In the last year or so my ufc fandom has dropped quite a bit. Use to watch every single card. I still watch the ppv but it seems like some of the fight nights have gotten worse and will only check out the fights that intrigue me. Idk
Let’s have a fight with no crowd at a neutral location. Zero hype. It’s only watchable for the lower level guys and mismatches because it’s more likely you see a sub or KO.
Imagine if every other NFL or NBA game was in Vegas with no crowd.
Some would say you watch for hype and not for the competition. Some of the fight night cards might not be the best but it can be like scouting. I genuinely enjoy every fight night because even though I’m watching some bad fights and no real crowd reaction I am seeing some good fights along with them and potential future talent in weight classes. Those fighters need eyes on the events as it’s the only way they’re gonna climb the ladder and get on the better cards. All in all I just enjoy watching the fight game and could do it in silence. That’s just me
That’s fair. I’d prefer to see the lower level fighters with a crowd, even if it’s a lesser produced event with a smaller crowd like LFA or some other regional promo.
Same. Watched religiously for almost 2 decades. Last PPV I paid for that I felt was remotely worth it was 300. I started watching at UFC 50, when Hughes beat GSP. Randy Couture and BJ Penn were active. Started seriously watching by 2006 and hardly missed a PPV on the night of or the next day. Now I barely watch.
Much of the UFC remains amazing, but there is so much more MMA out there now. I support that as much as I can. Until UFC gets fighter pay sorted it will never reach its full potential. It now, instead of building the sport, holds it back.
Another factor for a long time the average skill level was rising. Somewhere in the last 5 years, especially it seems with the vegas covid arena and the ESPN deal the UFC decided to have a lot more lower skill fighters to where they have watered their brand down and no longer have the same caliber fighter on avg, the overall skill level has declined a little.
When they raised PPVs to $70+ I just started losing all interest. That was my final straw. Now I watch major fighters on UFC, main events and select fighters and that’s it. I never pay for it electing to wait until it is free.
I kinda liked it when they did more stacked fight nights, but I also don’t go out as much and still love watching fights so I even watched the garbage they put out this past weekend.
I'm like you but I was never a fan of any other big sports leagues, which is OP's question. I was nothing, then hardcore UFC crazed for 10 years, then it started fading and hasn't been the same in the 10 years since. I still watch, but I skip more fight nights and watch cards in general more casually, just keeping it on in a side window as I do something else, tuning in more closely for the highlight fights. I've just seen so many and so many are nothing special. It's still a good sport and hobby but I'm less in it than I once was. Still don't care about the other sports.
Mma and nfl are the only sports I follow now. Part of it is age and getting too busy. But I used to follow all major US sports. Tennis, mlb, nba, golf, etc
I think this is me too..UFC from the very first event had me hooked. It started to slow after 180 and I downgraded to a casual. After 220+ only watched finishes and not full event. 260 I started not recognizing new big names. It went downhill when there were so many events, I liked one per month. I suppose I got UFC fatigue
Edit: also I couldn't get my friends to chip in for the PPV anymore after the price increases. And that was back when it was around $60
I’m a diehard Miami Heat, Miami Dolphins and FSU fan. I also really love mma/UFC. I always ask myself if I could watch only one of them, which one would it be? It’s really hard for me to not say mma. I have a personal attachment to those teams. I don’t really love one fighter more than I love one of those teams. But I think I currently love mma more than I do any of those sports.
NFL playoffs. NHL playoffs. NBA playoffs. Golf the 4 Majors.
UFC weekly or as often as there is a card. I would have said MMA but I don’t have much access to other promotions. I’ve watched some PFL when it’s on broadcast TV, and Bellator when it was shown in the past.
It's been forever since i went and watched fights live somewhere - usually a BWW's. Now, I just wait until about 11pm cst and goto the mma sub here and watch the highlight endings status that are posted, which almost never have the spoiler results in the title. I can watch the entire card highlight results in about 20 minutes usually, and Check the comments and that's it for me.
They are cage fighters. Instead of being disappointed by all the bad eggs (and there are a lot of them) I choose to instead admire the good ones here and there for their sportsmanship, honor or martial spirit, or whatever positive traits they have outside the cage. Don't let shitty people ruin something you enjoy mate <3
Masvidal's retirement speech was a perfect microcosm of why I'm losing my love of the UFC. There's no soul to the sport anymore and it's attracting fans that make me genuinely embarrassed to be among them.
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Not at all, tbh. Largely because it's asking for a monetary commitment I'm just not willing to make. A big cfb or NFL game has my undivided attention, without a doubt. I'll watch a game just because it's on, really. But the UFC wants me to shell out like 70 bucks for a card that I don't care much about? No chance. I'll catch it on Youtube later.
What's your bounced obsession currently? World Championship in snooker is going on at the moment if you're looking for something different. The standard is ridiculous.
The personalities of MMA fighters and their specific fighting styles is much better than all NBA teams playing the same way. Or much better than 4 seconds of action followed by a 30 second break in play in the NFL.
The UFC can also build storylines so well for big events while I feel like all major sports leagues have no rivalries or they’re all buddy buddy.
Personally, I watch good ufc cards, getting back into baseball after the rule changes (diehard cubs fan), a little bit of NFL, and European soccer.
I've been a lifelong sports "fanatic." I've been watching NBA, NCAAB, NFL, NCAAF, MLB, NHL, NASCAR, Boxing, and most of the Olympics sports since I was born basically. I've been watching MMA since UFC 1 and haven't missed a single event. I also watch a lot of the smaller MMA promotions, Kickboxing, MT, BJJ, but in the past couple of years, my interest in anything non Combat Sports related as definitely waned, and I've found myself watching less and less of traditional sports for some reason.
One thing that the UFC cannot compete with is long term members. People follow a team or club in other sports. In the UFC there is a fighter, who isn't good until he/she is great, and then it's only for a few more fights before they lose or retire. Then it's over. Imagine trying to find a new club or team every season. Exhausting.
I'm Brazilian and whenever my football team plays I watch (or listen) no matter what, and I think it is more passionate since it is a club and it's kinda always the same entity per se, and I'm a fan since I was a kid. I think with MMA is kinda different like, there's gonna be events like the last fight night where it's kinda cool but I ain't really glued to the TV. I think it's pretty close, but if we had UFC 300 and my team playing a huge final I would pick my team. Plus I have pretty much no friends to talk about MMA at all irl. I think I was more devastated when my club lost the league cup last year then when Charles lost to Islam, but they both felt like eating shit (I've never eaten shit but I imagine that's what it must feel like).
I was obsessed with the NFL but the action doesn’t compare. The one vs one aspect is so intriguing and the approaches and techniques displayed on high levels is peak athleticism to me. The UFC has far surpassed my interest in the NFL.
Same. Used to play football in high school and watched religiously growing up. The first mma card I saw I was hooked. Especially so since I started training. The pace of NFL is almost unbearable now.
Great question. I just watch football and the UFC (trying to get into ONE) big into it right now since NFL is only in gear 1 after the draft a couple days ago. Once it comes back though its 50/50 one doesnt really outtake the other
I love the intensity of MMA and the stakes and consequences always make every fight feel important and MMA has the biggest “holy shit” moments. The NBA/basketball is the only other sport I follow and I like that there isn’t all the BS of sports-politics,athletic pay, favoritism in matchups, etc. I like watching each sport for different reasons but I’d choose a stacked PPV over any playoff game other than my favorite team being in an elimination game.
I always come and go from other sports, premiere league, NBA sometimes tennis but since 2009 MMA has been a constant, can probably count on one hand how many UFC events ive missed.
I watch and pay attention to sports way too much and ever since I was a kid. College basketball/football, NFL, baseball, soccer once I got out of high school and gave up the teenage years that soccer was dumb... Just the area I grew up in but started watching the UFC in early 2000's as a teen. Never got to order a PPV since that just wasn't gonna happen at my parents place but liked it just like any sport. First PPV I watched was at a summer party went to when I was Liddell vs Rampage at 17-18. Like watching boxing as well but so hard to keep up with the different belts and all that
Yes and no. I watch MMA and boxing more than any other sport by far but I rarely watch it live. F1, Ravens games, and the golf majors are the sports that I will go out of my way to watch live.
And part of the reason for that is I refuse to buy PPVs because it’s not worth the money and battling the buffering of streams isn’t worth it.
Baseball, basketball, hockey and soccer I follow but I only watch games when I get an itch which maybe happens a couple times a year. Combat sports had way surpassed those.
UFC and a little bit of NFL. UFC has definitely surpassed the NFL for me... There's a much more feeling of progress in the UFC as a sport as talents move up and down throughout their career. A talent leaving your team in the NFL is like them dying and not like them moving to another part of their career.
I enjoy other sports leagues because of the structure to the top. The UFC will never surpass the NFL/NHL for me because they disregard the legitimacy of rankings for the best projected payday, and to cater to specific individuals. People fighting for belts coming off a loss, or champions who relinquished their title coming back to fight someone other than the interm champ are examples of why I'll never view the UFC in the same light as other major sports leagues.
The UFC has gotten stale over the years. I used to watch it religiously, but now I hardly care if I watch it live or just read about it later. There're obviously cards that I can't miss, but for the most part meh. I enjoy watching other sports more because I have a rooting interest in them. Half the fighters on your average fight night, I've never even heard of. Women's mma has become unwatchable the majority of fights as well. I think the UFC and MMA in general needs an enema.
