UFC 226 was a huge success for the organisation last Saturday night, with great fights and a lot of pay per view buys across the world.
Daniel Cormier became only the second person to hold two belts in two different weight classes at the same time, after Conor McGregor. He knocked out Heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic impressively in the first round. It is what happened after that annoyed many fans who believe the UFC is turning into the WWE.
WWE star and former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar was ringside for the fight. UFC president Dana White even said that Lesnar was “acting like a lunatic” during the event.
When Cormier won, he called Brock Lesnar into the ring to face off with him. Lesnar walked up to Cormier and pushed him, which can be seen from the video below.
It is kind of cringy. The push, the heel persona that Brock is pushing when he calls everyone a piece of shit and saying he is coming for DC, it is very reminiscent of a WWE promo.
No matter how cringy this is though, it does make headlines, and does get people interested in it.
It shows the way that the UFC is moving away from the old model to this new ‘Superfight’ style. It doesn’t really matter where a fighter is on the rankings, it is all about who talks the most crap to their opponents and makes headlines. It could be argued that Conor McGregor’s rise is what started this, seeing as he has the records for the most pay-per-views buys in history. He is one of the main reasons why the UFC was sold for 4 billion dollars. He is the king for getting people talking about him.
Many have tried to follow suit, the latest being Colby Covington. He fought at UFC 225 which did not sell well at all, so he clearly isn’t doing it on the same level as McGregor.
This is what it has changed to. The new owners, WME, want to recoup the money of their purchase, so they will try to get the UFC to make the biggest draws fight each other to get everyone watching.
To do this, they have to start drama, such as the Lesnar- Cormier incident. It seemed very contrived in my opinion.
Having said all this, I will 100% be watching this fight. It will be very interesting seeing Cormier dismantle a much bigger man in Lesnar. It will be interesting, but the way it was promoted on Saturday night was stupid.
John McAuliffe