpse we’ve had so far of what might be in the pipeline came from Dana White during a recent post-fight press conference in Baku, which indicated that they only intend to increase their output.
“As we go into our new TV rights deal, we’re probably gonna end up doing double the amount of Contender Series fights that we do now,” White told reporters.
The UFC has already been signing up four or five Contender Series recruits from most episodes of that show lately, which to be fair has delivered some genuine stars over the years, including the likes of Sean O’Malley, Jack Della Maddalena, Jamahal Hill and Bo Nickal, as well as more recent stand-outs like Payton Talbott and Jean Silva.
However, there has also been large numbers of recruits who haven’t proven to be ready for prime-time, yet have been taking up space on fight cards and lowering the bar in terms of what it means to be a UFC fighter, instead of being given more time to develop their skills on the regional circuit.
Given that there’s already over 600 fighters on the roster, if double the amount of Contender Series fights is on the way then that’s going to lead to even more events being needed to give all the new recruits that emerge from the show a chance to compete.
As such, while Jon Anik’s solution to put on less fights seems like a winner on paper, in this day and age it feels like quantity over quality will continue to be king.