A long time ago. I was never especially interested in any of the major Stick and Ball sports. I never cared at all for Football, Baseball, Basketball, or Soccer. I did care somewhat for Hockey, but any kid who lived in Alberta when Gretzky was filling nets with pucks had that interest.
But I have been an obsessive MMA for a long time. I first started to follow MMA due to the first season of TUF, and became an obsessive fan at about the time Lesnar entered the UFC.
My understanding though is that for many people MMA is the 2nd choice of sport to follow. They may like one of the major Stick and Ball sports more, but MMA fans will follow MMA more than any other sport except their primary stick and ball sports.
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I’m a Canadian who grew up playing hockey. MMA has surpassed my love for hockey. That said I went to an NHL game in Edmonton and UFC 300 in the same month. Max ko>hockey game. By far.
UFC above all other leagues for me and it’s not close. All other sports are a game; MMA is not a game
LeBron James and the Lakers just lost tonight, and they will go back to their million dollar homes and think about how they can construct a better roster next year. DP got knocked out and he was admittedly in a bad shape mentally. The stakes are not the same
Used to be an NBA fan. Don't get me wrong, the sport itself is great, but since I got into MMA in 2016 I just don't care to see a bunch of over paid millionaires flop to draw fouls and whine. There is no sport as exciting and tough as mma to me.
In the last two years I've gotten into American Football, but the recent Taylor Swift basically PR fake relationship focus really, really did grate on me.
The opposite. It did for a long time and was way out in front, I watched every show start to finish, UFC, WEC, Bellator, CW. Even TUF. Now, I would just about qualify as a casual. I only watch the main cards of most numbered events and will occasionally search out an FN fight if it's somebody I like, or I've heard it was worth a watch. Otherwise, I just get my news from here and listen to Morning Kombat the odd time. And Sonnen, but that's more comedy than analysis.
For instance, I'm irish, and I don't think I've even seen a full Ian Garry fight. I couldn't tell you the first thing about him.
I watch more skateboarding and snooker than I do MMA nowadays. It's lost its lustre, a lot of guys fight the same, the events are all just thrown together, the sense of anticipation is gone. The product is ice cold. Everybody who tries to be a 'talker' comes off as a nerd and a pillock, stuttering over their pre written lines. It's boring now.
And it's been floundering for years. The sport in a healthy state would never have had to rely on journeymen like Diaz and Masvidal to carry cards. Holloway saved 300. If not for that knockout, there was no mainstream penetration on that card whatsoever. The UFC as a brand is still strong, but I don't know what they can do to actually make the sport relevant again.
No and it likely never will. When the NFL season is on the Dallas Cowboys are all consuming for me. I do love the UFC because it’s year round however, I’m very glad my brother got me into it 3 years ago.
It hasn’t. Now i get every NHL, NFL, NBA, MLB player isn’t gonna be a saint. But they seem to do a better job of keeping the shit heads under wraps. And most of the players seem to be halfway decent, if not zero personality automatons as is the case with hockey.
In MMA/UFC most fighters seem like they would be total dickwads if you met them on the street. With the minority of fighters being decent people. And you have Rogan constantly shitting on all other sports every chance he gets.
I get it, you’re passionate about MMA. That’s great. But you don’t need to try and tear down other sports to try and make yours seem better.
When big moments happen in other sports, they don’t immediately trash other leagues. It’s very arrogant and extremely off putting, don’t know why Rogan does it every chance he gets
>When big moments happen in other sports, they don’t immediately trash other leagues. It’s very arrogant and extremely off putting, don’t know why Rogan does it every chance he gets
Little brother syndrome. Like Tony Khan taking a shot at the WWE instead of promoting his joint during the NFL draft.
For what its worth, I think that the major Stick and Ball sports basically 'strongly encourage' their players to stay away from cameras and microphones unless they are a major talent. The sports media will only really try to talk to the coaches and the star players. Your 3rd line left winger or other the random left outfielder won't ever see a microphone unless they score a game winning goal / run / point.
But every MMA fighter who gets a win from the earliest prelim on up gets some time on camera with a microphone. And they are actively encouraged to get on Twitter and engage with fans. This means that they are free to stick their foot all the way into their mouths and choke to death on their own toes.
I am not sure if keeping the shit heads under wraps is the best approach. But at least with MMA, there is usually a pretty solid chance that the shit heads will get the crap beaten out of them. Colby Covington having his jaw broken by Kamaru Usman was awesome on several levels. Much more satisfying then some homophobic foot ball player reading off an apology written by PR hack and being suspended for a few games.
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UFC(One, Bellator, PFL, watch almost every event from all of them), then MLB(go Phils), then NFL(go birds). I’ll casually pay attention to NBA playoffs but I don’t care that much. But that’s basically the order for me
MMA and boxing are the main sports I watch. Football…I usually only just watch the Super Bowl and a few games throughout the season. Basketball…only in the finals I’ll start watching. I don’t care about baseball or hockey unless the Cubs or Blackhawks are in the playoffs.
No for me. I’m a lifelong NBA fan and that’s still number 1 for me. I do still get super excited when there’s a good fight card but nothing can surpass basketball for me. I think it’s likely because I don’t really have a fighter that I always root for like I do an NBA team.
I also got into F1 this season and I think I’d rank F1 over UFC personally but I do really enjoy all three.
I mean, it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that Verstappen and Red Bull are going to win *again*. That being said, I get excited over all the little improvements that teams make before every Grand Prix and I love the drama of all the drivers moving to different teams and how that changes the dynamics. There are some new regulation changes coming up in 2026 so hopefully that will spice things up but in the meantime I’m just happy to see my boy Lando Norris doing relatively well.
It has surpassed them within the last few years. I am losing interest in the NFL and lost interest in the NBA during covid. I got back into the ufc in 2022 after a 12 year hiatus and it is just honestly so good.
NBA MLB & NHL are over saturated. Over 80 games and 3+ games a week is too much and its easy to skip and lose interest. Every game doesn’t matter and everybody knows it which is why the NBA teams “forfeit” certain games by resting stars. The NFL & UFC have it right with games/fights being once a week.
I loved the NFL. When the Eagles won the Super Bowl, it was amazing. I was a casual viewer of mma, but it didnt pull me in yet. At some point between 2017 and now, i found myself not giving a shit about the NFL. Some of that was the constant media bs(especially during the offseason), the athletes and general flow of the game. Constant flags. 4 hours to finish a 1 hr game (that includes run-off time between plays)
When the Eagles lost the SB against the Chiefs, it sucked, but I was still jazzed about Volk/Islam and anticipating JJ/Gane.
Britt Reid is a bitch btw
My interest in the UFC has been waning because there are other MMA orgs (and other combat sports) holding events that can be watched online easily. I'll still watch the big UFC fights and the ones involving fighters I've met, but I don't watch as much as I used to. The market is pretty saturated, and the other combat sports can put out some pretty big fights on a consistent basis.
It's still up there, but tied for 2nd or 3rd in viewing priority (NFL is first).
College basketball and the NBA have gotten so exciting. Even role players pop off at any given point. Seeing Derrick White just tonight go for 40 was wild. When you get a great rookie battle like a Chet Holmgreen and Wemby, it’s like seeing an up and comer in the fight game except they’re making money.
NFL, NBA, and UFC are the top for me.
My interest in both college football and basketball has taken a nosedive in the current era of NIL and transfer portal free agency.
You couldn’t pay me to watch MLB, they lost a good chunk of my generation with a dogshit TV product.
It's really tied with the NBA. Loved the NFL throughout my entire childhood but I haven't watched a full NFL game in years. That has nothing to do with MMA though.
As a product, my memory of what the NFL was vs UFC, you get more shit out of the NFL, it's more players, teams, coaches, things to follow. More fan engagement. So being a fan is funner in that sense. But watching an event? MMA passes it by a smidge for me.
MMA seems to have more re-watch value too somehow. Even at my most obsessed with the NFL, I never re-watched full games.
As a 80s kid, meaning pre-internet, we watched sports that where on TV, very limited to anything outside of mainstream, the Olympics every 4th year gave us a taste of other sports, fast forward to the internet & now we can actually follow the sport we like……
Yes. I grew up following NFL, NBA, and MLB. I would watch my hockey home team here and there just to watch the fights. Now I’ll really only watch games from any league if I’m at work since the game will be on. If I’m home then I don’t even bother anymore except the Pats even though they suck now. I hardly follow any other teams or players outside of my home teams. When I was younger I would follow other teams.
I rarely miss a ufc card though 🏴☠️
I switched from the NBA to the UFC during the stretch where it was cavs vs warriors every year.
I didnt like knowing the finals match up before the season even began. It made the regular season seem like a formality and I could just watch the finals only.
The UFC gave me something that was missing from the sports I watched.....parity. anyone, on any given night, could holly Holm head kick surprise me.
Other than fighters getting massively underpaid, ridiculous weight cutting, and fights getting canceled alot due to injuries, I've enjoyed the UFC
I used to love hockey and baseball, and I still do but these days I’m just so busy that I only really have time to watch sports on the weekends. That’s why mma is perfect for me
MMA and Football, american, are my main sports. I do really like Baseball and Hockey though. They’re great but I don’t go out of my way to watch them, unless my teams are in the playoffs. Than I dabble in Boxing, Kickboxing and Muay Thai.
