According to UFC boss Dana White, the notion that the promotion has a ‘superstar problem’ is completely inaccurate.
One of, if not the greatest era in the UFC is nearing its end, with fighters like Conor McGregor, Jon Jones and Ronda Rousey all either retired or coming to the end of their careers.
Fighters like McGregor and Rousey are the main reason why the promotion has seen so much success over the past 10 years, increasing the popularity of the sport and subsequently making the UFC the biggest combat sports promotion in the world.
However, since fighters from that era have slowly retired, the promotion has clearly seen a drop off in terms of big stars under the UFC banner.
Dana White shuts down notion that the UFC has a ‘superstar problem’
Since the likes of McGregor and Jones becoming more inactive, the baton has been passed to the likes of Ilia Topuria and Islam Makhachev, who are currently two of the biggest stars in the sport.
But with those two not being widely recognized names outside of the MMA world, there has been criticism that the UFC is currently going through a ‘star problem’.
And one of the most notable names to have aired that criticism is boxing promoter Eddie Hearn who claimed the UFC is going through its current lull because of its ‘lack of stars’.
With the criticism continuing to pour in, Dana White recently launched an x-rated rant, shutting down the notion.
“That narrative has been around since f——, I was hearing this s— about Chuck Liddell leaving and Georges St-Pierre ‘What are you gonna do?’ People non stop talk s—,” White said on the Impaulsive Podcast.
“I could go through the metric of this business from top to bottom and I just told you that (Power) Slap guys have made $10 million over the last two years and the list goes on and on.
“The problem is, literally nobody knows anything about this f—— business, they all have an opinion but they don’t know jack s—.
“The UFC just signed this deal, we got Power Slap, we got boxing. Three of the biggest fights in boxing history, I was a part of two of them, and I’ve only done two.
“So when I listen to s— like we have a superstar problem or we have a this problem or a that problem, my response to that is, believe me when I f—— tell you, we have no problems.”
The UFC’s new $7.7 billion deal relies less on superstars
Although White’s points may be valid in regards to the UFC not having a superstar problem, at this point in time it is somewhat irrelevant.
The promotion recently signed a staggering $7.7 billion deal with Paramount for the broadcast rights in the United States, and as part of the deal, the PPV model will no longer be around.
And with that, the UFC will now rely far less on building stars in the promotion as they now don’t have to worry about selling PPVs and success being gauged on how many PPVs a fighter has managed to draw in.