A lot has changed in the last couple of years for the UFC. The roster features many new exciting talents, but dominant champs like Israel Adesanya, Alexander Volkanovski, and Kamaru Usman also lost their belts.
In its different eras, the UFC has benefited heavily from megastars like Chuck Liddell, Conor McGregor, and Ronda Rousey. However, it looks like the company now wants its brand to reign supreme. If people trust the UFC to be the premier MMA organization in the world, they won’t evaluate the quality of the card based on the stars it has.
Having said that, popular fighters are still a boon, if not a necessity, for the UFC. According to Daniel Cormier, the promotion currently lacks champions that can sell pay-per-views like their predecessors…
Daniel Cormier Explains Why Islam Makhachev, Belal Muhammad, Ilia Topuria, Merab Dvalishvili, And Other UFC Champs Aren’t Stars Yet
On the latest episode of Good Guy / Bad Guy on the ESPN MMA YouTube channel, Cormier and Sonnen discussed the current UFC champs. According to the former UFC heavyweight kingpin, only Jon Jones and Alex Pereira are proven draws for the UFC.
“Is there a void of that big star? Because right now, it feels like only Jon Jones and Pereira, Pereira and Jon Jones might be the only two Champions right now that are completely moving the needle.”
All the other champs in the promotion have either just reached the top or don’t have the most exciting fighting style and mic skills. The iconic duo also talked about how MMA has evolved drastically in recent years, making it unlikely for new champions to beat title defense records set by Jones, Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva, Demetrious Johnson, and other greats.
“Jon Jones right now is a proven draw. He will sell pay-per-views. Alex Pereira, under right circumstances, will sell pay-per-views. But then when I list these other names to you, Chael, Zhang Weili, the 25 pound champion is the Brazilian, Pantoja, Merab Dvalishvili, Ilia Topuria, Islam Makhachev, Belal Muhammad. Let’s keep going.”
DC backed his claims by mentioning the not-so-great numbers generated by Makhachev vs. Poirier at UFC 302. He also revealed that Dricus Du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya did decent, but the number was much lower than what “The Last Stylebender” was bringing in at his peak.
“The problem is the game has gotten so hard now. Anderson had what? 11 title defenses. Jones had like 13. Who’s doing that anymore?”
“Poatan” is 37 and “Bones” might consider retirement after fighting Stipe Miocic at UFC 309. Cormier believes that the UFC has yet to find proper replacements for its biggest stars at the moment which could be detrimental.
