Issue 147
November 2016
UFC 202 smashed expectations and delivered more than anyone could have hoped for
Mixed martial arts isn’t for everyone. Crazy to think, I know, but it’s true. My sister’s not a fan, although her teenage son and his university buddies certainly are. One of my oldest friends doesn’t care much that Eddie Alvarez is the new 155lb champion or Michael Bisping is having the year of his life. But then he’s a bean-counting account, so there isn’t much that does get him excited.
But when you’re as captivated by the sport most readers of Fighters Only are, it’s often tough to comprehend how the world keeps turning after ‘Rumble’ Johnson has just struck another man so hard he sees little birds circling around his head like he’s in a cartoon.
Increasingly, however, MMA – and in the context of mainstream consciousness I’m talking about the UFC – sporadically punches through that pop-culture ceiling. Holly Holm’s sensational knockout of Ronda Rousey last year was one of those moments. And we sampled that sensation again with UFC 202. Diaz-McGregor 2 exceeded all expectations. And, let’s face it, the timing couldn’t have been any better.
The deflation felt in the immediate aftermath of UFC 200 – when the action inside of the Octagon never hit the heights of the drama outside it – was palpable. The fresh whiff of expectation injected into the air following the arrival of new owners WME carried fans along until the UFC 202 fight week.
The originally-scheduled headliners from the anniversary event in July finally made it to Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena some seven weeks later, yet things didn’t start off well. Ugly scenes at the pre-fight press conference led to bottles and cans being used as missiles. Then the weigh-ins had more Nevada State cops packing guns than it did athletes packing Reebok gear 24 hours later.
Yet, just has it has done on so many occasions, just when MMA looked destined to choke itself out under the pressure of expectation and opportunity, it exploded into an evening of pure entertainment. Shock and awe could well have been the tagline for UFC 202. From the pits of despair to the ecstasy of deliverance.
From the embarrassment and ignominy of UFC 200’s PED spree through to UFC 202’s fight-week melee, the first few weeks of WME ownership weren’t perhaps much to be proud of. But on the night of its first real sanctioned and promoted event, the beginning of its era at the helm of the world’s biggest MMA promotion was celebrated in the most monumental way possible.
The entire card was a triumph. Seven knockouts, two submissions and three tasty fights that went the distance – including the main event, which was undoubtedly one of the best fights of 2016 and potentially the most important fight since Forrest Griffin’s war with Stephan Bonnar in the TUF 1 finale.
It speaks volumes about the UFC – and likely the drawing power of its biggest star, Conor McGregor – that its should make so many global mainstream-media headlines for UFC 202, despite the fact it coincided with the closing weekend of the Rio Olympic Games.
Forget what went on in the weeks leading up to it, UFC 202 was befitting of the $4 billion WME paid the Fertitta brothers for the UFC empire. And if this is the level of entertainment we can expect moving forward, the UFC – and with it, MMA – is about to get a whole lot bigger.
$3 million
Red panty party
Conor McGregor’s disclosed UFC 202 salary was $500k more than Brock Lesnar’s for UFC 200 and the highest in Octagon history. Yet his reported cut of pay-per-view money suggests his total payout was four times that.
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