In MMA, like life, change is inevitable – but are the right changes being made at the top?

As the Buddha said thousands of years ago, the only thing certain in life is change.

Currently, we are faced with one of the biggest and most drastic changes in our emerging sport of MMA. This affects to some extent every single person who has spent these last many years working in MMA, be it fighters, managers, trainers, what have you. Everyone is asking the same question: What now?

Joe Silva

The UFC built itself into the premier stage, league, employer or whatever else you may want to call it. Anyone involved in MMA in the last decade had one main focus: Try and get fighters into the UFC, and then keep them in and fight and accelerate them through the system that the UFC and its staff – like the legendary Joe Silva – created. And although there were many gripes and complaints along the way (there always are), fighters where making names and making a living, along with the professionals that supported them.

Every sport has people that succeed, as well as people that don’t succeed quite as much. But one thing can be said for any man or women that stepped up in that octagon: He or she had the hopes and the real possibility of becoming a star! We can come up with name after name. It could be done! All it depended on was going in there and putting on – and winning – great fights.

Not exactly an easy accomplishment, of course, because the competition is stiff. As the UFC proudly states, the UFC features the very best fighters in the world. But it was always about fighting, and as Dana White so well put it, no matter what language you spoke or what continent you lived on, you understood it. So now what? That seems to be the $4 billion question. Where is the UFC going?

The UFC is the major engine, the major entity of this era in our sport today. But I can’t help but notice it seems that the UFC is looking to follow a different path then that what made it great. It seems that it is no longer about fighting, about credibility, about a certain logic and criteria. Now it seems things have shifted. It’s turning more about personas and entertainment than about great fighters and fights.

It used to be that a fighter needed to fight his way to a title shot. Now, more and more, besides fighting, they need to be able to talk and entertain their way to the belt as well. Sure, all sports have their personas. Soccer, the NFL, NBA, they all have these great athletes that look good, talk well, are attractive and draw and enamor fans. But they are a minority, and these sports are not built solely on their backs.

We understand that the Conor McGregors and the Ronda Rouseys of this world sell, and we know that revenue and profit is essential. We need them! Who knows, maybe the more the better! But you cannot base a sport on these types alone. You should not change the rules and criteria because of them.

Ronda Rousey

Today, you have approximately 500 fighters on the UFC’s roster – people that worked very hard to get their chance. They got there and are there by a certain logic. They fought and put on good fights – and won. There are also thousands upon thousands of other fighting athletes the world over, who get up each morning with only one thing on their minds: Fight in the UFC. They train hard, surpass their own selves in all kinds of ways, make huge sacrifices, all to fulfill a dream.

It was already hard, but if a guy won and kept on winning consistently and putting on good fights, he would eventually find himself in the UFC. But now? What is the criteria? Who gets cut? Who gets hired? Who gets the big fights? Is it the best fighter? Do you have to see a plastic surgeon? Find time in your training schedule to study theatrics? What is it now that will make you succeed?

We see more and more of the great names in MMA come out and say the same thing, and they are becoming more and more fearless and vocal in their criticism. I feel their discomfort will also be part of the change. I think that this short-term view on sales and tickets will have a longer term harming effect on the UFC. I think that this will give space to other entities to create and recreate themselves into becoming mainstream. I think that the sport will keep on growing regardless, and I hate to think what could become of the UFC if they continue blindly on this path, with disregard to the principles that made it great in the first place.

You know, I heard a leader of another promotion say something I have to agree with: The event must listen to its audience. This is, of course, obvious. The sustainability of an event depends on the willingness of its fans to buy tickets and pay-per-view. But I think if you dilute your content, you only focus on the moment without looking ahead at the brand. You’re heading for longer term pain.

Maybe it’s just because I am a former athlete. Maybe it’s because I work all day with hard-working athletes, fighters, a special breed of men and women. Maybe I suffer from motivated reasoning. Maybe I know nothing about promoting and selling tickets. Maybe I am merely a sportsman. But if I look back at sports history, and I look at which sports are successful today, I see that regardless of the personas that participated in them, the rules, the titles, the championships, went to who won the rights to challenge for them. I think MMA must be the same.

MMA is one of the most extreme, realistic sports on the face of the earth today. And more and more you have a following of fans who understand the sport and are looking to see the best man face the best man. I think if you twist this – giving entertaining personas advantages, changing rules to their liking and benefits – you will also twist this sport out of what makes it great.

Alex Davis is a lifelong practitioner of martial arts and a former Brazilian judo champion. A founding member of American Top Team, Davis currently oversees the careers of a number of prominent Brazilian fighters, including Edson Barboza, Rousimar Palhares, Antonio Silva and Thiago Tavares, among others. Davis is a frequent contributor to MMAjunkie.com, sharing his current views on the sport built through his perspectives that date back to the Brazilian roots of modern MMA.