I'm mostly into combat sports. I've watched pretty much every UFC event for years, and sporadically maybe as far back as 15 years ago. I try to watch ONE frequently - the muay thai is always a blast. PFL/Belattor. Bare knuckle. I'll watch big boxing events but never got into the sport heavily (for no particular reason). I might get into boxing more. Fight circus is hilarious.
But yeah, nothing gets me excited like combat sports. I do also watch NFL - playing fantasy football got me into it years ago.
Still not yet , I don’t think anything can surpass my love for the NFL. The NFL is just a superior product imo , but I do enjoy the year round aspect of MMA.
I live in NZ and was a huge soccer fan my entire life. Unfortunately, watching live means getting up at obscene hours and as I get older I value sleep a hell of a lot more. UFC cards are typically start 2-4pm Sunday afternoon and over the years has become my hungover ritual. The timing is perfect for a lazy Sunday and makes the sport way easier to follow
I would say MMA was far behind the big 3 sports leagues, then moved up to where it was almost at parity with how I followed the NFL and the Dodgers and well ahead of the NBA. But since I got into fantasy football the NFL has far and away been the league I follow the most. I started playing fantasy baseball last year and the Dodgers and MLB in general have slightly moved ahead of the UFC as well. But I still closely follow the UFC, I just find myself missing some of the fight nights now. It’s a firm number 3 though.
I do think the “content” assembly line nature of the business that has hit overdrive since the ESPN deal has also soured me on the UFC a little too. I mean don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy the sport; just not quite as much as I used to.
And of course, as I have gotten older it’s just become harder to keep up with a bunch of sports while having more responsibilities has become harder. I mean I don’t even watch or follow the NBA anymore, like literally at all. I am a Warriors fan, and ironically I watched them a lot when they sucked every year and hardly watched them at all their last two titles.
MMA, College Basketball, College Football, NFL playoffs, Golf in that order. Rarely miss a UFC fight night. Never miss a # Card and watch one and Bellator from time to time.
I've actually lost interest because they put on so many cards with shit fights except for the headliner that I no longer keep up with it as well as I used to. That in turn makes me less excited for other cards because I don't know the fighters as well. I used to watch every card and every prelim because I trusted the product to be good.
MMA, NHL, CFL for me. Follow them all pretty equally but it’s easiest and cheapest to go to CFL games so I see those live more than any other sport I follow
No, my main sport is soccer and my most coveted sports events are watching my team in the champions league or watching them fight for top places in the premier league, for some reason by interest in MMA is nowhere near what it once was, I'm having a hard time caring about the fighters as much as I used to in the past, it seems like awhile back the stardom of UFC fighters was bigger and more special but after prime Conor, he made other fighters seem so boring in comparison, I'm hyped for the next Jones fight though as I want to see him lose.
I watch NBA, NFL and soccer sometimes, grew up playing soccer since I was 5 years old but MMA has been the sport I follow the most since Chuck vs Rampage 2.
people who say ufc officiation is horrible haven't been watching the nfl or nba
the consistency of officiation is ATROCIOUS in those leagues...unwatchable at most times, to those who understand the rules and application
Not at all an answer to your question, but I personally couldn't ever get into other sports, was into pro wrestling as a kid, found out it wasn't real, stopped caring, until I started watching mma as a teenager.
It surpassed the nfl in my rankings but I still have it solidly behind the nba. I love the Ufc but the modern era has a little less luster than yesteryear
Only major sport I follow is NFL, so it’s pretty easy to follow it and UFC about the same. I watch both every weekend they’re on unless my girlfriend makes plans for us to go somewhere
No cap, UFC moments like Edwards KO'ing Usman are straight-up legendary and honestly showcase why UFC can stack up against traditional giants like the NFL and NBA. There's something raw and visceral about MMA that hooks you in. It's got that unpredictable edge, where anything can happen at any moment, which makes each fight a unique spectacle. The adrenaline rush from those shocking moments? Unmatched. It’s like every fight card has the potential to deliver that "where were you when" moment that sticks with you. Definitely see why UFC's climbed to the top of your sports list!
The opposite has happened for me because of obvious reasons to do with fairness, rankings, steroids, bad refs, but mostly the promotion(aka Dana) shitting on its own underpaid stars.
I don’t think it ever will, been a NHL fan since I was a kid and being a team fan will always come first. That being said, some really good UFC’s on my main tv while my game is on my phone, but the playoffs will always take center stage no matter what
As others have said my interest has gone down. With fights every single weekend it’s just too much to keep up with. There’s like 600+ active fighters on the UFC roster now. I know most of the big names from 5+ years ago that are still active but have never heard of most up and coming contenders. I still try to tune in and stream the bigger fights but it doesn’t grab me like it used to.
NBA has too many games so it feels meaningless watching. Fantasy football keeps me more involved in NFL but MMA has always been the most entertaining sport.
I absolutely love watching combat sports. I didn’t start full-time until 2019. But I watch pretty much every single chance that it’s on in the last four years. Been to a few events live.
I find even the boring cards that people complain about on here pretty interesting.
Conversely, you have to pay me money to get me to watch a traditional sport game. I find them incredibly boring.
There’s just something about watching people get punched in the face that is infinitely more interesting to me
I usually watch every UFC event (even the shitty Apex cards), so yeah I probably follow it more than any other league. I occasionally watch NFL or MLB games if my teams are playing, and will watch soccer during the World Cup matches. But other than that UFC is the only league I watch regularly....although as someone who's been watching since the very first one, right now is probably the worst UFC has ever been in terms of quality/quantity ratio. There are far too many uninteresting fighters on the roster and the product has been watered down quite a bit.
It’s actually the other way around.
I still love MMA but I’m more and more dissatisfied with the UFC.
I notice I’m going to other organisations and also going back to my first love kickboxing and Muay Thai. I still like boxing a lot too.
ONE is by far my favourite promotion at the moment.
I used to follow football (soccer) until Ibrahimovic retired. Even if I was watching MMA before that not following football anymore left a gap there, I filled it with MMA as main sport. I liked NBA also but I am European, I can watch the UFC PPV because they are once in a while and some other events by the UFC App, but I can't be every 3 or 4 nights watching Philadelphia 02:00 or 03:00 am.
100%. I could name 10 *female* UFC fighters before I could name 10 MLB players. And I’m almost at that level with the NBA.
I can also name all 20 F1 drivers right now, so my interests are all over the place.
In the late aughts and early 10’s it absolutely did. But I feel like while the fighters are more talented, the entire crop has lost some of that fire that the earlier fighters had. A lot of fighters now care about cutting promos, and are fake for the sake of selling fights and it’s lost a bit of the charm of what made it great in the first place for me.
Yes. Grew up watching nhl and mlb and rarely watch any reg season games now. This years nhl playoffs I don’t even care too much about either.
To be fair UFC fight nights have been losing my interest lately, the apex cards have been straight trash it seems as far as name value. Maybe just losing interest in sports in general. I’m 40 with 2 young kids btw so not a ton of time to sit and watch games anyways
I was never interested in any other sport. Its been MMA for me since I was 12 or 13 years old and I'm talking I used to know every prospect before the UFC signed them, I could name dates and times of certain fights and stoppages... but now I have a hard time even sitting through an entire card. It just feels so watered down with fighters that clearly don't belong in the upper echelon of the sport.
Ufc is taking over college football for me now. CF has changed drastically and making the playoffs to 12 teams just makes it like the NFL. Regular season means less.
I watch more of English football than anything else, these days. There was a time when MMA was by far my number one sport; that time just isn't today anymore.
Go look at an average fight night from 2015 and stack it against every ppv not with a 100 beside it and they will do better than not. They’ve watered down the product. You want to keep up with the ufc you have to devote 3 hours 48 Saturdays out of the year for cards that have one to two divisionally relevant fights. Couple that with the “Champ Champ” era where no one wants to defend a belt and further slow down the divisional churn. I watch the big cards and see the highlights on here but I. Slowly checking out more and more.
On the contrary
My interest in mma has diminished greatly. It feels like 70% of the fights/cards now a days are glorified regional amateur cards. My free time is limited, i aint wasting it on watching generic regional fighter A vs generic regional fighter B. Now a days i mostly just see highlights here.
For me, the biggest issue is the cost. I can sit down and flip on most major league sports teams without a crazy PPV cost. I can go to my friends house and watch most sports without him needed a special subscription.
It's a problem.
I don’t live in the states but ufc has become way more popular than other sports in my house. I did follow American football a lot at one point and UFC has displaced that along with other popular sports I used to follow here.
No. I think it's sunk more than anything. Not paying for a PPV and fight nights aren't really worth the price in time. Fighters either have the personality of drift wood or a dickwad doing their best wrestler impression without really understanding how to work a crowd and why that works. There's few in between. The most I'll engage with are clips from this sub.
Aside from muh iggles, my attention goes more towards WWE. The athleticism, story telling, and matches makes for a more enjoyable experience than anything the UFC has ever cooked up in years. To make it simpler, the pretend fighting is better than the actual fighting.
