Why the UFC is hoping Mighty Mouse loses.
Let me start off by saying Mighty Mouse is a great fighter; in my opinion, he is the second best pound for pound fighter in the world behind the greatest fighter of all time Jon Bones Jones. He is quick – super quick – crazy skills, driven, hard-working, a student of the game, you could go on and on and on.
You know what else he is? He is BORING. Plain old Boring. I mean, honestly I switched off his last fight against John Dodson, I know, I did, and I paid 55 dollars to watch it. And hey, you might disagree his fight style isn’t boring, okay, but everything else is. I mean here is a man that has confessed he hates being the headline act, here is a champion that doesn’t promote his fights, who is just not interesting in an interview. DJ, no one is asking you to be Conor McGregor, but please DJ give us something.
As pointed out by MMA trainer Snow Bridson, part of the reason the UFC Flyweight division was created was to help expand the game to Latino and Asian markets, which cater in large to the smaller type of fighter. Unfortunately, for the UFC and fans, in general, we have had a dominant champion, who has done nothing and never will do anything to expand the impact of the smaller weight classes. The numbers speak for themselves; these figures are taken from MMA PAYOUT.com
Johnson first PPV headline was against Ali Bagauntinov at UFC 174 drew 115,000, the lowest PPV turnout in over 11 years. His next PPV headline, UFC 178 versus Cariaso, was an improvement to a total of 205,000. However, it’s been all downhill since then drawing 125,000 against Horiguchi at UFC 186 and then repeating the 115,000 against John Dodson at UFC 191. However, UFC 191, wasn’t only the lowest PPV in 13 years but also was lowest reported gate for a Las Vegas-based UFC pay-per-view card since UFC 49 in August 2004.
I think, that part of the reason OSP is fighting Jon Jones is that the UFC couldn’t shelve the headline act because promoting mighty mouse would have been a financial nightmare. I mean the UFC is so desperate, that the TUF 24 winner will get a shot at the Flyweight champ.
He just doesn’t sell. And yes, I have heard the argument, lower weight classes don’t sell, people like to see big men, there are fewer knockouts, etc. I get it, however, the emergence of Conor shows that with the right personnel you can generate interests in lower weight classes. I mean, even the return of Dominic Cruz has people talking more about the Bantamweight division right?
Enter Henry Cjeudo, I mean if I were Dana White or Lorenzo Fertitta I would be secretly wishing he beats mighty mouse. And why wouldn’t they, Henry, is a Latino American, who is proud of his Mexican Heritage, he is the youngest USA wrestler to win the gold, he is very well spoken and this guy is a winner on all fronts. Having a Latino champion like this will do wonders for the UFC’s push into Mexico and afar. Oh, and did I forget to mention he is an Olympic Gold Medallist. You just have to watch countdown, to see that with the right push and the weight of the UFC behind him, this kid could become a big star at least I think so. I mean if he keeps coming up lines like simplicity will always win, I pick trades over tricks any fricken day” or “David didn’t fight Goliath with strength he fought him with strategy” he will.
I mean props to guy, he is confident and still showing DJ the respect he deserves. Can he win? I mean I think can the obvious key to victory is taking it to the ground, and wrestling. However, that’s not the point of this article. I mean, hats of to DJ but for the sake of the flyweight division lets we hear and NEW!!!!!!……
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