This weekend is a treat for fans of combat sports and sports entertainment. WWE travels to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for a Raw exclusive pay-per-view called Fastlane, which is the final stop before WWE Wrestlemania.
One night prior, UFC will go to the T-Mobile arena in Las Vegas, Nevada with a totally star-studded fight card. We believe that UFC 209 will completely outshine Fastlane in terms of impact, buzz and quality. Here are 5 compelling reasons why we believe that UFC 209 will be a winner and Fastlane will be a dud.
#5 More compelling Championship title match
Compare these statistics. At UFC 205, the current UFC Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley met Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson in one of the best MMA bouts in recent history, which eventually resulted in a majority draw, causing Woodley to retain his Championship.
It was a competitive match at every step and fans were ravenous to see these two talented performers collide in the octagon one more time. This is a match that fans have been dying to see and UFC is giving fans what they want.
On the other hand, Goldberg and Kevin Owens is a contest that's on the other end of the spectrum. Owens has been one of the best things about modern-day WWE, and the dirt sheets indicate that he's going to be dropping his Championship to Goldberg at this pay-per-view event.
Not only is it a decision that most ‘smarter’ fans wouldn’t be comfortable with, it is also not likely to be a competitive match. At his prime, Goldberg wasn't a very good wrestler, and at almost 50 years of age, he’s definitely not any good.
As compared to the UFC title match, this is certain to be a dud.
#4 WWE is saving the best for Wrestlemania 33
WWE has two kinds of pay-per-views. The former are the Big 4 including Wrestlemania, The Royal Rumble, Summerslam and Survivor Series. On the other hand, there are the brand exclusive B-grade pay-per-views, which are often pit-stops on the road to the bigger shows.
Fastlane is the last stop before Wrestlemania like the name implies. As a consequence, most of the matches on the pay-per-view are of little or no consequence to the eventual Wrestlemania card.
On the other hand, UFC 209 has brought us an extremely star-studded lineup with three marquee matches. Sure, this is not the most star-studded pay-per-view they've put together but there are enough big fights in this card to attract both loyal and casual fans.
While Fastlane seems like a throwaway pay-per-view, UFC wants you to tune in and enjoy every moment of 209.
#3 Over exposure of WWE Superstars
This is a general problem that WWE faces when compared to UFC. Due to the nature of Raw, which is a 3-hour long weekly program, we feel like we've seen the men and women in question having competed against each other several times prior to this weekend.
We've seen Woodley vs. Thompson too, you counter! Yes, but we've not seen them on a weekly basis. In fact, we've seen two of the Fastlane matches- Bayley vs. Charlotte and Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax quite recently, at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view.
UFC spaces out fights between its stars to keep the contests fresh. Additionally, WWE has too many pay-per-views happening even if they are brand-specific. The audience member does feel burned out with the sheer content volume.
#2 There’s a lot more buzz about UFC 209
The best fights are the ones that are sold well to the masses.
There’s so much controversy and buzz surrounding the UFC 209 card, that people are anxious to see what the outcome of the contests will be. Mark Hunt has a lawsuit pending against the UFC, and claimed that he was forced into facing his opponent, Alastair Overeem...funnily, another man known to have taken certain dubious substances after the controversy with his previous opponent- Brock Lesnar.
If that wasn't enough, Khabib Nurmagomedov has called out Conor McGregor and said that his fight with Eddie Alvarez was fixed. All eyes will be on the controversial Khabib to see how he fares against Tony Ferguson.
In comparison, Fastlane is just another pay-per-view and not an important one, even for the WWE.
#1 Predictable outcomes at Fastlane
One aspect where MMA triumphs WWE every single time is the unpredictability attached with a real sporting event. Considering that UFC isn't fixed, nobody can predict the outcome of fights.
On the other hand, there are millions of dirt sheets that have already said that Goldberg will defeat Kevin Owens and win the Universal Championship, only to drop it to Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania. We also know that Charlotte will win her Championship from Bayley to revive her undefeated streak.
Anyone who’s been watching WWE for a while can predict patterns in the company’s booking.
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