UFC 213 NUNES V. SHEVCHENKO

[Nash Diesel]

https://d2xpg1khvwxlf1.cloudfront.net/production/images/original/3485-UFC-213-Event-Image-59662b1bd8b9c674ec925b95b60e6459.png

Pretty damn good card *Full fight card in link below* I'm honestly thinking we might have a new champion at 135. Toss up for Romero-Whittaker. We also have the trilogy of Overeem v. Werdum which I like Werdum in that fight. Pettis-Miller SHOULD be FOTN. We'll see.

Full Fight Card:
http://m.sherdog.com/events/matches/UFC-213-Nunes-vs-Shevchenko-59011

[Percussion]

Nunes out for undisclosed medical reasons.

Sumbitch.

[Beer-Belly]

Joanna wants to step in.

[Cewsh]

Goddamn, my bar is gonna stop buying these shows. They've all been duds since 200.

[Percussion]

No they haven't.

[Cewsh]

From a casual customer interest standpoint, they absolutely have. I'm not talking about how much you enjoyed them.

[Percussion]

Wasn't speaking to my own experience either.

[Tainted Eclipse]

lol. well my standpoint on this card was it looks pretty strong up and down but i'm not too invested in the main event.

[Percussion]

Great turn of events for MW. One more win for Whittaker and instead of Bisping the Twat being chased by the horde of talent atop the division we'll have Bobby Knuckles the Valiant taking on all comers.

How dull is the chemistry between Overeem and Werdum? Just a continuous defense of one another's strengths. Blech, glad that's over with. But I suppose we get Reem/Stipe II, which ain't so bad but kinda hard to really get excited about, while waiting for Cain to perpetually mend and rooting for Ngannou to breathe some new life into HW contendership. Some good matchups on that horizon, if we could ever get to it.

[Nash Diesel]

Goddamn, my bar is gonna stop buying these shows. They've all been duds since 200.

The odd thing is you're posting this before the event even started. Also, what are you basing your opinion on when calling them "duds"? I wanted to think it was due to the lack of name value maybe but looking at cards after UFC 200 with fights headlined by the top 2 draws of all time, Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor....I'm not sure....

[Cewsh]

I'm referring to nobody showing at my bar up to watch the shows. And you're right, the Rousey and McGregor fight were big. It's the ones since then that haven't gotten anyone around here very interested, and this is a town that loves combat sports. But I was just talking about how they've been duds for my business, not in general.

[Mark Hammer]

Lol they have NOT all been duds. 205 was phenomenal, way better than 200 turned out.

[Cewsh]

Lol they have NOT all been duds. 205 was phenomenal, way better than 200 turned out.

Dude, I meant they've been duds at my bar. Sorry if I wasn't clear about that.

[Nash Diesel]

I'm referring to nobody showing at my bar up to watch the shows. And you're right, the Rousey and McGregor fight were big. It's the ones since then that haven't gotten anyone around here very interested, and this is a town that loves combat sports. But I was just talking about how they've been duds for my business, not in general.

Totally get it. The sad reality IMO for MMA is that while they're doing some big numbers thanks in large part to McGregor but there is sooooo much in terms of fighters and events that I think it's watering down the overall appeal. Does that make sense? I'm just speaking from my own point of view because I considered myself up until about a year ago a hardcore fan and still do somewhat but shit, I can't keep up. I haven't ordered an event since McGregor-Aldo, prior to that was Diaz-GSP. But I watch all the free ones and when they do replays on FS1, I even buy some of the DVD's when they're available (few and far between). Hard to keep up but I hope that there's been a good trickle down effect with McGregor and Rousey the last couple years, GSP, Jones, a few others in the mix that were just before them and now they're coming back so right there, GSP and Jon Jones should help with bringing more people in.

I definitely think that there was more of a "MMA is fucking cool let's go to the bar and watch every ppv every month" that turned into "Ronda Rousey is fighting that's the only ppv I'm going to watch all year because it's Ronda who cares about the rest of the card". Kind of like boxing has been for awhile where it's not the card you're buying it's the one fighter you want to see.

