The List: Our 2015 UFC wishes

For too long, our writers’ hyper-specific arguments have been confined to the private corridors of the Internet. Welcome to The List, where we take their instant message bickerings, add a little polish, and make them public. Today, in advance of a new year of UFC action, our writers reveal their wishes for the UFC in 2015.

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“The Ultimate Fighter 15: Team Cruz vs. Team Faber”

1. Trim the cards

John Morgan: If you don’t mind, I’d really like to utilize the spirit of the holidays and just be as greedy as possible, as I have two things I’d like to see the UFC change this year.

First, let’s limit the fight cards to 10 bouts and work on potentially slotting three fights per hour on TV cards. I know this may seem a little odd, but as “oversaturation of the sport” continues to be a primary discussion topic, I’ve come to realize I just don’t buy it. Give me a UFC card each and every single Saturday night, and I’ll be just fine with it. But maybe don’t ask fans to book seven hours of their life aside to watch it each week.

I bought my dad and stepmom tickets to go to UFC 171 when the company visited my hometown of Dallas back in March. My dad asked me when he should get there. Well, I never miss a fight, and that was a pretty damn good fight card. But I realized I was asking him to sit at American Airlines Center for seven hours to watch all 13 fights that night. That just seems like a lot to ask, especially if it’s not going to be a once-a-month appointment.

I don’t want less fight cards. I just want the ones that we have not to be as taxing on the fans as what’s offered now. That three-hour slot NFL football has mastered has become pretty much the expectation for a live sporting event. Stretch it to four to add some value, but I think less-is-more could actually make sense for live audiences. There were a few eight-fight events this past year that didn’t make me feel like I didn’t get a solid night of entertaining fights.

And if Dana is giving me that gift, then maybe I can ask old Uncle Frank the third for this one: Bring back a modified version of “The Ultimate Fighter: Live,” complete with a new “plus one” format.

I know “TUF: Live” wasn’t perfect, but for bringing my interest level to its peak, the series was spot on: live fights – the essence of what makes the UFC entertaining. So here’s my plan: For the U.S. version of the show, at least, an eight-man tournament, where every fight airs live in a weekly, one-hour special that ALSO features a fight between two UFC fighters currently under contract.

So for instance, maybe for the semifinals this year, we could have seen Carla Esparza vs. Jessica Penne live, headlined by, say, the Alan Jouban vs. Seth Baczynski fight that took place right around the same time the “TUF 20? semifinals were taped. The next week, we get Rose Namajunas vs. Randa Markos, headlined by maybe Tim Boetsch vs. Brad Tavares or perhaps Tom Watson vs. Sam Alvey or Jussier Formiga vs. Zach Makosvky.

By featuring two live fights, one with “TUF” fighters, the other with traditional UFC athletes – you bring the immediacy back to the content that’s missing now. You’d also limit the time for in-house drama packages to just a few minutes a show, perhaps enough time just to fill us in but so much that we’re put off by what we see.

Joe Silva and Sean Shelby

2. Trim the fighter tree

Mike Bohn: My wish for the UFC actually carries off one of John’s suggestions above. I’d also like to see fewer bouts per event, but a consequence of that structure means recalibrating the number of fighters UFC has signed to its roster.

There’s no denying the label of “UFC-level fighter” has lost most, if not all, of the special aura it once carried. There are currently more than 500 active fighters on the UFC roster. That’s too many, and there’s an entire tier at the bottom that a majority of viewers aren’t spending their time and hard-earned money to watch.

Certain situations exist when UFC matchmakers Joe Silva and Sean Shelby have to make compromises and ink fighters who are not UFC quality. Like when a last-minute injury occurs or a certain boss promises an entire cast of “The Ultimate Fighter” that they’ll get at least one shot in the octagon.

However, what once made UFC events so special is there was little question it was the highest caliber of athlete in the sport. Nearly all of world’s top-ranked fighters still reside in the UFC, but there’s even more who are undeserving of the platform that’s long been dubbed the grandest stage in the sport.