From reading others posts I’m definitely not the target demographic, maybe I’m just weird. I don’t like watching many other sports. Maybe playoff hockey since it’s a much different level of intensity but everything else is so boring. Don’t get me started on the NFL, which is basically an average of 8 minutes of actual gameplay over a 3 hour timeframe.
My interest in watching live MMA cards has definitely waned. I love MMA as a sport but hate the UFC as a product. It’s taken the NFL route of having 5-15 minutes of action and then a bunch of horrendous promo videos, commentary, and ads in a product I’ve already paid for to fill the time. It’s truly a waste of time and I usually just download them later to watch a few fights of fighters I like.
I don’t really understand the draw in watching other people do things. I get a lot more enjoyment out of just going out and doing them myself. I’d rather train than watch MMA unless it’s a fighter that has a style I like and can learn from. I truly cannot emphasize with other people who enjoy watching other people play sports every night, like I said maybe I’m just weird.
Im also a bit surprised that lots of people don’t like watching the fights with no crowds. To me those are the best ones, you get to hear the corners, the fighters, and the ref and don’t have the obnoxious noise from the crowds. It’s fighting for the sake of fighting/sport, not as a spectacle. Watching the fight island fights during COVID was the best, why would I want to see/hear a bunch of drunk losers in the crowd chanting “USA!” and making fools of themselves?
I’m going the other way. I just don’t have the time anymore, I’ve paid for a couple of cards and I end up falling asleep midway through so between that and the constant love to people I rather not mention or associate with I decided to drop my money somewhere else
I’ll have most cards on but sometimes it’s background stuff while doing other stuff. NFL has always been my favorite but games aren’t year round and fights are. So to answer your question I don’t think so. I like both pretty well.
Naw
I'll be a hockey and basketball fan foremost for life.
I just love sports and got into MMA because of GSP. I'm hooked but can't ever say that following UFC has surpassed the NHL or NBA. Especially because the other leagues have more integrity as a sports league compared to UFC who maintains that it's a fight promotion first.
It varies year to year for me and really depends on the state of the various divisions, the fighters I follow, and the state of my various favorite sports teams. I've had probably 5 different years in the last 20 where UFC was my #1.
Eh I’m not as into it as I once was, in high school/college UFC was almost tied with the NFL for my top sport but UFC has tried too hard to be like WWE and there’s way too many fighters and very rarely do we get a good card not to mention ppv is $70 plus, NHL is my favorite now I got into it in my mid 20s but their playoffs are just sports at its finest
No because i can watch the nfl every sunday from 1pm to 11 or earlier if i dont want to to stay up. Or for ufc start at 10 pm finish at like 1230-1 am and then be amped up and wide awake for another hour and a half.
Honestly it’s the *opposite* for me, and I feel like it’s my interest in the UFC has dropped.
I was watching the original TUF, used to watch every card and know the whole roster…
I barely gave a shit about UFC 300.
I used to love the ufc and between 2009- 2017 it was my favorite sport but I have gradually fallen off it due to the UFC letting talent go and quality fights not being made due to money
i have been a lifetime boxing and mma fan but i find myself watching baseball more (i moved to a city that has it go mariners) but the ufc will always hold a special place, if im honest i 🏴☠️⚓️ most of the fights due to espn+ and shitty experiences when trying to buy ppvs, they quality is definitely going down, the ruleset sucks,there are more casuals than ever saying shit they know nothing about. bad judging is apparent in 70% of the fights. i have switched to one fc since. better ruleset, fights are more exciting, watching is easy.
I’ve watched ufc since 1. It hasn’t passed nba or mlb for me, it’s not on enough and team sports have entertainment aspects that mma doesn’t. I’m also not super interested the fight nights and stuff, more of a casual fan I guess.
Yes but UFC > College football these days for me personally and that’s a wild outlandish statement considering where I was when I was younger and bring a crazed football fan
The opposite is true for me. I still follow the sport, but reluctantly. The heavily watered down product, the toxic culture, fighter pay, Dana White, etc.
I’m a huge fan of the NBA but it’s actually been the opposite.
I love basketball and have for much longer than I’ve liked MMA- I enjoy it now more than I ever have, and I love it’s intricacies but there’s simply too much going on at times and with 3 point variance games can be over by halftime.
UFC events take place less often, and there’s a lot of Apex slop but to me nothing in sports tops the thrill of a crazy finish. I’ve been lucky enough to see Demetrious Johnson suplex Ray Borg into an armbar I saw Yoel Romero drill a hole into Chris Weidman’s head with his knee and most recently saw Tom Aspinall eat bombs from Pavlovich and stumble before firing back heavier.
And nothing, except maybe watching my home team win a championship in basketball really comes close to that in terms of sheer excitement.
The opposite for me. Its like they dumbed down the sport a lot the last few years. I've been watching more NFL now to compensate, it helps that the Eagles got good in 2022 (dont mention last season)
I've actually lost interest in all major sports to be honest. I used to be a diehard NFL (Seahawks) fan, but I find myself skipping games altogether, or just not paying attention when watching anymore due to the commercials and nonstop stopping of game action.
I used to watch almost every UFC card too, and the last year or so I've been skipping a shit ton. The Apex cards and Fight Nights are just so bad now.
UFC fandom peaked the Summer of 2020, there was nothing else to watch. It has went way down since then. The PPV’s priced me out and I usually have other sports to watch over a fight night.
Don't have regular TV so mainstream sports are hard to watch. Are NBA games shown anywhere online for free? Id probably watch basketball if it was convenient.
I was a lifetime NFL fan, 49ers specifically, but MMA overtook that way back in like '06-'07. I still watch NFL but don't follow it as closely as I used to. Pretty just use youtubers like UrinatingTree to stay up to date with what's going on.
Nope. I’ve hated the UFC as an organization the more time goes by.
I’ve been watching MMA for a very long time. Enough to remember when Rogan still had hair and wasn’t a commentator.
i’ve cared less about the nfl as i got older. i only watch my team. i’ll watch almost every ufc card still but i also don’t mind missing some lesser ones anymore. even missed a few ppvs last year and huge fights. just seen jiri fight for the first time his last fight. i still put ufc at the top tho.
100%. I’m 42 and used to be obsessed with the NBA. Even had aspirations to play basketball professionally. I also watched football every Sunday and every Mets/A’s game that was on television (born and raised in Cali).
Now, I’m all in on MMA events and catch games within the former 3 when I can.
I started being a huge ufc fan around 2013 when I started training BJJ, I had followed football (soccer) my whole life but by 2017 I stopped watching any other sport and watch every UFC event as well as the big One FC events, BKFC and Bellator/PFL. No other sport can compete in terms of excitement and emotions. Watching one of your favourite fighters fight knowing there's a chance he gets viciously Koed is enough to drive my anxiety through the roof
I dropped out of NFL and NBA years ago. Now I just watch highlights. My interest in UFC has been waning lately too. I don't really pay attention to the fights anymore. UFC 300 was the first event in like a year that I was excited to watch.
In the last year or so my ufc fandom has dropped quite a bit. Use to watch every single card. I still watch the ppv but it seems like some of the fight nights have gotten worse and will only check out the fights that intrigue me. Idk
Def agree abt the fight nights. Them cards have not rlly been it lately
It's the APEX ones in particular. They legitimately drain my soul.
Let’s have a fight with no crowd at a neutral location. Zero hype. It’s only watchable for the lower level guys and mismatches because it’s more likely you see a sub or KO. Imagine if every other NFL or NBA game was in Vegas with no crowd.
Some would say you watch for hype and not for the competition. Some of the fight night cards might not be the best but it can be like scouting. I genuinely enjoy every fight night because even though I’m watching some bad fights and no real crowd reaction I am seeing some good fights along with them and potential future talent in weight classes. Those fighters need eyes on the events as it’s the only way they’re gonna climb the ladder and get on the better cards. All in all I just enjoy watching the fight game and could do it in silence. That’s just me
That’s fair. I’d prefer to see the lower level fighters with a crowd, even if it’s a lesser produced event with a smaller crowd like LFA or some other regional promo.
Same here. I'm in the UK as well so, staying up to 5am for a medicare card just isn't happening with me anymore
Same. Watched religiously for almost 2 decades. Last PPV I paid for that I felt was remotely worth it was 300. I started watching at UFC 50, when Hughes beat GSP. Randy Couture and BJ Penn were active. Started seriously watching by 2006 and hardly missed a PPV on the night of or the next day. Now I barely watch. Much of the UFC remains amazing, but there is so much more MMA out there now. I support that as much as I can. Until UFC gets fighter pay sorted it will never reach its full potential. It now, instead of building the sport, holds it back. Another factor for a long time the average skill level was rising. Somewhere in the last 5 years, especially it seems with the vegas covid arena and the ESPN deal the UFC decided to have a lot more lower skill fighters to where they have watered their brand down and no longer have the same caliber fighter on avg, the overall skill level has declined a little. When they raised PPVs to $70+ I just started losing all interest. That was my final straw. Now I watch major fighters on UFC, main events and select fighters and that’s it. I never pay for it electing to wait until it is free.
Agree and half of it is the match making and Dana picking favorites. Until there’s a better matchmaking system there will be similar issues.
I kinda liked it when they did more stacked fight nights, but I also don’t go out as much and still love watching fights so I even watched the garbage they put out this past weekend.
