Jon Anik echoes some of the fans’ frustrations on the recent quality of UFC cards.
This past Saturday at The O2 in London, Movsar Evloev defeated Lerone Murphy by majority decision in the UFC Fight Night 270 headliner. While the outcome of the headliner delivered many talking points, the rest of the card lacked star power.
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Ray Longo admitted he didn’t catch Evloev vs. Murphy live and has recently found himself skipping various UFC events.
“Ten, 12 years ago, I never left my house on Saturday night,” Longo said on the “Anik & Florian Podcast.” “If we had a wedding for somebody, everybody had their phone out watching the fights. … I don’t even know who’s fighting. I don’t know a lot of the names. Even this Netflix card with Carano and Rousey, it’s got name value.
“Nate Diaz, Mike Perry, Carano, Ngannou. Whether the fights are going to be good or not, they’re going to draw people into those fights. There’s no question in my mind, especially now that some of these (UFC) cards have been a little weaker. I mean, it’s just not captivating.”
More: Triple Take: Is the UFC Freedom 250 card a complete letdown?
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Anik agreed with Longo’s assessmemt.
“I think a lot of people feel that way,” Anik said. “And even when you think about this UFC podcast, and largely I am a producer arm of this show, but we’re not talking about the co-main event. We’re not talking about (Christian Leroy Duncan’s) win over Roman Dolidze, even though Christian Leroy Duncan maybe deserves a minute or two, because it’s not largely compelling. Forty-one UFC live events times 13 fights – it’s 533 UFC fights a year, not to mention the Contender Series and everything else. It’s a lot to continuously ask to hit triples and home runs. …
Sometimes there’s ebbs and flows, and I can’t wait to just scream through my f*cking neck at UFC 327 in a few weeks. I can have an honest conversation like this and tell you that I’m going to put my promotional best foot forward in a couple weeks. We have a tremendous card, and we’re going to blow it out, and I can’t wait for that. But, yeah, it hasn’t been a great few weeks to be sure.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Jon Anik admits UFC card quality has been lacking this year
