With a mandate to grow revenue streams while paying down the massive loan required to purchase the UFC, the organization's new ownership group has quickly and clearly seized upon a strategy of identifying and pushing potential stars with urgency.
It is how we ended up with a network television card promoting 22-year-old Paige VanZant in a main event, 20-year-old Sage Northcutt in the co-main event, and 25-year-old Mike Perry, in just his third UFC bout.
Saturday's UFC Fight Night on Fox was designed to set up the future, but best-laid plans seldom follow the script, and for the UFC, this one turned into disaster. If it was written on paper, it's headed straight for the shredder.
Perry showed his inexperience by failing to make any adjustments in a clear decision loss to Alan Jouban. Northcutt flashed his usual bursts of explosion but ultimately succumbed to a Mickey Gall rear-naked choke. And VanZant barely got her engine started, getting choked out by Michelle Waterson in less than a round.
The 0-of-3 night should serve as another reminder that star-making isn't just an inexact science; it's alchemy.
Welcome to the fight business, WME-IMG.
Welcome to the big-time, Paige, Sage and Mike.
Too much, too soon? Maybe, although who will ever admit it?
"No, I was meant for the spotlight and I'm going to continue to be in the spotlight," VanZant said in the event's post-fight press conference. "I will be back and I'm gonna have the belt one day. I'm 22 years old. I have a long time. I have the best team in the world. And it's come together as the perfect gym for me, so I'll be back."
Sure, she'll be back in presence, but any momentum she's had is clearly gone after losing—and getting dominated—in two out of her last three.
Age may be a factor in these struggles, but focus might be, too. VanZant may have enough energy to go do reality shows and potentially chase movie roles, but every day she spends out of the gym is another day the rest of the division is training to catch up to her or surpass her.
Anyone who watches with a halfway-educated eye can see the holes in her game that must be addressed. This is a time when the most improvements can be made. The mind is young and adaptable. The body is fresh and pliable. At this point of her career, she's more tough than skillful, which is a perfectly fine starting point for a career, but a no (wo)man's land for a UFC athlete.
And still, VanZant said that she will consider other options outside of MMA as opportunities present themselves. That's her right, and she should certainly contemplate offers that may enrich her both financially and spiritually in ways that fighting can't. But for her to believe she can alternate between two demanding worlds and ascend toward the championship is youthful naivete.
There isn't a single example of any high-level fighter who's successfully done that, let alone one who has done it on the way up the ladder.
Northcutt and Perry looking similarly green in their losses, yet after all that, the UFC really shouldn't be faulted for its approach.
At some point, you have to put the machine behind potential stars.
MMA is a star-run business, and you can't get the masses behind anyone without pushing them out into the world to see how they're received.
VanZant and Northcutt had already begun receiving a push under the previous regime, so last night was simply a continuation. Perry was added to the mix due in equal parts to his early UFC performances (two knockouts) and the kind of brash, subversive traits that often click in a counterculture sport.
While the night is definitively a setback for UFC, there are silver linings.
Because they matched their favored sons (and daughters) with reasonably marketable opponents, the victors got the rub.
Waterson came off looking great, first by dominating VanZant and then by being gracious and charming in victory, noting that her daughter told her she'd be her favorite fighter upon winning, so she couldn't lose.
Gall has been particularly adept at drawing attention to himself, talking his way into a UFC contract, parlaying that into a shot against CM Punk, then engineering a matchup with Northcutt. But on a tough night for UFC, even he had his first whiff, saying he was going to move down to lightweight and calling out Dan Hardy, a career welterweight who has not fought in four years. Later, he compounded the mistake by breaking the fourth wall and talking about his "character" as a "bad guy."
Still, at least he's been proactive, which is exactly the point.
Young fighters should be taking note of the UFC's approach and of the fighters they are getting behind. Anyone who makes the right kind of noise gets noticed. Most who raise their hands for fights get called upon. There is a path to writing your own ticket now, or at least having a more active hand in charting your path.
On Saturday night, the UFC lost its Paige and Sage gamble, but it showed it will aggressively push the talent it identifies as potential stars. For the fighters, that's meaningful information. For the ones who play their hands right, the line to the top has just gotten shorter.