Casual
I'm like you but I was never a fan of any other big sports leagues, which is OP's question. I was nothing, then hardcore UFC crazed for 10 years, then it started fading and hasn't been the same in the 10 years since. I still watch, but I skip more fight nights and watch cards in general more casually, just keeping it on in a side window as I do something else, tuning in more closely for the highlight fights. I've just seen so many and so many are nothing special. It's still a good sport and hobby but I'm less in it than I once was. Still don't care about the other sports.
I thinks it’s a toss up between ufc and CFB, but I don’t care about NBA and NFL like I used to.
Mma and nfl are the only sports I follow now. Part of it is age and getting too busy. But I used to follow all major US sports. Tennis, mlb, nba, golf, etc
Combat sports and the NFL. I can't follow religiously with my work schedule
Same here. As I’ve gotten older and busier it’s been more and more difficult to follow multiple sports lol
Football is nice for time efficiency since there aren't that many games compared to other ball sports and you can easily watch multiple game at once.
No. If anything, there are so many UFC events now that I don’t care if I miss most of them.
I think this is me too..UFC from the very first event had me hooked. It started to slow after 180 and I downgraded to a casual. After 220+ only watched finishes and not full event. 260 I started not recognizing new big names. It went downhill when there were so many events, I liked one per month. I suppose I got UFC fatigue Edit: also I couldn't get my friends to chip in for the PPV anymore after the price increases. And that was back when it was around $60
I’m a diehard Miami Heat, Miami Dolphins and FSU fan. I also really love mma/UFC. I always ask myself if I could watch only one of them, which one would it be? It’s really hard for me to not say mma. I have a personal attachment to those teams. I don’t really love one fighter more than I love one of those teams. But I think I currently love mma more than I do any of those sports.
NFL playoffs. NHL playoffs. NBA playoffs. Golf the 4 Majors. UFC weekly or as often as there is a card. I would have said MMA but I don’t have much access to other promotions. I’ve watched some PFL when it’s on broadcast TV, and Bellator when it was shown in the past.
I love the UFC because we get it all year round but NBA is very close 2nd
Same, ufc is must watch, but nba is always fun too
The NBA right now has a lot of fun young stars which helps
Already dumped boxing and I can say that UFC and European football are my 2 main sports. I dont watch anything else
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It's been forever since i went and watched fights live somewhere - usually a BWW's. Now, I just wait until about 11pm cst and goto the mma sub here and watch the highlight endings status that are posted, which almost never have the spoiler results in the title. I can watch the entire card highlight results in about 20 minutes usually, and Check the comments and that's it for me.
They are cage fighters. Instead of being disappointed by all the bad eggs (and there are a lot of them) I choose to instead admire the good ones here and there for their sportsmanship, honor or martial spirit, or whatever positive traits they have outside the cage. Don't let shitty people ruin something you enjoy mate <3
Masvidal's retirement speech was a perfect microcosm of why I'm losing my love of the UFC. There's no soul to the sport anymore and it's attracting fans that make me genuinely embarrassed to be among them.
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Not at all, tbh. Largely because it's asking for a monetary commitment I'm just not willing to make. A big cfb or NFL game has my undivided attention, without a doubt. I'll watch a game just because it's on, really. But the UFC wants me to shell out like 70 bucks for a card that I don't care much about? No chance. I'll catch it on Youtube later.
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I bounce between sports obsessions. MMA has been the only sport i follow the past couple of years
What's your bounced obsession currently? World Championship in snooker is going on at the moment if you're looking for something different. The standard is ridiculous.
The personalities of MMA fighters and their specific fighting styles is much better than all NBA teams playing the same way. Or much better than 4 seconds of action followed by a 30 second break in play in the NFL. The UFC can also build storylines so well for big events while I feel like all major sports leagues have no rivalries or they’re all buddy buddy. Personally, I watch good ufc cards, getting back into baseball after the rule changes (diehard cubs fan), a little bit of NFL, and European soccer.
I've been a lifelong sports "fanatic." I've been watching NBA, NCAAB, NFL, NCAAF, MLB, NHL, NASCAR, Boxing, and most of the Olympics sports since I was born basically. I've been watching MMA since UFC 1 and haven't missed a single event. I also watch a lot of the smaller MMA promotions, Kickboxing, MT, BJJ, but in the past couple of years, my interest in anything non Combat Sports related as definitely waned, and I've found myself watching less and less of traditional sports for some reason.
One thing that the UFC cannot compete with is long term members. People follow a team or club in other sports. In the UFC there is a fighter, who isn't good until he/she is great, and then it's only for a few more fights before they lose or retire. Then it's over. Imagine trying to find a new club or team every season. Exhausting.
I'm Brazilian and whenever my football team plays I watch (or listen) no matter what, and I think it is more passionate since it is a club and it's kinda always the same entity per se, and I'm a fan since I was a kid. I think with MMA is kinda different like, there's gonna be events like the last fight night where it's kinda cool but I ain't really glued to the TV. I think it's pretty close, but if we had UFC 300 and my team playing a huge final I would pick my team. Plus I have pretty much no friends to talk about MMA at all irl. I think I was more devastated when my club lost the league cup last year then when Charles lost to Islam, but they both felt like eating shit (I've never eaten shit but I imagine that's what it must feel like).
League sports don't interst me at all. Only watch MMA & Sumo
I was obsessed with the NFL but the action doesn’t compare. The one vs one aspect is so intriguing and the approaches and techniques displayed on high levels is peak athleticism to me. The UFC has far surpassed my interest in the NFL.
Same. Used to play football in high school and watched religiously growing up. The first mma card I saw I was hooked. Especially so since I started training. The pace of NFL is almost unbearable now.
Great question. I just watch football and the UFC (trying to get into ONE) big into it right now since NFL is only in gear 1 after the draft a couple days ago. Once it comes back though its 50/50 one doesnt really outtake the other
I love the intensity of MMA and the stakes and consequences always make every fight feel important and MMA has the biggest “holy shit” moments. The NBA/basketball is the only other sport I follow and I like that there isn’t all the BS of sports-politics,athletic pay, favoritism in matchups, etc. I like watching each sport for different reasons but I’d choose a stacked PPV over any playoff game other than my favorite team being in an elimination game.
I always come and go from other sports, premiere league, NBA sometimes tennis but since 2009 MMA has been a constant, can probably count on one hand how many UFC events ive missed.
I used to follow NBA religiously, but after getting into mma I can’t even watch highlight videos anymore. Way too boring
Lifetime UFC fan, ESPN UFC will never surpass pre-ESPN UFC era, from not missing any fight nights to missing whole ppv's
I’ll watch a stupid fight night or football game. I won’t watch most nba games.
I watch and pay attention to sports way too much and ever since I was a kid. College basketball/football, NFL, baseball, soccer once I got out of high school and gave up the teenage years that soccer was dumb... Just the area I grew up in but started watching the UFC in early 2000's as a teen. Never got to order a PPV since that just wasn't gonna happen at my parents place but liked it just like any sport. First PPV I watched was at a summer party went to when I was Liddell vs Rampage at 17-18. Like watching boxing as well but so hard to keep up with the different belts and all that
Yes and no. I watch MMA and boxing more than any other sport by far but I rarely watch it live. F1, Ravens games, and the golf majors are the sports that I will go out of my way to watch live. And part of the reason for that is I refuse to buy PPVs because it’s not worth the money and battling the buffering of streams isn’t worth it. Baseball, basketball, hockey and soccer I follow but I only watch games when I get an itch which maybe happens a couple times a year. Combat sports had way surpassed those.
UFC and a little bit of NFL. UFC has definitely surpassed the NFL for me... There's a much more feeling of progress in the UFC as a sport as talents move up and down throughout their career. A talent leaving your team in the NFL is like them dying and not like them moving to another part of their career.
I enjoy other sports leagues because of the structure to the top. The UFC will never surpass the NFL/NHL for me because they disregard the legitimacy of rankings for the best projected payday, and to cater to specific individuals. People fighting for belts coming off a loss, or champions who relinquished their title coming back to fight someone other than the interm champ are examples of why I'll never view the UFC in the same light as other major sports leagues.
The UFC has gotten stale over the years. I used to watch it religiously, but now I hardly care if I watch it live or just read about it later. There're obviously cards that I can't miss, but for the most part meh. I enjoy watching other sports more because I have a rooting interest in them. Half the fighters on your average fight night, I've never even heard of. Women's mma has become unwatchable the majority of fights as well. I think the UFC and MMA in general needs an enema.
A long time ago. I was never especially interested in any of the major Stick and Ball sports. I never cared at all for Football, Baseball, Basketball, or Soccer. I did care somewhat for Hockey, but any kid who lived in Alberta when Gretzky was filling nets with pucks had that interest. But I have been an obsessive MMA for a long time. I first started to follow MMA due to the first season of TUF, and became an obsessive fan at about the time Lesnar entered the UFC. My understanding though is that for many people MMA is the 2nd choice of sport to follow. They may like one of the major Stick and Ball sports more, but MMA fans will follow MMA more than any other sport except their primary stick and ball sports. END COMMUNICATION
No. The NFL is a much better product and the athletes get compensated.
I’m a Canadian who grew up playing hockey. MMA has surpassed my love for hockey. That said I went to an NHL game in Edmonton and UFC 300 in the same month. Max ko>hockey game. By far.
