Was Joe Silva's Hands Tied for UFC 120?

No matter how Dana promotes it, British fans feel a little peeved off with the next UFC fight card to feature in England. Nobody is doubting that the fights have to potential to be great scraps but it is totally evident that the card is weak on star power.

In the following article, I will examine the possible reasons why UFC match maker Joe Silva made the fights he did and decided against more star attractions.

Perceived View that the British public want to see British Fighters

Yes by all means, have an English fighter fighting on the card to get the home grown support but having countless number of them negates the desired effect. Answer me this if Wanderlei Silva fought Bisping in England who would have had more support?

No Pay Per View Cut

The real star attraction fighters of the UFC, receive a percentage of pay per view buys. When a card is featured in England the real big stars would have a massive hole in their earnings. In a career that spans a short time, fighters want to line their pockets as much as possible and fighting in England is a risk that some may not want to make.

Guaranteed Sell Out

No matter what, UFC cards in England a rare occurrence. When your given a fight card its possible no matter who is on it, the British public are going to buy tickets. Why would the UFC and Joe Silva risk their stars after they have already broken the British market and know that the seats will sell.

And finally the main reason I believe UFC and Joe Silva decided against star power for the next English card

Expenditure

In USA, they spend money on pay per views while in Britain they are subscribed to a sports channel. When their is a fight card in England, the cards are broadcast on Spike TV for free. This means a big loss of revenue for UFC and a huge hole in their profits.

Fighters also need to be paid, put up in a hotel and flown from America,  therefore that raises more expenditure to host the card.  Unless of course you get mostly European and British fighters on the fight card.

So in a business frame of mind, UFC 120 is a great card but for the fans...not so much so.

UFC 120 Fight Card

Michael Bisping V Yoshihiro Akiyama

Dan Hardy  vs. Carlos Condit

John Hathaway vs. Mike Pyle

Cheick Kongo vs. Travis Browne

Cyrille Diabate vs. Alexander Gustafsson

Rob Broughton vs. Vinicius Kappke de Quieroz

Steve Cantwell vs. Stanislav Nedkov

Spencer Fisher vs. Curt Warburton

James McSweeney vs. Tom Blackledge

James Wilks vs. Claude Patrick

Paul Sass vs. Mark Holst