MMA/UFC popularity in the UK

[savage86 10]

Hey guys, just wondering does anyone here watch or follow the sport of Mixed Martial Arts? I'm sure many people will have heard of MMA and inparticular the UFC. I just wanted to get other posters views on just where MMA stands in the sporting world, particularly in the UK. Do you think it's a sport for the future and could one day rival the likes of rugby and cricket (I think overtaking football is pushing it)? Or do you think MMA will never go mainstream and catch on in this country?

 

I think boxing's popularity is slowly dwindling due to the multitude of titles and weight classes and the lack of big personalities and a few years back I thought we would start to see MMA transition into the UK's top combat sport but to me it looks like this transition hasn't even really begun. In countries such as the USA, Canada, Japan, Brazil and even China and Sweden lately, the UFC's rise in popularity is growing but it just seems in this country there is no general awareness of MMA or the UFC brand. The UFC receives no mainstream media attention, even UFC events are only broadcast in the wee hours on BT Sports, with Viva sporadically airing Bellator mma events and 5* airing Bamma events.

 

So what are your thoughts on the subject? Do you think MMA will start to become more prevalent in the UK within the coming years? Do you think it will ever be anything more than a specialist sport for a small audience of hardcore fans? Maybe you think the biggest obstacle to MMA's rise in UK popularity is the fact that the UK does not have a major marketable MMA personality like Ireland's recent firebrand export Connor McGregor. Or just maybe you've seen a few highlights of the UFC and you think MMA is barbaric and will never garner any positive media attention here in the UK.

 

Any thoughts and comments would be much appreciated.

[Jonny5 10]

I don't think it will ever be anything more than a specialist sport for a small audience of hardcore fans because most people see it as barbaric. And for the ones that don't see it as barbaric (ie Just Bleed types) it can actually quite often be rather dull and technical!

 

The only way it would sell over here is if we had a major star (Anderson Silva level) in it but I don't think we'll ever get that because we don't have enough kids getting the basics at an early age that other countries do ie Wrestling/BJJ/JJ/Judo.

 

I'm amazed that Bisping/Hardy/Pearson/McGregor/etc are as good and as competitive as they are tbh.

[Grappler 12]

UFC have had shows in London, Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester, at The Wembley Arena, the O2 Arena, etc. I think they sold out or at least did good numbers in terms of audience? Usually between 10 and 17 thousand spectators. That is a respectable number for a sport that does not have any real mainstream TV coverage.

[Happ Hazzard 10]

They should do an event in Sheffield. Can't understand why they haven't yet they have run smaller cities like Nottingham, Newcastle and Belfast. I don't think they had an event in Leeds yet.

[DaFoot 10]

I think it is already as "mainstream" as boxing.