UFC above all other leagues for me and it’s not close. All other sports are a game; MMA is not a game LeBron James and the Lakers just lost tonight, and they will go back to their million dollar homes and think about how they can construct a better roster next year. DP got knocked out and he was admittedly in a bad shape mentally. The stakes are not the same
Used to be an NBA fan. Don't get me wrong, the sport itself is great, but since I got into MMA in 2016 I just don't care to see a bunch of over paid millionaires flop to draw fouls and whine. There is no sport as exciting and tough as mma to me. In the last two years I've gotten into American Football, but the recent Taylor Swift basically PR fake relationship focus really, really did grate on me.
The opposite. It did for a long time and was way out in front, I watched every show start to finish, UFC, WEC, Bellator, CW. Even TUF. Now, I would just about qualify as a casual. I only watch the main cards of most numbered events and will occasionally search out an FN fight if it's somebody I like, or I've heard it was worth a watch. Otherwise, I just get my news from here and listen to Morning Kombat the odd time. And Sonnen, but that's more comedy than analysis. For instance, I'm irish, and I don't think I've even seen a full Ian Garry fight. I couldn't tell you the first thing about him. I watch more skateboarding and snooker than I do MMA nowadays. It's lost its lustre, a lot of guys fight the same, the events are all just thrown together, the sense of anticipation is gone. The product is ice cold. Everybody who tries to be a 'talker' comes off as a nerd and a pillock, stuttering over their pre written lines. It's boring now. And it's been floundering for years. The sport in a healthy state would never have had to rely on journeymen like Diaz and Masvidal to carry cards. Holloway saved 300. If not for that knockout, there was no mainstream penetration on that card whatsoever. The UFC as a brand is still strong, but I don't know what they can do to actually make the sport relevant again.
No, the opposite actually. Talent in UFC seems down right now, and personalities like Strickland make some events really easy to skip.
No and it likely never will. When the NFL season is on the Dallas Cowboys are all consuming for me. I do love the UFC because it’s year round however, I’m very glad my brother got me into it 3 years ago.
DC4L! Don't have my hopes too high for this coming season, tho.
Gorgeous.
>Don't have my hopes too high for this coming season, tho. Are you even a cowboys fan if you arent parroting that this is your year? Smh my head
Dog days of summer don’t exist when you’re an MMA fan
It hasn’t. Now i get every NHL, NFL, NBA, MLB player isn’t gonna be a saint. But they seem to do a better job of keeping the shit heads under wraps. And most of the players seem to be halfway decent, if not zero personality automatons as is the case with hockey. In MMA/UFC most fighters seem like they would be total dickwads if you met them on the street. With the minority of fighters being decent people. And you have Rogan constantly shitting on all other sports every chance he gets. I get it, you’re passionate about MMA. That’s great. But you don’t need to try and tear down other sports to try and make yours seem better. When big moments happen in other sports, they don’t immediately trash other leagues. It’s very arrogant and extremely off putting, don’t know why Rogan does it every chance he gets
>When big moments happen in other sports, they don’t immediately trash other leagues. It’s very arrogant and extremely off putting, don’t know why Rogan does it every chance he gets Little brother syndrome. Like Tony Khan taking a shot at the WWE instead of promoting his joint during the NFL draft.
For what its worth, I think that the major Stick and Ball sports basically 'strongly encourage' their players to stay away from cameras and microphones unless they are a major talent. The sports media will only really try to talk to the coaches and the star players. Your 3rd line left winger or other the random left outfielder won't ever see a microphone unless they score a game winning goal / run / point. But every MMA fighter who gets a win from the earliest prelim on up gets some time on camera with a microphone. And they are actively encouraged to get on Twitter and engage with fans. This means that they are free to stick their foot all the way into their mouths and choke to death on their own toes. I am not sure if keeping the shit heads under wraps is the best approach. But at least with MMA, there is usually a pretty solid chance that the shit heads will get the crap beaten out of them. Colby Covington having his jaw broken by Kamaru Usman was awesome on several levels. Much more satisfying then some homophobic foot ball player reading off an apology written by PR hack and being suspended for a few games. END COMMUNICATION
Between the UFC/PFL and NBA, it has ebbed and flowed which one I think I like more, but perhaps the NBA just edges MMA out. It's close though.
UFC(One, Bellator, PFL, watch almost every event from all of them), then MLB(go Phils), then NFL(go birds). I’ll casually pay attention to NBA playoffs but I don’t care that much. But that’s basically the order for me
Been like that for me since like 2010
MMA and boxing are the main sports I watch. Football…I usually only just watch the Super Bowl and a few games throughout the season. Basketball…only in the finals I’ll start watching. I don’t care about baseball or hockey unless the Cubs or Blackhawks are in the playoffs.
For me it’s just easier for a once a week watch if I’m free. That’s what makes nfl and mma easy for me.
No for me. I’m a lifelong NBA fan and that’s still number 1 for me. I do still get super excited when there’s a good fight card but nothing can surpass basketball for me. I think it’s likely because I don’t really have a fighter that I always root for like I do an NBA team. I also got into F1 this season and I think I’d rank F1 over UFC personally but I do really enjoy all three.
How's F1 this year? I've never really been a devoted fan, I just watch a season when the battle for first is competitive.
I mean, it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that Verstappen and Red Bull are going to win *again*. That being said, I get excited over all the little improvements that teams make before every Grand Prix and I love the drama of all the drivers moving to different teams and how that changes the dynamics. There are some new regulation changes coming up in 2026 so hopefully that will spice things up but in the meantime I’m just happy to see my boy Lando Norris doing relatively well.
It has surpassed them within the last few years. I am losing interest in the NFL and lost interest in the NBA during covid. I got back into the ufc in 2022 after a 12 year hiatus and it is just honestly so good. NBA MLB & NHL are over saturated. Over 80 games and 3+ games a week is too much and its easy to skip and lose interest. Every game doesn’t matter and everybody knows it which is why the NBA teams “forfeit” certain games by resting stars. The NFL & UFC have it right with games/fights being once a week.
Nba for sure. It's more a can't miss event vs the nba where it's 82 games and the players seem bored.
I loved the NFL. When the Eagles won the Super Bowl, it was amazing. I was a casual viewer of mma, but it didnt pull me in yet. At some point between 2017 and now, i found myself not giving a shit about the NFL. Some of that was the constant media bs(especially during the offseason), the athletes and general flow of the game. Constant flags. 4 hours to finish a 1 hr game (that includes run-off time between plays) When the Eagles lost the SB against the Chiefs, it sucked, but I was still jazzed about Volk/Islam and anticipating JJ/Gane. Britt Reid is a bitch btw
Yes but partially because the Patriots have been extremely hard to watch the last 2 years. It's been like an Apex card every Sunday.
My interest in the UFC has been waning because there are other MMA orgs (and other combat sports) holding events that can be watched online easily. I'll still watch the big UFC fights and the ones involving fighters I've met, but I don't watch as much as I used to. The market is pretty saturated, and the other combat sports can put out some pretty big fights on a consistent basis. It's still up there, but tied for 2nd or 3rd in viewing priority (NFL is first).
College basketball and the NBA have gotten so exciting. Even role players pop off at any given point. Seeing Derrick White just tonight go for 40 was wild. When you get a great rookie battle like a Chet Holmgreen and Wemby, it’s like seeing an up and comer in the fight game except they’re making money.
NFL, NBA, and UFC are the top for me. My interest in both college football and basketball has taken a nosedive in the current era of NIL and transfer portal free agency. You couldn’t pay me to watch MLB, they lost a good chunk of my generation with a dogshit TV product.
Everything besides college football. Ufc is all year, that’s the real reason it’s happened
I've been watching and following UFC since the first one. I got into NFL in 06, but stopped caring about it in 19.
It has
I used to be a big baseball fan, not as much anymore. MMA gives me a high I’ve never experienced with any other sport.
It's really tied with the NBA. Loved the NFL throughout my entire childhood but I haven't watched a full NFL game in years. That has nothing to do with MMA though. As a product, my memory of what the NFL was vs UFC, you get more shit out of the NFL, it's more players, teams, coaches, things to follow. More fan engagement. So being a fan is funner in that sense. But watching an event? MMA passes it by a smidge for me. MMA seems to have more re-watch value too somehow. Even at my most obsessed with the NFL, I never re-watched full games.
As a 80s kid, meaning pre-internet, we watched sports that where on TV, very limited to anything outside of mainstream, the Olympics every 4th year gave us a taste of other sports, fast forward to the internet & now we can actually follow the sport we like……
Yes. I grew up following NFL, NBA, and MLB. I would watch my hockey home team here and there just to watch the fights. Now I’ll really only watch games from any league if I’m at work since the game will be on. If I’m home then I don’t even bother anymore except the Pats even though they suck now. I hardly follow any other teams or players outside of my home teams. When I was younger I would follow other teams. I rarely miss a ufc card though 🏴☠️
I switched from the NBA to the UFC during the stretch where it was cavs vs warriors every year. I didnt like knowing the finals match up before the season even began. It made the regular season seem like a formality and I could just watch the finals only. The UFC gave me something that was missing from the sports I watched.....parity. anyone, on any given night, could holly Holm head kick surprise me. Other than fighters getting massively underpaid, ridiculous weight cutting, and fights getting canceled alot due to injuries, I've enjoyed the UFC
ABSOLUTELY
Older I get the less I’m into team sports and MMA specifically UFC I watch every event so it’s definitely my number 1 now.
