It’s gotten ugly with the UFC as controversies stack up, and the timing couldn’t be worse

It would have been inconceivable at lunchtime on Sept. 8 to think there was even the tiniest bit of concern about the UFC’s position in the sports landscape. It was a massive juggernaut, and it was only increasing. It was — and still is — in the midst of a lengthy sell-out streak for full arena shows. It set gate records every day.

It was attracting new sponsors who pumped millions into the company’s coffers. Its primary source of talent acquisition, “Dana White’s Contender Series,” had been such a hit ESPN plans to move it in a prime position on free-to-air TV for the 2023 season.

Now?

It seems that Sept. 8 lunchtime seemed a long way away.

UFC 279’s news conference was held in the middle of the afternoon on Sept. 8, at MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas. It proved to be a complete disaster. Backstage fights started between UFC president and a few of the fighters. Dana White was forced to cancel it.

He said that UFC was a disaster because they didn’t anticipate trouble and then did not have enough security. Khamzat Chimiev, one of the organizers of the brawls, was severely overweight the next day. This forced the card to be rearranged.

Instead of Nate Diaz in main, Chimaev ended up facing Kevin Holland in co-main. Tony Ferguson faced Diaz in the main.

That event, however, seemed to be the beginning of a series of issues over the next four months that has, indeed, raised concerns about the UFC’s standing in the sports world.

One of the most popular players in the team, Diaz, signed his contract after Ferguson’s defeat and was made a free agent.

For the UFC and Endeavor, the next four months were, quite frankly, terrible. A gambling investigation is underway. Two Canadian provinces briefly stopped allowing bets to be taken on UFC fights. The Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) suspended James KrauseDue to his role in this case, he was recognized as a prominent coach/gym-owner. The UFC banned its fighters from training In his gym.

Darrick Minner, who was coach by Krause lost in the first round of a Nov. 5 fight in Las Vegas Shayilan nuerdanbieke won in just over a minute. Krause and Minner didn’t know Minner had sustained a knee injury in the prior fight. It turned out that the betting lines had changed drastically and that there was a lot of money on Nuerdanbieke to win the first round.

Minner was cut by the UFC and his suspension was imposed by the NAC. Jeff Molina, who was Krause-trained, was also expelled by the NAC. The reason for that has not been made public yet, but will on Tuesday when the commission meets to consider whether to extend Molina’s suspension.

The biggest bad news for the UFC and Endeavor came when video of White slapping his wife, Anne, on New Year’s Eve at a nightclub in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, surfaced on TMZ. White released a video on Jan. 2 that showed him slapping Anne, his wife. He also said that he had lied about hitting his wife. White asked for forgiveness and asked for people to not defend him.

Significantly, though, White has faced no punishment From the UFC or Endeavor. He said following UFC Vegas 67 on Saturday at Apex in Las Vegas that though there have been no repercussions in his professional life, “the only thing that matters is my personal life.”

If that wasn’t enough bad news, the UFC has some good news. UFC on Saturday released heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou Ngannou was unable to reach an agreement with the UFC on a new contract. The UFC released all its rights and Ngannou became an unrestricted agent free to sign anywhere he wants.

The timing couldn’t be worse. The UFC’s deal with ESPN The UFC’s contract expires at year’s end. ESPN has greatly benefited from ESPN’s UFC participation.

Even before all of the recent controversies, you didn’t hear White talking about exceptional pay-per-view sales when he was discussing all of the great things the UFC was accomplishing in terms of ticket and sponsorship sales and gate revenue.

The UFC pay-per-views are regularly doing far better than boxing’s pay-per-views, but PPV sales are down everywhere, a sign of the economy. It is difficult for the UFC, whose biggest seller Conor McGregor has not fought since July 10, 2020 and not having won since January 18, 2020, to achieve the huge PPV numbers.

As the UFC talks with ESPN for its new broadcast agreement, it will likely be as if the waters were infested by sharks.

White’s domestic violence case and the gambling controversy are the biggest issues for the company. Both Diaz and Ngannou are not in their primes, as fighters move on and off. They’re on the back nine of their careers and while Ngannou probably still has more time as a viable high-level competitor than Diaz does, the UFC isn’t likely to feel their losses.

Diaz is possible to return to UFC after going through his numerous offers.

But the gambling problems and White’s domestic violence case are tougher problems to get past. White’s wife slapping is a sign that some companies won’t want to be associated with the UFC. It could be potential sponsors, or it could be an existing broadcast partner. But that is still possible.

These are the company’s biggest threats to its success since its meteoric rise to mainstream sports status after the creation of “The Ultimate Fighter” in 2005.

While the UFC has made it through some difficult waters and survived, it has rarely faced problems as serious as this. It might take some hard work from the UFC to make it to the other end of this mess. As White himself has admitted, his reputation is in tatters, and that’s not going to change anytime soon. But for UFC and Endeavor itself, it’s going to take some brilliant work to bring it back to where it was at lunchtime on Sept. 8.