“MMA is in a recession,” claims Ariel Helwani, warning that the UFC’s slowdown could drag the entire sport down with it, because, simply put, there’s no true alternative to the behemoth that is the UFC. Dana White, the architect—or perhaps the adoptive father—of modern MMA, has been relentless in keeping his empire atop the food chain. Yet, the growing dominance of international fighters over American stars may be working against the promotion, or so believes former UFC fighter Brendan Schaub.
While speaking to his audience on the Thiccc Boy podcast, Brendan Schaub raised concerns about the United States having minimal impact on the UFC, despite producing a large number of talented fighters: “That’s just how it goes, man. Boy, tough for Americans, isn’t it right? Now you got Jon Jones, who barely ever fights. If Suga loses, Merab… Bo Nickal lost. Yeah, Americans are not thriving. Yeah, Tom Aspinall—British.”
He further added, “Okay, okay, for you guys, does it really matter? Yeah, imagine watching the NFL and all the top quarterbacks were, like, Dagestani. Would you be like, ‘Yeah, I love the NFL?’ You’d just be like, ‘Alright, man,’ you know? It’s like… f—, you know? It’s tough stuff, boy.”
Are Jon Jones and Sean O’Malley the only hope for the UFC right now? It certainly looks that way. UFC CEO Dana White has been trying his best to book Jon Jones for a fight, but the heavyweight champion, who is also in the final chapter of his career, doesn’t seem eager to return to action, at least for now. As of now, Jones is in Thailand to participate as a coach along with Nate Diaz in a Russian counterpart of Dana White’s TUF.
On the other hand, Sean O’Malley has been booked to face bantamweight contender Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 316. All the cards now seem to be in ‘Suga’s’ hands to bring back the UFC’s star power, but the odds appear to be stacked against him. Why? Well, many believe that Dvalishvili will successfully defend his title as he did against Umar Nurmagomedov.
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The lack of any dominant U.S. star has seriously hampered the business of the promotion, which holds approximately 554 fights annually — a reality we’ve already witnessed. For instance, the UFC 315 gate was a meagre $6 million, the lowest among all UFC pay-per-view events this year.
A closer analysis of the UFC and MMA landscape gives us a clearer picture: the UFC has 80 to 90 percent of the world’s greatest fighters under contract. So, why the decline in American stars? The answer lies in the UFC’s ongoing push for global expansion. In 2024, the UFC put on 51 live shows, including 10 Contender Series episodes. Global expansion is helping the promotion to pool talent across the world, but concerns are being raised for the plummeting UFC numbers as well as the recession in MMA. Let’s have a look at what Ariel Helwani has to say.
Dana White was alerted, as Ariel Helwani claims MMA might slow down for a bit
Over the past few years, MMA has been the fastest-growing major sport in the USA, and much of its success can be attributed to Dana White. However, after riding the wave of glory for years, the momentum may be slowing down — at least, that’s what Ariel Helwani believes. After Helwani made the recession comments, he was called out by the MMA community, who accused him of being biased against the UFC CEO, Dana White.
At the start of this month, Helwani in one of his montage ascertained that he never called out the UFC but the entire sport in general, “I saw some people taking a shot at me over the weekend, like I have a dog in this,” said Helwani on Monday’s edition of The Ariel Helwani Show.
He further added, “It’s so crazy how it gets painted this way. ‘Oh, you said the UFC is in a recession.’ I never said the UFC is in a recession. MMA, there is a big difference. I am talking about the business. And when I talk about the business, I’m talking about the fact that there aren’t options. And by the way, I even saw a tweet from Ali Abdelaziz, my number one hater, saying the same thing. This is a man who is in the business.”
It’s hard to argue with Helwani, especially considering that the UFC is indeed struggling to generate strong pay-per-view numbers due to high pricing. Overall, the sport might be experiencing a slowdown, but is it in a recession? Not at the moment.
The post “Americans Are Not Thriving”: UFC Veteran Sounds the Alarm for Dana White as Jon Jones, Sean O’Malley Remain the Last Hope appeared first on EssentiallySports.