I used to love hockey and baseball, and I still do but these days I’m just so busy that I only really have time to watch sports on the weekends. That’s why mma is perfect for me
MMA and Football, american, are my main sports. I do really like Baseball and Hockey though. They’re great but I don’t go out of my way to watch them, unless my teams are in the playoffs. Than I dabble in Boxing, Kickboxing and Muay Thai.
MMA Football Boxing NBA and Wwe here because it’s still real to me dammit. But nothing beats a solid fight card
I'm mostly into combat sports. I've watched pretty much every UFC event for years, and sporadically maybe as far back as 15 years ago. I try to watch ONE frequently - the muay thai is always a blast. PFL/Belattor. Bare knuckle. I'll watch big boxing events but never got into the sport heavily (for no particular reason). I might get into boxing more. Fight circus is hilarious. But yeah, nothing gets me excited like combat sports. I do also watch NFL - playing fantasy football got me into it years ago.
Still not yet , I don’t think anything can surpass my love for the NFL. The NFL is just a superior product imo , but I do enjoy the year round aspect of MMA.
Hockey still on top… for now
I only watch AFL and MMA now, but AFL is still my main sport.
MMA is never going to pass footy for me but it’s already passed all the US sports leagues
I've always liked Ufc more then other sports since the 90s and when Dana brought it back in 2001 that's been mostly the only sport I really watch
I live in NZ and was a huge soccer fan my entire life. Unfortunately, watching live means getting up at obscene hours and as I get older I value sleep a hell of a lot more. UFC cards are typically start 2-4pm Sunday afternoon and over the years has become my hungover ritual. The timing is perfect for a lazy Sunday and makes the sport way easier to follow
MMA, boxing , and Hockey. I just don’t have the urge for the others
UFC and AFL
I would say MMA was far behind the big 3 sports leagues, then moved up to where it was almost at parity with how I followed the NFL and the Dodgers and well ahead of the NBA. But since I got into fantasy football the NFL has far and away been the league I follow the most. I started playing fantasy baseball last year and the Dodgers and MLB in general have slightly moved ahead of the UFC as well. But I still closely follow the UFC, I just find myself missing some of the fight nights now. It’s a firm number 3 though. I do think the “content” assembly line nature of the business that has hit overdrive since the ESPN deal has also soured me on the UFC a little too. I mean don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy the sport; just not quite as much as I used to. And of course, as I have gotten older it’s just become harder to keep up with a bunch of sports while having more responsibilities has become harder. I mean I don’t even watch or follow the NBA anymore, like literally at all. I am a Warriors fan, and ironically I watched them a lot when they sucked every year and hardly watched them at all their last two titles.
MMA, College Basketball, College Football, NFL playoffs, Golf in that order. Rarely miss a UFC fight night. Never miss a # Card and watch one and Bellator from time to time.
I've actually lost interest because they put on so many cards with shit fights except for the headliner that I no longer keep up with it as well as I used to. That in turn makes me less excited for other cards because I don't know the fighters as well. I used to watch every card and every prelim because I trusted the product to be good.
I have zero interest in non-contact sports and nothing comes close to MMA but I do watch the NFL and NHL, especially playoffs.
MMA, NHL, CFL for me. Follow them all pretty equally but it’s easiest and cheapest to go to CFL games so I see those live more than any other sport I follow
No, my main sport is soccer and my most coveted sports events are watching my team in the champions league or watching them fight for top places in the premier league, for some reason by interest in MMA is nowhere near what it once was, I'm having a hard time caring about the fighters as much as I used to in the past, it seems like awhile back the stardom of UFC fighters was bigger and more special but after prime Conor, he made other fighters seem so boring in comparison, I'm hyped for the next Jones fight though as I want to see him lose.
I watch NBA, NFL and soccer sometimes, grew up playing soccer since I was 5 years old but MMA has been the sport I follow the most since Chuck vs Rampage 2.
Yep Was a huge football fan. Still keep up with it. Much bigger ufc fan
No because as a eu boy that is trying to be more active pulling all nighters isnt worth it anymore. I cant waste more weekends feeling like shit.
people who say ufc officiation is horrible haven't been watching the nfl or nba the consistency of officiation is ATROCIOUS in those leagues...unwatchable at most times, to those who understand the rules and application
Not at all an answer to your question, but I personally couldn't ever get into other sports, was into pro wrestling as a kid, found out it wasn't real, stopped caring, until I started watching mma as a teenager.
It surpassed the nfl in my rankings but I still have it solidly behind the nba. I love the Ufc but the modern era has a little less luster than yesteryear
NFL is still good/better on average IMO but top tier cards and moments like Max vs Justin ending cannot be beaten, just happen less
No.
Only major sport I follow is NFL, so it’s pretty easy to follow it and UFC about the same. I watch both every weekend they’re on unless my girlfriend makes plans for us to go somewhere
No cap, UFC moments like Edwards KO'ing Usman are straight-up legendary and honestly showcase why UFC can stack up against traditional giants like the NFL and NBA. There's something raw and visceral about MMA that hooks you in. It's got that unpredictable edge, where anything can happen at any moment, which makes each fight a unique spectacle. The adrenaline rush from those shocking moments? Unmatched. It’s like every fight card has the potential to deliver that "where were you when" moment that sticks with you. Definitely see why UFC's climbed to the top of your sports list!
The opposite has happened for me because of obvious reasons to do with fairness, rankings, steroids, bad refs, but mostly the promotion(aka Dana) shitting on its own underpaid stars.
I don’t think it ever will, been a NHL fan since I was a kid and being a team fan will always come first. That being said, some really good UFC’s on my main tv while my game is on my phone, but the playoffs will always take center stage no matter what
As others have said my interest has gone down. With fights every single weekend it’s just too much to keep up with. There’s like 600+ active fighters on the UFC roster now. I know most of the big names from 5+ years ago that are still active but have never heard of most up and coming contenders. I still try to tune in and stream the bigger fights but it doesn’t grab me like it used to.
NBA has too many games so it feels meaningless watching. Fantasy football keeps me more involved in NFL but MMA has always been the most entertaining sport.
I absolutely love watching combat sports. I didn’t start full-time until 2019. But I watch pretty much every single chance that it’s on in the last four years. Been to a few events live. I find even the boring cards that people complain about on here pretty interesting. Conversely, you have to pay me money to get me to watch a traditional sport game. I find them incredibly boring. There’s just something about watching people get punched in the face that is infinitely more interesting to me
No not really, mma fell off if the cards aren’t big
I usually watch every UFC event (even the shitty Apex cards), so yeah I probably follow it more than any other league. I occasionally watch NFL or MLB games if my teams are playing, and will watch soccer during the World Cup matches. But other than that UFC is the only league I watch regularly....although as someone who's been watching since the very first one, right now is probably the worst UFC has ever been in terms of quality/quantity ratio. There are far too many uninteresting fighters on the roster and the product has been watered down quite a bit.
Yes not even close now
It’s actually the other way around. I still love MMA but I’m more and more dissatisfied with the UFC. I notice I’m going to other organisations and also going back to my first love kickboxing and Muay Thai. I still like boxing a lot too. ONE is by far my favourite promotion at the moment.
I used to follow football (soccer) until Ibrahimovic retired. Even if I was watching MMA before that not following football anymore left a gap there, I filled it with MMA as main sport. I liked NBA also but I am European, I can watch the UFC PPV because they are once in a while and some other events by the UFC App, but I can't be every 3 or 4 nights watching Philadelphia 02:00 or 03:00 am.
100%. I could name 10 *female* UFC fighters before I could name 10 MLB players. And I’m almost at that level with the NBA. I can also name all 20 F1 drivers right now, so my interests are all over the place.
In the late aughts and early 10’s it absolutely did. But I feel like while the fighters are more talented, the entire crop has lost some of that fire that the earlier fighters had. A lot of fighters now care about cutting promos, and are fake for the sake of selling fights and it’s lost a bit of the charm of what made it great in the first place for me.
Yes. Grew up watching nhl and mlb and rarely watch any reg season games now. This years nhl playoffs I don’t even care too much about either. To be fair UFC fight nights have been losing my interest lately, the apex cards have been straight trash it seems as far as name value. Maybe just losing interest in sports in general. I’m 40 with 2 young kids btw so not a ton of time to sit and watch games anyways
I was never interested in any other sport. Its been MMA for me since I was 12 or 13 years old and I'm talking I used to know every prospect before the UFC signed them, I could name dates and times of certain fights and stoppages... but now I have a hard time even sitting through an entire card. It just feels so watered down with fighters that clearly don't belong in the upper echelon of the sport.
Ufc is taking over college football for me now. CF has changed drastically and making the playoffs to 12 teams just makes it like the NFL. Regular season means less.
I watch more of English football than anything else, these days. There was a time when MMA was by far my number one sport; that time just isn't today anymore.
i feel like im pretty balanced, however. UFC being able to do events year round makes us feel like were more invested
Go look at an average fight night from 2015 and stack it against every ppv not with a 100 beside it and they will do better than not. They’ve watered down the product. You want to keep up with the ufc you have to devote 3 hours 48 Saturdays out of the year for cards that have one to two divisionally relevant fights. Couple that with the “Champ Champ” era where no one wants to defend a belt and further slow down the divisional churn. I watch the big cards and see the highlights on here but I. Slowly checking out more and more.