[Fanny Batter]

The events have just fallen apart this year, as well as some very disappointing PPV main events. It's thus hard to regain momentum when fans either feel underwhelmed going in (213 going from Cody/TJ and Nunes/Shevchenko with Cowboy/Lawler support to just Romero/Whittaker; Anderson pulling out of a weak 212; Khabib/Ferguson off of 209), or feeling disappointed by featured fights (the 2 top fights at 208 being dreadful; Woodley/Thompson at 209; the Weidman/Mousasi debacle at 210; JDS just getting blow through at 211). There just hasn't been a satisfying full package of hype and delivery in quite a while - even the knockout cards from late last year had big late dropouts in Cowboy/Gastelum, Rashad/Tim and Werdum/Velasquez. So it's really been since 202 where the hype was paramount and the event delivered. Nearly a year. 214 is an absolute knockout card for example, but at this point - with Jon Jones being Jon Jones, Daniel Cormier being part of AKA, Cyborg's numerous USADA suspicions, Woodley and Maia's propensity for dull fights and Cowboy only pulling out of an event 3 weeks prior due to injury - you struggle to get fully involved in the build up knowing how everything has gone this year in particular. This could easily end up being Jones vs. Manuwa for an interim title, Woodley and Maia dancing to a points verdict, with Oezdemir and Evinger fighting no names.

[Nash Diesel]

Well I also think that aside from the points both of us have made, there are some new fighters who the UFC tried to put the machine behind and it's not working out as great as they hoped and the older draws are just that, getting older and so they're getting beat by guys/gals with no real name recognition or appeal. Like, Stipe is a really good fighter, has a very good resume, but he's not really gaining any steam. And he wonders why Overeem is banking 800k and he's only banking like 400k. And with Stipe, the machine isn't really behind him. Plus you factor in the sale to WME, and their intentions and who they feel should be promoted more. I mean, look at how they did Nunes for that Ronda fight? Didn't even put Nunes on the fucking poster lol. And then Ronda loses and now what? We have a division that in a year lost it's 2 top draws (Ronda's done let's be honest), Holly Holm I don't really see being someone who is going to regain that momentum she had over a year ago.

[Mark Hammer]

The events have just fallen apart this year, as well as some very disappointing PPV main events. It's thus hard to regain momentum when fans either feel underwhelmed going in (213 going from Cody/TJ and Nunes/Shevchenko with Cowboy/Lawler support to just Romero/Whittaker; Anderson pulling out of a weak 212; Khabib/Ferguson off of 209), or feeling disappointed by featured fights (the 2 top fights at 208 being dreadful; Woodley/Thompson at 209; the Weidman/Mousasi debacle at 210; JDS just getting blow through at 211). There just hasn't been a satisfying full package of hype and delivery in quite a while - even the knockout cards from late last year had big late dropouts in Cowboy/Gastelum, Rashad/Tim and Werdum/Velasquez. So it's really been since 202 where the hype was paramount and the event delivered. Nearly a year. 214 is an absolute knockout card for example, but at this point - with Jon Jones being Jon Jones, Daniel Cormier being part of AKA, Cyborg's numerous USADA suspicions, Woodley and Maia's propensity for dull fights and Cowboy only pulling out of an event 3 weeks prior due to injury - you struggle to get fully involved in the build up knowing how everything has gone this year in particular. This could easily end up being Jones vs. Manuwa for an interim title, Woodley and Maia dancing to a points verdict, with Oezdemir and Evinger fighting no names.

The MSG debut at 205 more than satisfied it's hype, and in a different way 207 sort of did too lol.

I agree with everything else. 200 falling apart the way it did with Jones/Cormier dropping, the odd forced main event of Tate/Nunes, and Uber-Brock's fight being swept under the rug kind of set the tone for every big event since. 202 and 205 are exceptions but Conor is Conor.