Lyoto Machida

By Joshua Molina

UFC 163 is over and done with, thankfully, and besides a mega live gate, the UFC doesn’t have much to show of it.

In an attempt to make fans believe that Jose Aldo faced stiff competition, the UFC marketed his opponent as “The Korean Zombie,” rather than use his name Chan Sung Jung. The Zombie never had a chance against Aldo, one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Unfortunately, Sung Jung seemed to dislocate his shoulder during the fight, so now the mismatch turns into a serious injury and some lengthy time-off for the Korean.

In the other fallout from the fight, Phil Davis stole a victory from Lyoto Machida. Machida won at least two of the three rounds, yet Davis still pulled out the victory. Machida will hopefully get a quick rematch, otherwise he’s the latest fighter to fall victim to Dana White’s “Don’t-ever-say-no-to-me-when-I-give-you-a-title-shot,” curse.

The UFC holds too many pay-per-views and UFC 163 was proof of that. In the old days of boxing, great fights that needed to be made determined what went on PPV. A PPV show was special and a treat. Then the UFC took on the WWE’s model and started turning out at least one PPV a month.

Such a business model works for the WWE because the company built itself directly off fan support. The media never boosted the WWE. The media never made WWE legitimate. The WWE became the true fastest-growing sport because CEO Vince McMahon marketed his product directly to the fans, and PPV as the quickest and best way to do that. For a wrestling fan, ordering monthly PPV are ritual, and the WWE brand is strong enough to carry consistently strong PPV numbers over what’s now been 27 years.

The UFC holds monthly pay-per-views to make money, which is not a bad thing, but sometimes too much of a good thing waters down your long-term ability to make money. For the UFC, Aldo vs. TKZ was just another show, but for guys like Machida and TKZ, it was a huge setback and probably not a lot of people, relative to other UFC PPV shows, even saw it.