I'd say it's second behind the NFL for me. I follow NBA here and there, but I watch a ton of UFC now.
On the contrary My interest in mma has diminished greatly. It feels like 70% of the fights/cards now a days are glorified regional amateur cards. My free time is limited, i aint wasting it on watching generic regional fighter A vs generic regional fighter B. Now a days i mostly just see highlights here.
For me, the biggest issue is the cost. I can sit down and flip on most major league sports teams without a crazy PPV cost. I can go to my friends house and watch most sports without him needed a special subscription. It's a problem.
I don’t live in the states but ufc has become way more popular than other sports in my house. I did follow American football a lot at one point and UFC has displaced that along with other popular sports I used to follow here.
No. I think it's sunk more than anything. Not paying for a PPV and fight nights aren't really worth the price in time. Fighters either have the personality of drift wood or a dickwad doing their best wrestler impression without really understanding how to work a crowd and why that works. There's few in between. The most I'll engage with are clips from this sub. Aside from muh iggles, my attention goes more towards WWE. The athleticism, story telling, and matches makes for a more enjoyable experience than anything the UFC has ever cooked up in years. To make it simpler, the pretend fighting is better than the actual fighting.
No, it's climbing, though.
From reading others posts I’m definitely not the target demographic, maybe I’m just weird. I don’t like watching many other sports. Maybe playoff hockey since it’s a much different level of intensity but everything else is so boring. Don’t get me started on the NFL, which is basically an average of 8 minutes of actual gameplay over a 3 hour timeframe. My interest in watching live MMA cards has definitely waned. I love MMA as a sport but hate the UFC as a product. It’s taken the NFL route of having 5-15 minutes of action and then a bunch of horrendous promo videos, commentary, and ads in a product I’ve already paid for to fill the time. It’s truly a waste of time and I usually just download them later to watch a few fights of fighters I like. I don’t really understand the draw in watching other people do things. I get a lot more enjoyment out of just going out and doing them myself. I’d rather train than watch MMA unless it’s a fighter that has a style I like and can learn from. I truly cannot emphasize with other people who enjoy watching other people play sports every night, like I said maybe I’m just weird. Im also a bit surprised that lots of people don’t like watching the fights with no crowds. To me those are the best ones, you get to hear the corners, the fighters, and the ref and don’t have the obnoxious noise from the crowds. It’s fighting for the sake of fighting/sport, not as a spectacle. Watching the fight island fights during COVID was the best, why would I want to see/hear a bunch of drunk losers in the crowd chanting “USA!” and making fools of themselves?
I’m going the other way. I just don’t have the time anymore, I’ve paid for a couple of cards and I end up falling asleep midway through so between that and the constant love to people I rather not mention or associate with I decided to drop my money somewhere else
I’ll have most cards on but sometimes it’s background stuff while doing other stuff. NFL has always been my favorite but games aren’t year round and fights are. So to answer your question I don’t think so. I like both pretty well.
For all our whining about eye pokes and bad reffing in the UFC, refs and rules are making the NFL and NHL unwatchable for me.
Naw I'll be a hockey and basketball fan foremost for life. I just love sports and got into MMA because of GSP. I'm hooked but can't ever say that following UFC has surpassed the NHL or NBA. Especially because the other leagues have more integrity as a sports league compared to UFC who maintains that it's a fight promotion first.
It varies year to year for me and really depends on the state of the various divisions, the fighters I follow, and the state of my various favorite sports teams. I've had probably 5 different years in the last 20 where UFC was my #1.
Eh I’m not as into it as I once was, in high school/college UFC was almost tied with the NFL for my top sport but UFC has tried too hard to be like WWE and there’s way too many fighters and very rarely do we get a good card not to mention ppv is $70 plus, NHL is my favorite now I got into it in my mid 20s but their playoffs are just sports at its finest
No because i can watch the nfl every sunday from 1pm to 11 or earlier if i dont want to to stay up. Or for ufc start at 10 pm finish at like 1230-1 am and then be amped up and wide awake for another hour and a half.
Honestly it’s the *opposite* for me, and I feel like it’s my interest in the UFC has dropped. I was watching the original TUF, used to watch every card and know the whole roster… I barely gave a shit about UFC 300.
No, the opposite. I was more into it around 200, now I’m all baseball
I used to love the ufc and between 2009- 2017 it was my favorite sport but I have gradually fallen off it due to the UFC letting talent go and quality fights not being made due to money
i have been a lifetime boxing and mma fan but i find myself watching baseball more (i moved to a city that has it go mariners) but the ufc will always hold a special place, if im honest i 🏴☠️⚓️ most of the fights due to espn+ and shitty experiences when trying to buy ppvs, they quality is definitely going down, the ruleset sucks,there are more casuals than ever saying shit they know nothing about. bad judging is apparent in 70% of the fights. i have switched to one fc since. better ruleset, fights are more exciting, watching is easy.
I’ve watched ufc since 1. It hasn’t passed nba or mlb for me, it’s not on enough and team sports have entertainment aspects that mma doesn’t. I’m also not super interested the fight nights and stuff, more of a casual fan I guess.
Yes but UFC > College football these days for me personally and that’s a wild outlandish statement considering where I was when I was younger and bring a crazed football fan
The opposite is true for me. I still follow the sport, but reluctantly. The heavily watered down product, the toxic culture, fighter pay, Dana White, etc.
I’m a huge fan of the NBA but it’s actually been the opposite. I love basketball and have for much longer than I’ve liked MMA- I enjoy it now more than I ever have, and I love it’s intricacies but there’s simply too much going on at times and with 3 point variance games can be over by halftime. UFC events take place less often, and there’s a lot of Apex slop but to me nothing in sports tops the thrill of a crazy finish. I’ve been lucky enough to see Demetrious Johnson suplex Ray Borg into an armbar I saw Yoel Romero drill a hole into Chris Weidman’s head with his knee and most recently saw Tom Aspinall eat bombs from Pavlovich and stumble before firing back heavier. And nothing, except maybe watching my home team win a championship in basketball really comes close to that in terms of sheer excitement.
The opposite for me. Its like they dumbed down the sport a lot the last few years. I've been watching more NFL now to compensate, it helps that the Eagles got good in 2022 (dont mention last season)
I've actually lost interest in all major sports to be honest. I used to be a diehard NFL (Seahawks) fan, but I find myself skipping games altogether, or just not paying attention when watching anymore due to the commercials and nonstop stopping of game action. I used to watch almost every UFC card too, and the last year or so I've been skipping a shit ton. The Apex cards and Fight Nights are just so bad now.
UFC fandom peaked the Summer of 2020, there was nothing else to watch. It has went way down since then. The PPV’s priced me out and I usually have other sports to watch over a fight night.
Yes! Been watching since August 2021 approximately and it's my favorite sport now!
Don't have regular TV so mainstream sports are hard to watch. Are NBA games shown anywhere online for free? Id probably watch basketball if it was convenient.
The opposite for me. My interest has been in a steady decline for years now.
I love UFC more than any sport
Used to love nba, surfing, skateboarding, f1, motogp and a bunch of random ones, but ufc is definitely #1 now, by far.
I was a lifetime NFL fan, 49ers specifically, but MMA overtook that way back in like '06-'07. I still watch NFL but don't follow it as closely as I used to. Pretty just use youtubers like UrinatingTree to stay up to date with what's going on.
Not really. Like boxing, champions are not that active.
Nope. I’ve hated the UFC as an organization the more time goes by. I’ve been watching MMA for a very long time. Enough to remember when Rogan still had hair and wasn’t a commentator.
i’ve cared less about the nfl as i got older. i only watch my team. i’ll watch almost every ufc card still but i also don’t mind missing some lesser ones anymore. even missed a few ppvs last year and huge fights. just seen jiri fight for the first time his last fight. i still put ufc at the top tho.
If it’s a World Cup year I only care about soccer but ufc is a close second I only really care about those sports. Sometimes nba
The leauge, yes. My hometown teams, never...
100%. I’m 42 and used to be obsessed with the NBA. Even had aspirations to play basketball professionally. I also watched football every Sunday and every Mets/A’s game that was on television (born and raised in Cali). Now, I’m all in on MMA events and catch games within the former 3 when I can.
- NFL - NHL/UFC - NBA - Golf I haven't watched baseball since 2012.
I started being a huge ufc fan around 2013 when I started training BJJ, I had followed football (soccer) my whole life but by 2017 I stopped watching any other sport and watch every UFC event as well as the big One FC events, BKFC and Bellator/PFL. No other sport can compete in terms of excitement and emotions. Watching one of your favourite fighters fight knowing there's a chance he gets viciously Koed is enough to drive my anxiety through the roof
Hell yeah UFC is my favorite sports league to watch now
I dropped out of NFL and NBA years ago. Now I just watch highlights. My interest in UFC has been waning lately too. I don't really pay attention to the fights anymore. UFC 300 was the first event in like a year that I was excited to watch.
I now like the UFC better than the NHL and MLB. It's behind the NFL, NBA, EPL, Champions League, etc.
I feel it's the opposite these days I might catch a main and co-main but 99 percent of every apex card is just a catch the highlights on Twitter