There’s something different about the UFC these days. You could blame that on Conor McGregor, who spent 2016 creating his own superfights rather than meekly agreeing to whatever the promotion had in mind for him. Or maybe it’s the result of the $4 billion sale that woke many fighters up to the huge amounts of money being made off their blood and sweat. Whatever the cause, it’s resulted in a chaotic start to the year with virtually no major title fights for fans to look forward to.
The problem? In some cases it’s fighters refusing to take big fights without significant pay bumps. That’s why we’re not getting Tony Ferguson versus Khabib Nurmagomedov unless the UFC pays Tony what they’re paying Khabib. In others, it’s the UFC’s champions trying to angle out of tough fights with lesser known top contenders in favor of superfights that promise a much easier path to riches and glory. If you’re UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, would you rather accept a rematch against the criminally under-promoted Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson, or do you angle for fights with Conor McGregor, Georges St. Pierre, and Nick Diaz?
For the past 20 years, the UFC has done a pretty decent job of balancing out their obvious inclination to book the biggest fights they can with the responsibility of making sure the best always fight the best, even if that may not be the hottest ticket in town. But in the Conor McGregor era, many less flashy fighters are concerned that the UFC is starting to overlook top contenders in their quest for big pay-per-view fights.
UFC welterweight Demian Maia is currently on a six fight winning streak that included choking out Matt Brown and Carlos Condit. He’s also nowhere in the UFC’s welterweight title shot conversations.
“I have some contacts and I know they offered some people to Tyron Woodley, but they didn’t offer him to me,” Maia said during a recent interview on The Luke Thomas Show. “And that for me sounds strange. I don’t know which direction this sport is going. I know ‘Wonderboy’ and a couple of other guys (were offered). It’s really weird what is happening right now. In other times, I would be fighting for the title. I’m really sad about that because, why didn’t they offer Woodley to me? I’m the next guy. The only thing they can do is the rematch, and if it’s not the rematch, it’s me. It’s sad.”
Maia isn’t the only one starting to doubt the UFC’s commitment to having their champions face the toughest contenders in their division. After a decisive victory at UFC 206, former bantamweight champ TJ Dillashaw took to the mic and declared “If I don’t get my title shot, you know this s**t is rigged!”
Things are not much better in the lightweight division, where #1 contender Khabib Nurmagomedov is coming to terms with the reality that a fight with champ Conor McGregor relies on Conor’s say so rather than Khabib’s performances in the cage. It’s a troubling trend, doubly so considering it’s coming on the heels of new ownership taking over the UFC. The last thing anyone wants is for the sport to go the way of boxing, where the best rarely fight the best. But now that Conor McGregor has reminded fighters that they get final say in who they fight, is it already too late?
