Mayweather vs. Pacquiao Backlash Is Not a Win for the UFC
When all is said and done, Saturday night's boxing megafight between Floyd Mayeather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao will go down as not just the richest combat sports event in history, but one of the most lucrative sporting events to ever take place.
The numbers are mind-boggling. The $100 million check Mayweather showed to ESPN and others after the conclusion of the fight was just the start of the seemingly endless amounts of cash he'll eventually rake in from the fight.
Pay-per-view numbers are not currently available, but cable systems were so overwhelmed by people attempting to order the event that the main event was briefly delayed, which likely indicates an off-the-chart number that will smash the previous record held by Mayweather's fight against Oscar de la Hoya.
My personal prediction was that the fight would pull in more than 4 million buys, and I feel comfortable with that number. I'd be surprised if it does any less.
When the fight was over, social media exploded with angry fans who have apparently never seen a Mayweather fight. "The fight was boring," they said. They paid $100 for Mayweather to defend himself, to clinch and to run away from Pacquiao. He fooled them again, taking their hard-earned money and failing to deliver an actual fight.
Boxing was dead, killed by Mayweather and his greedy, non-fighting ways.
And then came the MMA fans, fighters and promoters.
"This was a win for MMA," they said. UFC owner and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta jumped in on the action, retweeting seemingly every single person who said this was a victory for the UFC and for mixed martial arts.
Mayweather may have bored you to tears, but UFC cards aren't boring!
Tune in on July 11, because there's no way Jose Aldo vs. Conor McGregor is as boring as the fight you just watched, and it won't cost you $100!
On and on it continued, well after the conclusion of the fight.
There are a few things to keep in mind here:
First, I consider mixed martial arts to be far more exciting than boxing. The additional techniques and facets of MMA make it way more interesting.
But the UFC is playing a dangerous game trying to capitalize on the perceived boring nature of Saturday's fight, because not every UFC card is a barn-burner.
There have been plenty of boring UFC events and even boring champions. Georges St-Pierre, one of the greatest and most marketable stars in UFC history, turned himself into a defensive-minded fighter after losing to Matt Serra at UFC 69. Granted, St-Pierre's defense involved wrestling, but he did so for the same reason as Mayweather: to control the fight and to avoid taking damage. St-Pierre was a big draw for the promotion, but fans cried "boring" after nearly every one of his fights.
Demetrious Johnson, perhaps the greatest current pound-for-pound fighter in the world with the suspension of Jon Jones, is a wrestling-first wizard who also works to minimize the amount of damage he takes. He is incredible at what he does, and yet fans walked out of his UFC 186 title defense last weekend. They missed a last-second armbar win, but the point was made: They weren't happy with what they were seeing.
Second, people seem to be working under the assumption that a boring boxing fight will create new MMA fans. This is not the case. Millions tuned in for Mayweather vs. Pacquiao because it was a once-in-a-lifetime event, not because it was an intriguing boxing matchup.
This was not an event for boxing fans; this was an event for people in general. It's not as though a large percentage of them, upon the conclusion of the fight, suddenly decided they would give that mixed martial arts thing a try simply because they'd dropped $100 on a boring fight. That's not how it works.
The masses tune in for big fights in MMA for the same reason they tune in to big boxing bouts: because they are big events, and because it is the thing to do. Celebrities won't start turning up in large numbers at UFC events just because they're unhappy at dropping $10,000 on a ringside ticket for a fight that ended up not living up to expectations.
Third, did anyone really expect anything different from a Mayweather fight? Mayweather, having reached 47-0 through defense and skill and minimizing damage, wasn't going to suddenly morph into Stephan Bonnar and involve himself in a slugfest just to please the fans. The absurd pay-per-view price wasn't going to change his style.
The point of all this, I guess, is that it feels a little weird for MMA fans and promoters to pretend like they're going to benefit from a dud boxing match. Mayweather has been fighting the same way for years. He always draws gigantic numbers on pay-per-view, and viewers are always disappointed and angry.
But the one thing a boring Mayweather fight has never done is create new UFC fans in droves. It just doesn't work that way. MMA fans are fans because they have, at some point in their lives, tuned in and enjoyed what they saw. They watch because they love it and appreciate it for its many nuances, just as hardcore boxing fans appreciate what Mayweather was able to do on Saturday night.
Saturday night did not kill boxing. It was not a win for the UFC.
Yes, Aldo vs. McGregor will almost assuredly be more exciting than what we saw between Mayweather and Pacquiao.
But I'd like to see the UFC allow its product to speak for itself, to stand on its own merit rather than act like a little brother attempting to capitalize on the successes or failings of his older sibling.
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