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Given that the UFC is making more money than ever before, it’d be a stretch to say that the UFC needs to improve in certain areas right now. But even the world’s biggest MMA promotion could still make some positive changes.
While the UFC’s current shows tend to be excellent, it’s arguable that they’d be even more entertaining if the promotion resurrected some features from its past.
Obviously, nobody would advocate going totally old-school and bringing back banned strikes and tournaments. However, a return to some of the more esthetic features lost over the years would definitely help to improve the events currently put on by the promotion.
Here are five old-school features the UFC should bring back to re-energize their shows.
#5. The UFC should bring back its old-school introduction videos
One of the most memorable things about the UFC’s shows from around 2002 to 2016 was the introduction video they would use before every major event.
Set to a metal track titled Face the Pain, the video showed some highlights from each fighter on the main card, and this flash of violence set to the angry music never failed to get fans fired up.
Check out an old intro below:
However, after being largely criticized for an attempt at updating the video in 2015 – switching the original Face the Pain track out in favor of a dubstep version – the promotion switched largely to a video simply building up an event’s headline bout instead.
While this may seem like a trivial matter, the fact is that this move was an error on the promotion's behalf. Sure, their hype videos to build up their biggest fights are great, but the older introduction video made sure that fans were pumped for every main card bout, not just the headliner.
This feature was one way that the promotion ensured it was always set apart from boxing events – which tend to build shows around one fight and ignores the undercard – and it was an easy method of getting lesser-known main card fighters over with TV viewers, too.
Nobody is mourning the loss of Face the Pain, but it’d be a good idea for the promotion to bring back this feature, even if they were to select a different track for the video.
#4. The UFC should take its Fight Night shows on the road again
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the UFC’s Fight Night events were largely used as a way to move the promotion around and break into newer markets, whether those markets were different US states, or different countries altogether.
Since the pandemic, though, the promotion has tended to situate most of its Fight Night events in the Las Vegas APEX center rather than taking them on the road.
This obviously made a lot of sense during the height of COVID-19, as it allowed the promotion to have more control over their events. It also meant that they could produce shows behind-closed-doors with minimal, often no fans in attendance.
With the virus now fading, though, the promotion ought to consider getting back on the road for these events.
Sure, they’d cost more money to produce, but by breaking into new markets, the promotion would probably make more than enough to cover any overheads. More to the point, seeing a rabid crowd rather than the largely silent Vegas one would make for a far better viewing spectacle.
The UFC is still yet to put on a show in Hawaii, for instance, they haven’t visited a number of large states in Brazil, and they could easily break into other European countries or return to places like the Netherlands and Germany, too.
Essentially, the APEX might be the easy option for the promotion, but taking the Fight Night series back on the road would definitely be better for the fans.
#3. The UFC should allow its fighters to pad their records elsewhere
Back in the early days of Zuffa’s ownership of the UFC – essentially from 2001 to around 2005 – the promotion would regularly allow its contracted fighters to pad their records by taking on lower-level opponents on regional shows.
Well-regarded fighters of that era such as Joe Riggs and Chris Lytle, for instance, would often appear for smaller promotions such as the WEC or King of the Cage between their trips to the octagon. Even Georges St-Pierre was able to head back to Canada’s TKO promotion in 2005 between fights with Matt Hughes and Jason Miller.
This practice essentially stopped just after the TUF boom sent MMA into the mainstream, with an obvious reason behind it – the UFC didn’t want rival promoters to gain momentum by using their fighters.
These days, though, there are still plenty of regional promotions around, but only one is a true competitor to the UFC – Bellator MMA.
Therefore, Dana White and company could easily allow fighters under their umbrella to take bouts for smaller promotions without any kind of risk.
This would not only allow fighters who wish to stay more active a way to do so without forcing the UFC to book them more often, but it’d also allow younger fighters to gain vital experience, too. With times having changed, it’s a concept that should definitely be resurrected.
#2. The UFC should bring back the entrance ramp
Over the years, plenty of comparisons have been made between the UFC and WWE, and if you rewind back prior to 2003, the promotions looked even more similar thanks to the former’s use of a pro-wrestling inspired entrance ramp.
The ramp was retired in the latter half of that year, largely because of Dana White’s wish for the promotion to produce shows that looked more like they’d been inspired by boxing events. Instead, fighters now make their entrances almost through the crowd – something that still remains to this day.
While it’s not unheard-of for fighters to make flashy entrances these days – Israel Adesanya’s Undertaker-inspired entrance earlier this year comes to mind – to come up with something truly epic is nearly impossible without the ramp.
After all, even modern-day fans still look back to Tito Ortiz’s Limp Bizkit entrance on the ramp with plenty of fondness, and it’s easy to imagine charismatic fighters like Adesanya and Conor McGregor producing even more memorable walkouts if it were brought back.
#1. The UFC should allow fighters to wear personalised attire in the octagon
Perhaps the biggest point of contention in the UFC over the past few years has been their introduction to official fight attire, first made by Reebok and then by current apparel creators Venum.
Not only has this cost the fighters plenty of money due to the removal of individual sponsorships, but it’s also meant that the promotion’s stars often look very alike during their bouts, even if Venum is now creating a wider range of attire than Reebok did.
Prior to this change, though, that wasn’t the case. Some of the UFC’s top fighters were once instantly recognizable from their attire, from Chuck Liddell’s trademark blue icicle shorts and Anderson Silva’s yellow-and-black trunks, to BJ Penn’s white attire that incorporated a black belt in the design.
It’s obvious that the promotion will never return to the days that saw fighters be able to plaster their gear with all kinds of random sponsors, but surely Venum could produce more personalized attire, if only for the promotion’s top stars.
Surely, for instance, Colby Covington could wear some kind of Stars and Stripes-themed attire, while charismatic stars such as Jiri Prochazka and Conor McGregor could definitely come up with something better than the generic Venum attire currently on offer.
Essentially, this is an adjustment that would take minimal effort from the promotion, but could definitely improve their product overall.