After the controversial release of Jon Fitch and 15 others in February 2013, UFC President Dana White revealed that roughly 100 more fighters would soon be ejected from the promotion.

“We have 470-something guys under contract,” White said. “We have over 100 guys too many on the roster right now. So what’s going to happen is, when you lose, the blood has not all been spilled yet. There’s more coming.”

What happened to that plan? The roster size has only ballooned since.

There are three undeniable reasons for the overinflated roster: the aggressive expanded events schedule, the dramatic rise in fighter injury rates, and the addition of three new weight classes since 2012.

It doesn’t look like any more weight classes are on the way, but UFC won’t scale back on events in 2015. It’s also a very realistic possibility the number of injuries stays consistent, too.

Those factors may make the company worry that it needs to keep the roster size the same, but it doesn’t. If it can shed roughly 100 names as White at one time suggested, that means more opportunity for the fighters, the ones who are healthy, to step in the octagon and earn paydays.

Having the athletes fight more frequently is a positive. On top of the clear financial benefits of competing three times rather than two, or two rather than one, is that viewers get to become more familiar with certain names. That makes the athletes more recognizable and, in turn, helps build a bond between fan and fighter. The kind of bond that, if the fighter is successful enough, could ultimately lead to pay-per-view buys.

Could UFC commit a crucial error by failing to sign or prematurely releasing a fighter that could turn a corner and flourish into the sport’s next superstar with a different organization? Absolutely. But that’s a marginal risk and simply not worth subjecting current viewers to a product that’s not of the same quality it once was.

Conor McGregor

3. Season’s beatings

Steven Marrocco: Two great suggestions from my colleagues, to which I have little to add. There are a lot of things I would like to see from the UFC, from more transparency around drug testing (and while we’re at it, an out-of-competition program), to consistency in enforcing the code of conduct, to the return of Dana White scrums (otherwise known as the everlasting fountain of content).

I’d also like to see them CHANGE THE GODDAMN MUSIC that plays on repeat before and after Fight Pass events and now haunts my dreams.

But mainly, I want to see great fights, just like everyone else.

I want to see heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez return from his injury woes and fight Fabricio Werdum so we can end this interim nonsense.

I want to see a rematch between Antonio Silva and Mark Hunt, because it was one of the most insane fights I’ve ever seen live and I’ll take the gamble that the rematch would be just as insane.

I want light-heavy champ Jon Jones to finish up unfinished business with Alexander Gustafson, then rematch Daniel Cormier so I get to watch them sit in the same room and simmer. Side note: Cormier is extra awesome on the mic when he’s got a — wait for it — “bone” to pick with someone.

I want to see “Jacare” Souza fight middleweight champ Chris Weidman for the title, because I think it’s his time, and I think it would be an amazing, all-over-the-place fight.

I want to see Hector Lombard fight Robbie Lawler, even though it’s going to take a miracle or a lot of money to get them in the cage to detonate.

I want to see Donald Cerrone versus Daron Cruickshank, for fun and for no other reason.

I want to see Conor McGregor fight Chad Mendes, for a very specific reason.

I want to see Demetrious Johnson fight John Dodson, because it may very well be the most competitive fight in the flyweight division. Dodson had D.J. early and lost it, and I want to see what happens when he makes his adjustments. Get well, Dodson.

And because it’s Christmas and I’m high-maintenance, I want something I can never have: Ronda Rousey vs. Cris “Cyborg” Justino. I’m so tired of all the yakking and posturing from both camps and I just want to see them fight. It still feels like the only big fight for Rousey, and in my mind, it’s one she has to have to solidify her legacy.

These are just a few things, and a lot of them are very doable. It’s been an up-and-down year for the sport, so here’s hoping to turning things around and making 2015 one to remember.

For more on the UFC’s schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.